Israeli nuclear facilities need to be inspected – analyst

There have been some claims in the media that Israel offered to sell atomic warheads to apartheid South Africa in the 1970s. Israel has denied the charges.

“The issue has been unfolding incrementally since the information published by the Sunday Times and released by a very valiant person, Mordehay Vanunu, uncovering the veil of Israeli secret development of nuclear weapons,” said Dr Uri Davis, Professor at the Institute of Area Studies in Jerusalem. “Mordehay Vanunu paid heavily for his courage; he was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment of which some 12 years he spent in solitary.”

“I believe that… any discussion of nuclear weapons in the Middle East will include a firm demand for international inspection of Israeli nuclear facilities in Dimona and elsewhere, and hopefully sufficient international pressure on Israel by way of international sanctions, boycott and divestment to assist Israel in divesting and dismantling its illegal nuclear arsenal,” Davis added.