Shared CHUTZPAH over Nuclear Proliferation

Following up on my argument that you can no longer find an adequate American source of hard news, I just found a story on Al Jazeera English, which, while based entirely on wire sources, does not appear to have surfaced anywhere else.  One does not have to read far to discover why the usual mainstream American sources were not interested in distributing the content:

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, has rejected an Arab-proposed resolution calling on Israel to join a global anti-atomic arms treaty.

The general assembly of the 151-member IAEA blocked the resolution at its meeting in Vienna on Friday. Fifty-one member states voted against the resolution while 46 voted in favour and 23 abstained.

Israel had warned the UN nuclear watchdog that an Arab-led push to target the Jewish state in a resolution could deal a "fatal blow" to future co-operation on boosting Middle East security.

"Adopting this resolution will be a fatal blow to any hope for future co-operative efforts towards better regional security in the Middle East," Ehud Azoulay, Israel's IAEA envoy said, shortly before the vote.

Indeed, when you read a bit further, you discover that there is an American dog in this hunt:

The United States had urged Arab states to withdraw the non-binding resolution, saying it could derail broader efforts to ban such arms in the Middle East and also send a negative signal to the relaunched Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

So here we are:  The United States can be as vocal and activist as it chooses when it comes to an Arab-based resolution on nuclear nonproliferation, but it will hold its diplomatic tongue when it comes to Israel building settlements and talking about redefining borders to accommodate those settlements.  This is beyond those "petty thoughts" that Friedrich Nietzsche declared to be worse than "evil deeds."  This is the raw and unadulterated chutzpah of intimidation, which, like many acts of chutzpah succeeds in spite of (or because of?) its very speciousness.  That a questionable position assumed jointly by Israel and the United States would be enough to defeat such a critical vote by such a reputable world body is more than adequate grounds for Israel and United State to share this week's Chutzpah of the Week award.