Netanyahu to stay off nuke meet
Source: Agencies |
April 10, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
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ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has withdrawn from United States President Barack Obama's Nuclear Security Summit in Washington next week, fearing Muslim powers will use it to promote their demand that Israel disarm.
Netanyahu, who plans to send a deputy to the 47-nation conference instead, decided to cancel "after learning that some countries, including Egypt and Turkey, plan to say Israel must sign the NPT," an Israeli official said yesterday.
By staying outside the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty, Israel has avoided having to pledge not to seek nuclear weaponry and to admit international inspectors to its Dimona reactor, widely assumed to have fuelled the region's sole atomic arsenal.
Netanyahu's attendance at the April 12-13 summit would have been unprecedented. Israeli premiers long shunned such forums, hoping to dampen scrutiny of their secret nuclear policies.
Aides said Netanyahu originally agreed to go after being reassured by the US that the summit communique would focus on efforts to secure fissile materials and be devoid of language challenging Israel's self-styled nuclear "ambiguity."
News of Netanyahu's withdrawal was noted by US Republicans, who saw it as a snub of a close US ally by the Democratic president.
Netanyahu, who plans to send a deputy to the 47-nation conference instead, decided to cancel "after learning that some countries, including Egypt and Turkey, plan to say Israel must sign the NPT," an Israeli official said yesterday.
By staying outside the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty, Israel has avoided having to pledge not to seek nuclear weaponry and to admit international inspectors to its Dimona reactor, widely assumed to have fuelled the region's sole atomic arsenal.
Netanyahu's attendance at the April 12-13 summit would have been unprecedented. Israeli premiers long shunned such forums, hoping to dampen scrutiny of their secret nuclear policies.
Aides said Netanyahu originally agreed to go after being reassured by the US that the summit communique would focus on efforts to secure fissile materials and be devoid of language challenging Israel's self-styled nuclear "ambiguity."
News of Netanyahu's withdrawal was noted by US Republicans, who saw it as a snub of a close US ally by the Democratic president.
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