Russia: Israeli Minister’s Nuke Comment ‘Raises Huge Number of Questions’

[D. Ray]

…

Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu made the comments on Sunday,
saying there are no innocent civilians in Gaza and that dropping nuclear
weapons on the enclave is an option for Israel.

Israel is estimated to have somewhere between 90 and 300 nuclear
warheads but does not acknowledge its arsenal. Eliyahu’s comments appeared
to confirm that Israel has nuclear weapons, going against the Israeli
government’s policy of ambiguity on the issue.

“It raised a huge number of questions,” Russian Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said about Eliyahu’s comments. “The number one
question is, did we hear an official declaration that [Israel] has nuclear
weapons? Consequently, the next questions that everyone had were: Where are
the international organizations, where is the IAEA, where are the
inspectors?”

Zakharova also asked where Israel has conducted nuclear tests. “If this
program exists and existed, where were the tests conducted, at what testing
grounds? Obviously, apparently not in the region, then where? And isn’t the
United States behind all this?” she said.

The US also maintains a policy of ambiguity concerning Israel’s nuclear
weapons program. In 2021, Axios reported that President Biden and
then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett renewed a decades-old informal
agreement on Israel’s nukes.

Every US president since Nixon has agreed not to press Israel to sign the
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and in return, Israel agrees not to declare
its nuclear arsenal and operate the program covertly.

The ambiguity allows the US to give Israel aid, which is technically
illegal due to the existence of Israel’s nuclear arsenal. Under foreign
assistance laws, the US cannot provide aid to nuclear-armed states that
refuse to sign the NPT.

<https://news.antiwar.com/2023/11/07/russia-israeli-ministers-nuke-comment-raises-huge-number-of-questions/>

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