Olmert appears to admit Israel has nuke weapons

Jerusalem, Dec 12: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, lifting the veil over Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity, appeared in an interview broadcast to admit that the Jewish state had atomic weapons.

It was not clear from his comments, made during an interview with a German television station and broadcast on Israel's Channel 10, whether his remarks were a slip of the tongue or were intended to revise Israeli policy on the nuclear issue.

''Israel doesn't threaten any country with anything, never did,'' Olmert told SAT 1. ''The most that we tried to get for ourselves is to be able to live without terror. But we never threatened any nation with annihilation.

''Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?''

REUTERS

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