The United Nations has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution calling on Israel to open up its nuclear facilities for inspection, during their meeting on Monday.
The resolution, passed with 174 votes to six, with six abstentions, calls on Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty “without further delay.”
The “no” votes were from Israel, the U.S., Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau.
UN resolutions are not legally binding but do carry moral and political weight.
The resolution also backed calls for another conference to discuss nuclear issues. Nuclear talks were but cancelled on November 23.
Israel has long held a policy of neither confirming nor denying if it has nuclear weapons, although it has long been suspected that they do.
The refusal to join the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty leaves them in a group of three-other nuclear capable countries: India, Pakistan and North Korea.
Yesterdays vote at the UN comes after a tough week at the global body. It came just hours after the US and European governments rebuked plans to build 3,000 settler homes in the Occupied West Bank. On Thursday, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of upgrading Palestine to ‘non-observer’ status.
Israel reaffirmed its position that there needs to be a Middle East peace treaty, before talks on nuclear weapons can happen. At the Assembly, an Israeli diplomat said, referring to nuclear proliferation in the Middle East "All these cases challenge Israel's security and cast a dark shadow at the prospect of embarking on a meaningful regional security process."
