munkle
Diamond Member
- Dec 18, 2012
- 6,140
- 10,789
- 2,130
This is a surprising crack in the armor. Usually congressmen signing a letter like this would expect it to end their political carers and be branded as "antisemites."
www.aljazeera.com
"Washington, DC – A group of Democrats in the United States Congress have called on the State Department to break the US government’s longstanding silence on Israel’s nuclear capabilities.
In a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Democrats pointed to the US-Israel war on Iran as the reason more clarity is urgently needed.
While Israel is believed to have possessed nuclear weapons since the 1960s, it maintains “a policy of nuclear opacity, never officially confirming the existence of its nuclear weapons program and arsenal”, according to the Washington, DC-based Nuclear Threat Initiative.
The White House has also long maintained ambiguity on the issue, despite a handful of glancing admissions. In turn, lawmakers in Congress have launched several coordinated public efforts for greater transparency amid decades of bipartisan support for Israel.
“Congress has a constitutional responsibility to be fully informed about the nuclear balance in the Middle East, the risk of escalation by any party to this conflict, and the administration’s planning and contingencies for such scenarios,” the letter, signed by 30 members of Congress, said. “We do not believe we have received that information.”
“Members of Congress are right to question why Israel’s development of nuclear weapons gets a free pass while we’re trying to prevent Iran from acquiring them,”
In rare push, US lawmakers demand transparency on Israel nuclear capability
Lawmakers say US policy of ambiguity on Israel's nuclear capabilities heightens risks amid US-Israel war on Iran.
"Washington, DC – A group of Democrats in the United States Congress have called on the State Department to break the US government’s longstanding silence on Israel’s nuclear capabilities.
In a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Democrats pointed to the US-Israel war on Iran as the reason more clarity is urgently needed.
While Israel is believed to have possessed nuclear weapons since the 1960s, it maintains “a policy of nuclear opacity, never officially confirming the existence of its nuclear weapons program and arsenal”, according to the Washington, DC-based Nuclear Threat Initiative.
The White House has also long maintained ambiguity on the issue, despite a handful of glancing admissions. In turn, lawmakers in Congress have launched several coordinated public efforts for greater transparency amid decades of bipartisan support for Israel.
“Congress has a constitutional responsibility to be fully informed about the nuclear balance in the Middle East, the risk of escalation by any party to this conflict, and the administration’s planning and contingencies for such scenarios,” the letter, signed by 30 members of Congress, said. “We do not believe we have received that information.”
“Members of Congress are right to question why Israel’s development of nuclear weapons gets a free pass while we’re trying to prevent Iran from acquiring them,”
