Israel’s Finance Minister Yair Lapid has criticized
the Israeli delegation for walking out of Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani’s speech at the UN General Assembly as a mistake.
"Israel shouldn't be portrayed as a serial objector to negotiations, uninterested in peaceful solutions,” Lapid said
Israel’s
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli delegation to the
United Nations to boycott Rouhani’s address at the UN General Assembly
on Tuesday.
Following
the Iranian president’s landmark speech, Netanyahu issued a statement
and described the address as “cynical” and filled with “hypocrisy”.
Netanyahu also said Iran wanted to use the talks to buy time for its nuclear program.
In
his address to the UN, Rouhani reiterated Tehran’s readiness for talks
on its nuclear energy program with complete transparency.
"Nuclear
weapons and other weapons of mass destruction have no place in Iran's
security and defense doctrine, and contradict our fundamental religious
and ethical convictions," he said.
The
United States, Israel and some of their allies claim that Iran is
pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with the
US and the European Union using the allegation as a pretext to impose
illegal sanctions on Iran.
Tehran
strongly rejects the claim, maintaining that as a committed signatory
to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology
for peaceful purposes.
This
is while Israel is widely believed to be the only possessor of nuclear
weapons in the Middle East with an estimated stockpile of 200-400
nuclear warheads.
The
Israeli regime rejects all regulatory international nuclear agreements,
particularly the NPT, and refuses to allow its nuclear facilities to
come under international regulatory inspections.
source