Chancellor Bruno Kreisky sharply criticized yesterday the bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor by Israeli planes and said the attack was “inexcusable and herostratic.” Israel acted according to the “law of the jungle,” Kreisky said. The fact that the attack served an immediate purpose in the electoral campaign made the action “even less understandable and acceptable,” Kreisky added.
By saying “herostratic,” Kreisky referred to herostraos of ephesos, who, to become famous, set the temple of Artemis afire in 356 B.C. Kreisky also said that Israel had maneuvered Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat into a very difficult situation with the raid.
Sigvar Eklund, the director of the International Atomic Energy Organization, which has its headquarters in Vienna, said here yesterday that Iraq has signed the treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear arms and that officials of his organization have had access to the reactor to check that none of the nuclear material could be used for the production of atomic bombs.
The reactors have been checked recently and all nuclear material has been booked correctly, Eklund said. Another control had been planned for June 8 but was postponed because the officials who conduct the inspection were attending a meeting of the JAEO governors in Vienna.
“During our inspections of the reactors we found no proof whatsover that Iraq violated the treaty of non-proliferation,” Eklund said. “The Israeli attack has been an attack on the JAEO’s security system, too.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
