Towards The Denuclearization of the Middle East

“Can one imagine that The Bomb could ever be used “in a good cause”? Do not such means instantly, of themselves, corrupt any cause?” - Dwight Macdonald.

An excerpt from, “The Long Journey Toward A WMD-Free Middle East” by Patricia Lewis and William C. Potter, Arms Control Association: 

Probably the most significant driver for the WMD-free zone in the Middle East is the growing awareness that a conflict in the region could involve the use of nuclear weapons. Although not a new consideration, it has gained increased currency due to nuclear brinkmanship by Iran, the perception that Israel’s powerful allies accept its nuclear weapons as a permanent feature of the Middle Eastern terrain, increased interest in and access to civil nuclear technology by other states in the region, and occasional, veiled threats by Saudi Arabia and other Arab states that should Iran develop nuclear weapons, it would not long remain the only nuclear weapons newcomer to the region. These developments may not in themselves represent the preconditions for negotiation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone, but they should prompt a radical rethinking of nuclear policy in the Middle East.

Wikipedia - Yeshayahu Leibowitz:

Yeshayahu Leibowitz (29 January 1903 – 18 August 1994) was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish public intellectual and polymath. He was a professor of biochemistry, organic chemistry, and neurophysiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an editor of Encyclopaedia Hebraica, comprehensive encyclopedia in the Hebrew language. he was known for his outspoken views on politics, religion and Jewish philosophy.

. . .In 1956, Leibowitz wrote an article in Haaretz following the initial failure of the authorities to punish the perpetrators of the Kafr Qasim massacre, commenting with sharp irony that, in the name of the justice Israel claims to uphold, one might as well call for the Nuremberg laws to be overturned and the convicted Nazi officials to be exonerated, since they too had only followed orders from their superiors.

In 1966, Leibowitz harshly criticized David Ben-Gurion, claiming that, “he ruled his party and the political life in Israel with total control”. He portrayed Ben-Gurion as deceitful and expansionist. He wrote that although Ben-Gurion publicly stated in the Knesset that he opposed a preemptive war against Egypt, he secretly worked to plan one and later declared an expansion of Israel’s borders, referring to it as “The Third Kingdom of Israel,” extending as far as the island of Tiran. Moreover, he was critical of the nuclear project started during Ben-Gurion’s premiership, saying that it had been established “without the knowledge of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.” He wrote that Ben-Gurion and his aides sought to conceal the issue from the Israeli public by suppressing press coverage. Earlier, in 1960, Leibowitz had led the Committee for Denuclearization of the Middle East, alongside the politician Eliezer Livneh.

In an interview with Ma’ariv in January of the following year, following controversy surrounding his claims, Leibowitz said: “I think that [Ben-Gurion] is the biggest catastrophe that ever happened to the Jewish people and the State of Israel.” Ben-Gurion was furious but pretended not to care.

Leibowitz became harshly critical of Israeli policies following the 1982 Lebanon War. He repeatedly called for Israelis to refuse to serve in the occupied territories, and warned that Israel was turning its soldiers into “Judeo-Nazis”, writing that if “the law … can allow the use of torture as a way of getting confessions out of prisoners, then this testifies to a Nazi mentality.” He supported a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories.

Video Title: Yeshayahu Leibowitz – There are Judeo-Nazis. Source: Yeshayahu Leibowitz Tribute Page. Date Published: September 3, 2017.