Nuclear Disarmament and israel
By Jonathan Kuttab
At the recent National Conference of Pax Christi, marking the 50th anniversary of the Catholic peace organization, Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, gave a powerful keynote address on the importance of nuclear disarmament. He detailed the Christian case for abolishing nuclear weapons entirely, quoting at length both from scripture and the teachings of church fathers, as well as recent papal pronouncements by Pope Francis. He also shared his own experience of visiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A booklet containing his pastoral letter on this subject, as well as various resources and suggestions for action can be obtained from Pax Christi at www.paxchristiusa.org. He commented that the current situation in the Ukraine, as well as the Iranian nuclear program, make it necessary for Christians to address this situation, calling not just for nuclear non-proliferation but for the outright banning and destruction of all nuclear weapons whose very possession is a sin.
Absent from his powerful presentation, however, was any reference to Israel’s nuclear arsenal and the fact that Israel’s nuclear program is not under any international supervision or inspection. I asked the Archbishop about this after his speech, and he acknowledged this as perhaps an inadvertent omission. He was also not aware that the highest religious authority in Iran had issued a fatwa (religious edict) declaring nuclear weapons to be haram – a forbidden tool which is a sin to manufacture or possess, or that the Iranian government has repeatedly announced that it was abiding by this Fatwa and that its nuclear program was geared to peaceful purposes exclusively.
In this, he was perhaps only reflecting the current position of western media in general, which meticulously avoids any discussion of Israel’s nuclear weapons while waxing eloquent about the potential dangers of Iran’s nuclear program. It is likewise always skeptical of Iran’s real motives, even though Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and is subject to the most rigorous international inspection regime for its nuclear program.
Apart from the obvious bias of refusing to deal with Israel’s nuclear weapons, there is also the very serious question raised by the call for nuclear disarmament generally. One reason for this is the fact that nuclear weapons have, in the past, acted as a deterrent against great powers going to war, and it has arguably preserved us from a Third World War. To advocate for nuclear disarmament requires that we seriously address the issue of how to preserve the peace and how to deal with evil individuals or regimes who seek to use military power to invade, occupy, or attack their neighbors. It requires a fundamental shift towards strengthening international organizations and the promotion of effective alternative conflict resolution mechanisms, rather than a chauvinistic reliance on national military power for self defense.
Israel, citing the recent genocide of the Holocaust against the Jewish people, argues that it needs nuclear deterrence to avoid defeat and a second holocaust. It loudly proclaims that it cannot rely on anyone other than its own military and nuclear power, if necessary, to avoid such a catastrophe. Those who argue for nuclear disarmament, or for opposing military spending and massive defense budgets, face this type of argument all the time. In a broken world, how do you defend yourself or deal with evil people bent on your destruction? The answer given is always “with bigger and more destructive weapons!”
Those who believe that there are alternatives to war and that resorting to military power is rarely justified are often accused of being naïve and unrealistic. They are required to prove the efficacy of their peaceful stance, while those who advocate for military power often demand and receive huge resources, incur great losses in life and property, and can never guarantee in advance the success of their military operations. In point of fact, resorting to military power has been consistently unsuccessful at least 50% of the time (one side always loses, and, arguably, both sides often lose), and violent conflict always involves huge amounts of human suffering and destruction. Can we afford to not give peace a chance?
It is not an accident that Jesus’ teachings about peace and nonviolence did not sit well with those in power, including those who claimed to follow his teachings. Yet, there has always existed the witness of faithful Christians who saw that war is not the answer. Certainly when speaking about weapons of mass destruction, which obliterate humans by the tens of thousands in a split second, one can easily understand that people of conscience would stand in opposition.
On a smaller scale, there should be an effort to at least make the Middle East a nuclear-free zone. The area is so small, the passions there are so intense, and military flare ups are frequent. At the very least, we should take nuclear weapons off the table, rather than permit a nuclear arms race with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and perhaps Egypt seeking nuclear weapons and see Iran pushed to change or violate its religious leaders’ current position on nuclear weapons.
Can we have religious leaders of all three Abrahamic faiths boldly state that nuclear weapons are a sin and that no true believers in the One God should seek to manufacture, possess, or ever use such weapons under any circumstances? Already the Catholic Pope and the highest Muslim Shia religious authorities have spoken. Can we perhaps, too, hear from some rabbis or Sunni clerics on this issue?
To realistically contemplate this course of action, we must redouble our efforts to seek a genuine just peace that addresses the interests of all the people in the area. At the very least, it requires us to abandon the double standard, end the taboo on discussing Israel’s nuclear weapons, question the near universal reliance on weapons and violence, and work for authentic peace. Sabeel and FOSNA are proud to take that position. Violence is not the answer, and nuclear weapons surely must be eliminated.
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August 20
Beyond the Two-State Solution: Standing for Justice in Palestine/Israel
FOSNA Executive Director Jonathan Kuttab will be the keynote speaker for Middle East Peace Now's Monthly Forum on August 20, at 10:00-11:30am Central Time.
August 24
Don Wagner: What I’ve Learned in 50 Years of Palestinian Solidarity
Dr. Michael Spath of the Indiana Center for Middle East Peace interviews friend and mentor to many, Rev. Dr. Don Wagner, via Zoom on the release of his autobiography, “Glory to God in the Lowest! Journeys to an Unholy Land.” His book is a personal, political, and religious journey from an evangelical Christian faith and conservative politics to solidarity with the poor and advocacy for anti-war, anti-racism, and Palestinian rights.
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