Tuesday December 12, 2006

Israeli PM admits to nuclear weapons

abc.net.au :

Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, has made an embarrassing gaffe during a visit to Germany, apparently admitting that his country possesses nuclear weapons. He listed Israel, along with America, France and Russia as nuclear states. Israel has a strict policy of never admitting to or denying it has such weapons, despite a widespread belief that it has hundreds of them at the ready.

David Hardaker: He was interviewed on arrival in Germany by a German television network. He was angered by a question asking whether or not Israel's possession of nuclear power weakened the West's position against Iran. He exclaimed, "Israel is a democracy and does not threaten anyone. The only thing we have tried to do is to live without threats of terror, but we've never threatened anyone with annihilation. And can you say this in the same level while Iran is aspiring to have nuclear weapons, like America, like France, like Israel and Russia".

news.bbc.co.uk :

Mr Olmert added that the Iranians were "aspiring to have nuclear weapons as America, France, Israel, Russia" - on the surface, an explicit acknowledgement, the BBC's Simon Wilson in Jerusalem says. But Israeli officials moved quickly to deny that Israel had changed its long-held policy of ambiguity on the issue. Mr Olmert's comments caused a political uproar in Israel, with some lawmakers demanding his resignation.

Correspondents say Mr Olmert's interview is likely to further fuel the debate about nuclear weapons in the Middle East. Last week, the new US defence secretary, Robert Gates, used a similar form of words to Mr Olmert during a Senate confirmation hearing. Mr Gates said Tehran was "surrounded by powers with nuclear weapons: Pakistan to their east, the Russians to the north, the Israelis to the west and us in the Persian Gulf".

(2006-12-12 12:42:12 SGT) [Tech] Permalink

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