The International Atomic Energy Agency's General Conference on Thursday voted down a resolution proposed by the Arab nations, headed by Egypt, which called for international supervision over Israel's nuclear facilities.

61 member countries opposed the proposed resolution, 43 voted for it and 33 abstained.

The vote's results were a great victory for Israel, which ran an international campaign over the last two months against the resolution, and a defeat for Egypt, which once again failed to advance an international maneuver against Israel's nuclear program.

Among those voting against the resolution were the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, all European Union members, Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, as well as south American countries such as Uruguay and Panama. Kenya and other countries in Africa and the Pacific also opposed the resolution. Many others abstained, including Brazil and India.

Russia, China, Turkey and South Africa joined the Arab countries in backing the resolution.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that in recent weeks there has been a joint effort led by the National Security Council at the Prime Minister's Office, the Foreign Ministry and the Atomic Energy Commission to thwart the resolution.

"I personally talked with more than 30 presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers," Netanyahu said. "In our conversations I explained that there's no place for a discussion of this sort while the main problem in the Middle East remains Iran's attempts to obtain nuclear weapons and its clear declarations of its intent to destroy the State of Israel."

Netanyahu noted that the gap in Israel's favor has been significantly larger compared with similar votes in recent years, and thanked the countries that voted against the resolution, noting in particular the U.S., Australia and Canada, as well as the EU states, which opposed the resolution as a bloc.

Israel's envoy to the IAEA, Merav Zafary-Odiz, said that Israel congratulates the results which make it clear the world has rejected the attempt to deflect the IAEA general conference from the main issues it should deal with.

The vote sends a message to the resolution's authors that security in the region can only be achieved through direct dialogue between all the countries in the Middle East, she said, adding that Israel is willing to engage in such talks with its Arab neighbors.

The Qatari envoy, whose country heads the Arab group at the IAEA, presented the resolution proposal titled "Israel's nuclear capabilities," calling on Israel to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty and to place its nuclear facilities under UN supervision. He noted that these facilities are the only ones in the Middle East not under international supervision, and thus pose a danger.

The Iranian envoy said that Israel's nuclear capabilities, which he claimed include atomic weapons, were always a cause for concern in the region. "This regime is continuing to advance and develop its nuclear program contrary to all international norms," he said, adding that Iran was "worried about the negative ramifications" Israel's nuclear program has on the security of the region. The Iranian envoy also noted that while nuclear scientists from Israel were given access to nuclear sites in countries that possess nuclear arms, Iranian scientists were assassinated.

Envoy David Danieli of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission presented Israel's stance in at the meeting. He criticized the proposal, saying that a similar one was rejected by IAEA general conference last year and calling on all the nations to vote against it again. Danieli said the resolution politicizes the IAEA and deflects the discussion from the important issues. He said the resolution isolates Israel, harms trust in the region and contradicts any sort of dialogue. He accused the Arab nations of continuously choosing the path of condemning Israel instead of pursuing a dialogue.

The Syrian envoy said his country is concerned that the international community has done nothing against Israel's nuclear capabilities, which are expanding daily. Israel cannot be left outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and that it must be pressured into acquiescing to the international community's demand to "dismantle all of its nuclear arsenal."

Talks in Cairo

Earlier this month it was reported that Israel has asked Egypt to stop its efforts to advance a resolution to subject Israel’s nuclear facilities to international inspection, senior officials in Jerusalem said.

The Israeli message to Egypt was conveyed during a visit to Cairo in August by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s special envoy, Isaac Molho, and National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen, the officials said. Molho and Cohen met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and other Egyptian government officials to discuss the matter. Shoukry and his ministry are leading the anti-Israel move in the IAEA as part of a long-time Egyptian policy to lobby internationally against Israel’s nuclear program.

The Egyptian moves have been a source of tension between Jerusalem and Cairo in recent months. A senior Israeli official noted that Jerusalem had hoped that the close bilateral intelligence and security cooperation since President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi took office would lead to Egyptian restraint on the issue of Israel’s nuclear capabilities.

Senior Israeli officials said Molho and Cohen made this clear to Shoukry and the other Egyptian officials they met, saying such actions did not reflect the current state of bilateral relations. The two also made it clear that the Egyptian efforts would not succeed, because Israel would block such a resolution, as it had done several times in the past.

The officials added that Israel is very frustrated that even the extensive aid it is giving Egypt in its battle against jihadist groups in the Sinai – including agreeing to allow more Egyptian troops into the peninsula than permitted under the countries’ peace agreement – has not changed Cairo’s attitude toward the Israeli nuclear issue.

“Despite everything that’s been going on in the region in recent years, Egypt is continuing as if nothing has changed and is acting against Israel in international forums,” a senior Israeli official said.