Jerusalem, Israel – On a visit to Jerusalem this week, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, commented on reports that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has refused to publish evidence that Iran is “pursuing information about weaponization efforts and a military nuclear program.”Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen stated “Instead of preventing nuclear proliferation, it appears that an increasingly politicized IAEA may be concealing evidence of just that by the Iranian regime…Worse yet, U.S. funds are also being used by the IAEA to provide nuclear assistance to Iran and other rogue regimes.”

She went on to say that “The IAEA must immediately release all evidence of Iran’s nuclear activities, and Congress should pass pending legislation that stops U.S. taxpayer dollars from indirectly bankrolling Iran’s nuclear program.”

Background: Ros-Lehtinen is the author of the Stop Nuclear Assistance to State Sponsors of Terrorism Act (H.R. 3107), which includes provisions to withhold U.S. funding to the IAEA for technical cooperation assistance to regimes that are designated state sponsors of terrorism or are in breach – or suspected breach – of their nonproliferation obligations and IAEA commitments.

The IAEA would not respond to the allegations raised by Congresswoman Ros- Lehtinen.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Previous articleGiving Congress a New Perspective on Palestinian Incitement
Next articleEgyptian President Murbarak Looks Ill During Visit
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.