Should Israel disarm herself of nuclear weapons...?

[kentuck]

If other countries can be persuaded not to develop nuclear weapons? Does that sound unfair? If so, why? And why should Israel continue to be the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons? How do you not oppose a neighbor who has nuclear bombs when you have none?

[Oversea Visitor]

1. Having nukes or not

makes no different to solving a problems
Isreal and Plaestine must be willing to resolve problems.
Already going to be 70 years and still fighting.

Isreal Palestine problems cannot be solve by nukes X(
Way going about it still wrong
Look at Hama victory.... it is the people choice
Why must aid be cut
Why must Isreal withold money from tax and custom from them
Sad but Hamas will collapse
Does it means the people choice get ignore
Iran Russia and China cant keep financing Hama as a goverment
Isreal need to do right thing
Or else perpetual war.
2 wrong dont make a right

[shance]

2. How about ALL countries disarming?

It's not solely about any one country by any means.

Its about perpetual and profit driven wars at the expense of everyone else, so that a certain few remain in power.

We could actually confront issues like combat, population control and famine, first off, by granting women their RIGHTS TO GOVERN THEIR OWN BODIES, instead of forcing women to bear offspring against their will and what is best for the offspring, not to mention governmental oppression of others, and profit driven wars.

If we could begin to learn the privilege of having children, instead of the "right" of bearing any and all children, we might realize part of the element of what could save this planet, and the respect for a system that begs balance at all levels.

[Josh]

3. Doesn't work -

no one is ever willing to go first.

[Douglas Carpenter]

4. actually the Iranian regime has called for a total ban on all nuclear

weapons; first in the Middle East and then the rest of the world.

For those who think they cannot be trusted; well if they are willing to negotiate a verification procedure, I cannot imagine any rational-sane reason why it would not be a good idea to explore their proposal -- trust but verify -- as someone once said. And besides there is no evidence whatsoever that that Iran is anywhere near the ability to produce or deploy nuclear weapons. While there is absolutely no doubt that Israel has hundreds and U.S. forces in the region have a lot more on top of all of that:

Fishing for a Pretext in Iran

by Juan Cole; March 18, 2006

link: http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=9929

snip:"Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei has given a fatwa or formal religious ruling against nuclear weapons, and President Ahmadinejad at his inauguration denounced such arms and committed Iran to remaining a nonnuclear weapons state.

In fact, the Iranian regime has gone further, calling for the Middle East to be a nuclear-weapons-free zone. On Feb. 26, Ahmadinejad said:
“We too demand that the Middle East be free of nuclear weapons; not only the Middle East, but the whole world should be free of nuclear weapons.”
Only Israel among the states of the Middle East has the bomb, and its stockpile provoked the arms race with Iraq that in some ways led to the U.S. invasion of 2003. The U.S. has also moved nukes into the Middle East at some points, either on bases in Turkey or on submarines.

snip:"it is often alleged that since Iran harbors the desire to “destroy” Israel, it must not be allowed to have the bomb. Ahmadinejad has gone blue in the face denouncing the immorality of any mass extermination of innocent civilians, but has been unable to get a hearing in the English-language press. Moreover, the presidency is a very weak post in Iran, and the president is not commander of the armed forces and has no control over nuclear policy. Ahmadinejad’s election is not relevant to the nuclear issue, and neither is the question of whether he is, as Liz Cheney is reported to have said, “a madman.” Iran has not behaved in a militarily aggressive way since its 1979 revolution, having invaded no other countries, unlike Iraq, Israel or the U.S. Washington has nevertheless succeeded in depicting Iran as a rogue state"

snip: "in November of 2003 the IAEA formally announced that it could find no proof of such a weapons program. The U.S. reaction was a blustery incredulity, which is not actually an argument or proof in its own right, however good U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton is at bunching his eyebrows and glaring."

[Burning Water]

5. National suicide

for Israel. What is to prevent the "other countries" from just overwhelming her with sheer numbers?

[kentuck]

6. And how do you envision that happening?

Who is going to invade Israel today if she gave up her nuclear weapons? I don't buy it.

[Burning Water]

9. Well, Iran has

been making noises lately about how Israel was an abomination that could not be permitted to endure.

Most of the Arab nations make similar noises from time-to-time. Plus, their track record about invading Israel is none too good.

Facts and logic, my friend, facts and logic lead me to the conclusion that Israel cannot give up her nuclear weapons until there is a change of heart in the capitals of the Arab world.

[breakfastofchampions]

12. Israel is the most hated country in the region

There would invasions from all directions very quickly.

[Nederland]

7. You assume

...moral equivalence between Israel and her enemies. There is no such equivalence.

[kentuck]

8. No...

I don't assume "equivalence". I think Israel has a superior military already without nuclear weapons in the equation and are perfectly capable of defending themselves without nuclear weapons. At least, they've had no problem up to now...

[Burning Water]

10. He said,

"moral equivalence". Not "military equivalence"

[Nederland]

11. No problem?

Thousands of Israelis have died in wars against Arab states. Possession of nuclear weapons makes those states think twice about attacking Israel again.

[Coastie for Truth]

13. Simultaneously with the US, UK, France, India, China, Russia,

North Korea, Pakistan, Iran, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, South Africa, and whatever evanescent and nascent programs Japan, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Japan, Libya, Philippines, Poland, South Korea, SWitzerland, Taiwan, Yugoslavia, Canada, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia, inter alia may have; and with sufficient, thorough, universal, comprehensive, "open kimono" inspections of all such past, present, nascent, and evanescent nuclear powers as to have 100% assurance of no diversion from power generation and/or non-weapons research.

I am an alumnus of Bettis National Laboratory, and studied nuclear engineering under Professors Herbert Toor and Clarence Miller