A senior Israeli official said the Jewish state had been on the threshold of producing nuclear arms at least three decades ago, but he stopped short of confirming the widely-held – though never confirmed – belief that Israel has a nuclear arsenal today. Speaking at a security conference near Tel Aviv on Sunday, Ariel Levite, deputy head of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, recounted the history of world nuclear development and the creation of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, which limited the possession of nuclear weapons to those who had them before 1967.
The treaty, ratified by most countries, went into effect in 1970. It was largely successful in putting the brakes on the nuclear race, he said, “but nevertheless there was some creeping forward, as a result of which three threshold states appeared, those who were outside the nuclear agreement, India, Pakistan and Israel.” Levite, who prefaced his remarks by saying they were his own opinion and not an official commission statement, did not specifically refer to any Israeli weapons, although India and Pakistan went on to become declared nuclear powers. Contacted by The Associated Press on Monday, Levite said his remarks should not be interpreted as a policy statement nor as an indicator of Israel’s past or present nuclear status. |