Jeddah, February 22: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is criticized for dodging a question on Israel’s nuclear arsenal during a “town hall” meeting at a Jeddah college.
Mariyam Alavi, a Saudi student, asked Clinton last Tuesday about Washington’s stance on the existence of nuclear weapons in the Middle East.
“I did not get a straight answer,” Alavi said in a letter published in Arab News, AFP reported.
“My question was simple and direct enough,” she wrote, but Clinton’s response “was very unsatisfying.”
The 12th grader at the International Indian School in Jeddah, who attended the meeting at the elite Dar al-Hekma College, noted that the US top diplomat only detailed Iran’s nuclear program, without mentioning Israel.
If the Americans “so vehemently oppose Iran’s nuclear program,” she had asked, “then why isn’t the US asking Israel to give up their nuclear weapons?”
The student has questioned Washington’s double standard toward Iran’s nuclear program and accused Washington of hypocrisy.
“Clinton said that the United States, under the able leadership of President Barack Obama, was trying to repair and strengthen its ties with the Muslim world,” Alavi said.
“It is high time she realized it couldn’t be done without answering the questions uppermost in the minds of the Middle East people,” she added.
Clinton had been on a three-day trip to Qatar and Saudi Arabia to discuss the latest regional developments, including Iran’s nuclear program.
The world powers, led by the US, are attempting to stop the Islamic Republic’s nuclear enrichment program — which Tehran says it is entitled to as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
While the Western powers accuse Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program, they have kept mum Israel, which reportedly has about 200 nuclear war head.
Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed at the civilian application of the technology.
——–Agencies