UNGA decides top "risk of nuclear proliferation in MidEast" is Israel. No mention of Iran

On November 1, 2016, the UN adopted a resolution which named Israel as the one and only threat to nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, while failing to mention the pursuit of nuclear weapons by the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran. The resolution, entitled "The risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East," was adopted by the General Assembly's Disarmament and International Security Committee (a committee of the whole, comprised of all 193 UN member states). The vote was 147 "yes" votes, 6 "no" votes (Canada, Israel, Micronesia, Namibia, Palau, United States), and 21 abstentions. Namibia later said it had made a mistake and had not intended to vote "no."

The resolution includes:

"The General Assembly...

Recalling that Israel remains the only State in the Middle East that has not yet become a party to the Treaty...

5. Reaffirms the importance of Israel's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and placement of all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, in realizing the goal of universal adherence to the Treaty in the Middle East;

6. Calls upon that State to accede to the Treaty without further delay, not to develop, produce, test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, to renounce possession of nuclear weapons and to place all its unsafeguarded nuclear facilities under full scope Agency safeguards as an important confidence-building measure among all States of the region and as a step towards enhancing peace and security;..."

During discussions prior to the vote, the representative of Iran accused Israel of being the "source of serious threats" and the "only obstacle" to a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East - notwithstanding Iran's nuclear weapons program.

In Iran's words:

"It is crystal clear that the aggressive and expansionist policies of the Israeli regime... its large arsenal of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction... are the sources of serious threats posed to regional and international peace and security. Indeed, the Israeli regime is the only obstacle to the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East."

Syria - whose regime actually uses chemical weapons on its own people - was disturbed that Israel is allegedly a "possessor of ... biological weapons."

In its words:

"[T]here is a worldwide consensus about the unique threat in the Middle East, which lies in the fact that Israel is a possessor of nuclear weapons, and that it can use these weapons to many regions, and it has also biological weapons..."