China, Iran and a multitude of Arab nations condemned an Israeli minister's statement that a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip was an option in the Israel-Hamas war, calling it a threat to the world, reports AP.
At Monday's long-planned opening of a United Nations conference whose goal is to establish a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, many ambassadors expressed condemnations and criticisms of comments by Israel's Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu, who later called his remarks in a radio interview Sunday "metaphorical."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly disavowed the comments and suspended him from cabinet meetings.
China's deputy UN ambassador Geng Shuang said Beijing was "shocked," calling the statements "extremely irresponsible and disturbing" and should be universally condemned.
He urged Israeli officials to retract the statement and become a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, considered the cornerstone of nuclear disarmament, as a non-nuclear weapon state "as soon as possible."
Geng said China is ready to join other countries "to inject new impetus" to establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Mideast, saying there is greater urgency because of the situation in the current region.
Oman's UN Ambassador Mohamed Al-Hassan, speaking on behalf of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council which includes Saudi Arabia, said the threat to use nuclear weapons in Gaza "reaffirms the extremes and brutality of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people" and their "disregard for innocent life." He called on the UN Security Council and the IAEA to take decisive action on the matter.
Lebanon's Charge d'Affaires Hadi Hachem also condemned the Israeli heritage minister's comments, stressing that "this self-acknowledgment of having nuclear weapons and the threat of using them by its officials, poses a serious threat to both regional and international peace and security."
He urged Israel to stop "such rhetoric or posturing" and join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state.
Iran's UN Ambassador Amir Iravani told the conference the nuclear threats directed toward Palestinians by high-ranking Israeli officials highlight Israel's "pride" in having these weapons in its hands.
"The secrecy surrounding Israel's nuclear capabilities poses a significant threat to regional stability," he said. "In these critical times, the imperative to establish such a zone in the Middle East has never been more urgent."
Russia's ambassador to the IAEA and other UN organizations based in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, told delegates Monday that given the new escalation of violence in the Middle East, a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region "is more pertinent than ever."
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its nuclear capability. It is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, and a former employee at its nuclear reactor served 18 years in Israeli prison for leaking details and pictures of Israel's alleged nuclear arsenal programme to a British newspaper in 1986.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
