This is one of those situations that has really hampered US credibility. On one hand Israel faces very real threats and in the other has often acted against the International Community's wishes, in a manner it feels will protect it. Israel being rife with contradiction is an understatement. They have my sympathies, but those sympathies don't blind me to the fact that their treatment of the Palestinians is unacceptable. My sympathies also don't prevent me from seeing that our double standard on Israel jeopardizes our standing both morally and politically.

Asking other countries to honor their commitment to the NPT while not asking Israel to be a signatory is but a slight distinction in a very serious matter. Indeed you really have to wonder is this one of the reasons the question, of Iran's President Ahmadinejad's sanity, gets the full court press. Clearly he doesn't need any help in that department as he can be counted on for zingers and ramblings quite readily. However occasionally he does say that if there is to be a non-nuclear (weapons) middle-east then that has to include Israel, which is in the Middle East. Therein lies the fodder for the claim that Western nations want to pick and choose the haves and have-nots in the nuclear weapons realm. The fact is Israel routinely "runs" to the world about its suspicions of the nuclear programs of other surrounding countries while not answering any questions about its own. Short of us, the world appears to be tiring of this.

Israel as any other country is deserving of protection and safety, but it can't be at the expense of sanity and accordance with International law. It may seem counter intuitive but especially with the US revealing concrete numbers on our nuclear weapons, I see more pressure on Israel as an ally to be open and transparent, than I see on Iran. At the same time, they would gain more in the way of the ability to pressure Iran and they strengthen our hand both the world's view of our commitment to Non-Proliferation and our desire for transparency.