Olmert appears to admit Israel possesses nuclear weapons

DPA
Monday, December 11, 2006

Jerusalem- In an unprecedented move at odds with 40 years
of deliberate ambiguity, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appeared
to admit Monday that Israel possesses nuclear weapons, when he
included the country in a list of nuclear states.
In an interview with Germany's Sat 1 television, an excerpt of
which was broadcast in Israel, the prime minister was asked whether
Israel's nuclear arsenal - which until now it has never publicly
admitted to having - undermined the West's objections to a nuclear
Iran.

"Israel is a democracy and does not threaten anyone ... Iran
explicitly, openly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the
map," an agitated Olmert replied.

"Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring
to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel and Russia?" he
asked, in remarks immediately seized on by some Israeli commentators
as being an admission that the Jewish state does have nuclear
arsenal.

Although long-suspected of possessing nuclear weapons, Israel has
never openly confirmed these suspicions, saying only that it would
not be the first power to introduce atomic weapons to the Middle
East.

Shortly after the Olmert interview was broadcast in Israel, state
television quoted officials in the prime minister's office as saying
that Olmert, when mentioning America, France, Israel and Russia, was
referring to democratic countries, and not to nuclear ones.