Israel rejects new drive to ban nukes from Mideast

** FILE ** Retired Marine Corps Gen. James L. Jones testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington in this Sept. 6, 2007, file photo. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File)

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel, thought to be the Middle East’s only nuclear power, has rejected a new U.N. call to come clean about its secretive nuclear program, calling it a “deeply flawed and hypocritical” act that ignores the threat posed by its sworn enemy Iran.

Israel declared late Saturday that it would not take part in a 2012 conference on establishing a nuclear-free Middle East — an Arab-led initiative backed by the United States, Israel’s top ally, and the 188 other signatories to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Although a series of U.S. conditions put the conference in doubt, the resolution, and the surprising U.S. support it received, added new pressure on Israel to give up what is almost universally believed to be a sizable nuclear arsenal. Israel refuses to confirm or deny the suspicions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to discuss the resolution with President Obama when the two meet in Washington on Tuesday, the Israeli leader’s office said.

Mr. Netanyahu was traveling in Canada on Sunday, and a government spokesman declined to say what contacts had been made with the United States over the resolution.

But an Army Radio reporter traveling with Mr. Netanyahu in Toronto said his office unsuccessfully lobbied the United States to block the resolution ahead of Friday’s vote.

Israel’s so-called policy of nuclear ambiguity is a cornerstone of its military deterrence. It long has said a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace must precede such weapons bans.

Israel never has signed the nonproliferation treaty, which requires members to open nuclear facilities to inspection and to disarm. In its statement, it noted that since it’s not a member, it is not a party to the resolution.

“This resolution is deeply flawed and hypocritical: It ignores the realities of the Middle East and the real threats facing the region and the entire world,” the government statement said.

It “singles out Israel,” yet “the terrorist regime in Iran, which is racing to develop nuclear weapons and which openly threatens to wipe Israel off the map, is not even mentioned in the resolution,” it added.

Despite its assertions to the contrary, Iran widely is suspected to be seeking to build nuclear weapons.

Israel sees Iran as its fiercest threat because of its nuclear program, its ballistic missiles capable of hitting the Jewish state and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s repeated references to Israel’s destruction.

The Arab proposal for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction first was endorsed at a 1995 nonproliferation conference but never acted upon. At this month’s review of the treaty at U.N. headquarters, many delegates considered a conference to begin talks on a nuclear-free Middle East to be a critical part of the final resolution.

The review’s spotlight on Israel put the Jewish state in an uncomfortable position. While it tirelessly lobbies the international community to prevent Iran from acquiring atomic weapons, it insists on maintaining a veil of secrecy around its own nuclear capabilities.

Details and pictures leaked in 1986 to the Sunday Times of London by Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant, led foreign experts to conclude Israel has dozens of nuclear weapons.

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