Jos
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Patrick Pexton: What about Israel’s nuclear weapons? - The Washington PostReaders periodically ask me some variation on this question: Why does the press follow every jot and tittle of Irans nuclear program, but we never see any stories about Israels nuclear weapons capability?
Its a fair question. Going back 10 years into Post archives, I could not find any in-depth reporting on Israeli nuclear capabilities, although national security writer Walter Pincus has touched on it many times in his articles and columns.
I spoke with several experts in the nuclear and nonproliferation fields , and they say that the lack of reporting on Israels nuclear weapons is real and frustrating. There are some obvious reasons for this, and others that are not so obvious.
First, Israel refuses to acknowledge publicly that it has nuclear weapons. The U.S. government also officially does not acknowledge the existence of such a program. Israels official position, as reiterated by Aaron Sagui, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy here, is that Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East. Israel supports a Middle East free of all weapons of mass destruction following the attainment of peace. The introduce language is purposefully vague, but experts say it means that Israel will not openly test a weapon or declare publicly that it has one.
George Perkovich, director of the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said there are benign and not-so-benign reasons that U.S. officials are so tight-lipped. The United States and Israel are allies and friends. Do you out your friends? he asked.
And not being open about Israels nuclear weapons serves both U.S. and Israeli interests, Perkovich noted. If Israel were public about its nukes, or brandished its program recklessly as North Korea does every time it wants something it would put more pressure on Arab states to obtain their own bomb.
Among the less benign reasons U.S. sources dont leak is that it can hurt your career. Said Perkovich: Its like all things having to do with Israel and the United States. If you want to get ahead, you dont talk about it; you dont criticize Israel, you protect Israel. You dont talk about illegal settlements on the West Bank even though everyone knows they are there.