Israel and its allies fended off an Arab-led attempt on Friday to censure the Jewish state's refusal to acknowledge that it possesses nuclear weapons and put them under international oversight.
The Jewish state is overwhelmingly considered to possess such arms but declines to confirm it. Its Arab neighbors say Israel's nuclear weapons threaten peace in the Middle East and miss few international opportunities to criticise it on that account.
Still, it was the first time since three years that a resolution critical of Israel was put to a vote at the annual conference of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. The Arab decision to do so reflected frustration over failed attempts to convene senior-level talks on banning weapons of mass destruction from the Mideast.At the same time, more nations opposed the resolution than expected.