Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Israel plans to update existing legislation to meet international standards that aim to curb the production and distribution of weapons of mass destruction.

Israel is not a signatory to the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and it has often been criticized for not enforcing the NPT’s limitations on business dealings with countries that overtly pursue military nuclear programs, such as Iran and North Korea.

A new initiative by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon aims to increase Israel’s part in the international struggle against the funding and proliferation of WMDs by imposing immediate sanctions on Israeli bodies that fund or distribute such weapons, or on companies doing business with such bodies or countries.

The draft bill aims to close legal loopholes that effectively allow Israeli companies to conduct business with North Korea and Iran.

“The purpose of the bill is to streamline the process by which Israel designates parties that assist [countries producing WMDs] in order to enable Israel to meet the binding international standards on the adoption of UN Security Council resolutions, as required by the FATF (Financial Action Task Force), an international organization that leads the fight against global money laundering and the financing of terrorism and sets the standards on this issue,” the bill’s abstract states.

Founded in 1989 by the G-7 — the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union — the FATF develops policies to combat money laundering and terrorism financing on both domestic and international levels.