Israel and the NPT

I, for one, had no idea that Israel was not a signatory to the Nuclean Non-proliferation Treaty. Well, for two.

Apparently the fact that Israel is a country with nukes is a wink-wink kind of thing--for years! From the Andrew Sullivan reader:

There is a very simple reason why we have to pretend that Israel does not possess nuclear weapons- the Non Proliferation Treaty. Under the treaty and US law, a non-signatory to the treaty (such as Israel) who acquires nuclear weapons is prohibited from receiving any foreign aid or military aid (the last estimates I saw were that Israel receives about a quarter of the US's entire foreign aid budget, and half of our foreign military aid budget). So there you go.

Damn, who knew?

I predict Israel's signing the NPT will be a precondition for negotations very, very soon. After all, if they won't sign, what incentive would other nations in the Middle East have to sign?