Israel dismissed on Tuesday a resolution passed overwhelmingly in the UN General
Assembly calling on it to open its nuclear program to inspection as a
“meaningless mechanical vote” void of meaning.
The resolution, which
calls on Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and immediately
open up its nuclear facilities to inspection, was formulated 10 years ago and is
brought to the General Assembly, and passed overwhelmingly year after year, said
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.
The Assembly has lost all its
credibility regarding Israel with these types of routine votes that are ensured
passage by an automatic majority and which single out Israel, he
said.
The resolution came just days after Israel suffered a stinging loss
in the UN when the General Assembly upgraded the status of the Palestinians to
that of a non-member observer state. Palmor said the two votes were not
connected, and the UN vote on the NPT takes place every year in
December.
The resolution passed by a vote of 174 to six, with six
abstentions. Along with Israel, the US, Canada, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands
and Palau voted against it.
While the US voted against the resolution, it
voted for two paragraphs that were taken out for a separate vote and called for
universal adherence to the NPT and for all countries who are not party to the
treaty to join it at the earliest date.
Israel is not a party to the NPT.
Its official policy is that it will “not be the first country to introduce
weapons into the Middle East,” and that it supports a nuclear-free Middle East
following the attainment of peace.