Amano’s praise for israel discredits IAEA: Analyst

A political analyst says Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano’s “praise” for Israel will undermine the “legitimacy and credibility” of the UN nuclear agency.

In a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres on Monday, the IAEA chief turned a blind eye to international concerns about Tel Aviv’s nuclear arsenal, saying that Israel is a “valued partner” for the agency.

During the meeting, which was held at the headquarters of the United Nations nuclear agency in the Austrian capital of Vienna, Amano did not say anything about Israel’s illegal nuclear arsenal and activities.

Speaking to Press TV in an interview, Kaveh Afrasiabi, a political analyst, said he strongly believes that “this is double standard run amok because the praise that Mr. Amano had for… Israel is totally uncalled for.”

He added that Israel has so far defied a resolution overwhelmingly approved by the UN General Assembly in December 2012 calling on the Tel Aviv regime to open up its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection.

He said that “one is at a loss for words to describe and indeed find out” the reasons that Amano failed to press Israel to abide by the United Nations and the international community’s demands from Israel, which is a clandestine nuclear weapons entity.

The commentator added that the IAEA chief already had a credibility problem amid the recent WikiLeaks revelation that showed “he is overly pro-American and pro-Western.”

He reiterated that Amano must pressure Israel to open up to IAEA inspections to perform his duty even-handedly.

The meeting between Amano and Peres came as Israel, which is widely believed to be the only possessor of nuclear arms in the Middle East, reportedly maintains between 200 and 400 atomic warheads.

The Israeli regime has never allowed any inspection of its nuclear facilities and continues to defy international calls to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).