Peter Beinart, a professor of journalism and political science at the New-Marc School of Journalism at the City University of New York, wrote an article published by the “New York Times” today, Wednesday, under the title “The United States needs to start saying The truth about Israel’s nuclear weapons,” he began, “and American politicians often warn that if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, it will lead to a nuclear scramble throughout the Middle East.”
Senator Robert Menendez (Democrat of New Jersey), the current chair of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, speculated in March 2020 that allowing Tehran to obtain the bomb "could lead to a dangerous arms race in the region," according to the author.
In an interview last January 2021, a few weeks after his election, US President-elect Joe Biden warned that if Iran went nuclear, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt might as well, adding that “the last damn thing we need in this part of The world is strengthening nuclear capabilities.”
In warning that Iran could nuclearize the Middle East, American politicians are hinting that the region is now nuclear-free, but it is not, as Israel already has nuclear weapons, but this never appears in the statements of American leaders, who They´ve spent the past half century feigning ignorance, but this deception undermines the United States´ supposed commitment to nonproliferation and distorts the American debate on Iran, and it is time for the Biden administration to tell the truth."
The writer notes that former President Barack Obama pledged to strive for a world free of nuclear weapons, but to prevent any public discussion about the Israeli arsenal, his administration helped put down a United Nations conference on a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East, and the Biden administration continues to impose crippling sanctions. Iran should try to force its government to accept inspections more stringent than those required by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and in the meantime, Israel - which has never signed the treaty - does not allow any inspections inside it at all.
In the author’s opinion, this duplicity leads many around the world to cynicism when American diplomats claim that they are defending (the rules-based order), as it empowers the Iranians who claim that Tehran has the right to go along with its regional opponent, and the deceptive silence of the US government prevents further discussion. Being honest at home about the risks an Iranian nuclear weapon would pose, as American politicians sometimes say that an Iranian bomb would pose an (existential) threat to Israel, a questionable claim given that Israel possesses a nuclear deterrent that it can use in the air, on land and at sea.
Beinart explains, “But many Americans find this claim plausible, because, according to a recent poll by Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland, barely 50% of Americans know that Israel has nuclear weapons, while even higher percentages think Tehran has the bomb. “.
The author concludes the article by noting that “the Biden administration will not force Israel to give up its nuclear weapons, but this does not mean that it should undermine the global credibility of the United States and deceive its people by denying reality, and a more honest American discussion about the Israeli nuclear arsenal may breathe new life into the dream.” “The faraway Middle East without nuclear weapons, and even if that doesn’t happen, it would simply be nice to hear US leaders speak the truth, after half a century of lies and denial.”
