"The Obama administration's acquiescence to Arab pressure, and its
deviation from long-standing U.S. policy, was perceived by Israel as a
threat to its security, and Israel demanded that the situation be
rectified," the Middle East Media Research Institute said. "The
administration complied."
The sources said the nuclear issue has become a leading item in talks
between Netanyahu and Obama. They said Israel wants a commitment that
Washington would halt any effort by Egypt and its allies to single out
Israel during the Sept. 20 general conference of the IAEA.
Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute, said
Obama has accepted Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity. He said Obama
promised Netanyahu that the United States would not betray Israel at the NPT
conference.
"That so much of their time was taken up with nuclear policy matters —
and that so much of this was made public — was a result of the utter shock
felt within Israel's security establishment upon Washington's acquiescence
to the NPT document," Satloff said.
Over the last year, the sources said, Jerusalem has sought to break the
U.S. boycott of Israel's nuclear program. They said Israel has argued that
Washington should end the boycott as it did with India, slated to receive
U.S. nuclear technology and supplies despite its refusal to sign the NPT.
On Sept. 13, the United States urged Arab countries to withdraw a
resolution that called on Israel to sign the NPT. Arab League members had been drafting the resolution for the assembly of the International Atomic
Energy Agency, on Sept. 20.
"We need to send a positive impulse to that broader peace process, not a
negative one," Glyn Davies, the U.S. envoy to the IAEA, said.
The sources said the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
been studying a U.S. draft of the nuclear accord. They said the Obama
administration has pledged to consider the supply of unspecified technology
for any Israeli nuclear energy program under IAEA supervision.
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