Peres Doesn’t Trust Assad

By Gilad Atzmon

Israeli president Shimon Peres is the man who laid the foundation for Israel's nuclear weapon program back in the 1950’s and by doing so, introduced the entire region to WMD. So he is not exactly the right person to pass a judgment on Syrian chemical arsenal.

In his memoirs, "Battling for Peace," Peres describes his nuclear accomplishments leading up to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war: "My contribution during that dramatic period was something that I still cannot write about openly for reasons of state security. After Dayan was appointed defense minister I submitted to him a certain proposal which ... would have deterred the Arabs and prevented the war."

The same Shimon Peres voiced scepticism on Wednesday over Russian proposal to place Syrian chemical weapons  under international custodianship.

Speaking at the Israeli Navy graduation ceremony on Wednesday, Peres said, “Assad cannot be trusted to honour the agreement.”  I wonder whether Israel will ever allow UN inspectors into the Dimona reactor or any of its WMD factories around the country.