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06 May 2009 03:06 pm
Israel's Nuclear Closet, Ctd
It seems that the Obama administration is beginning to show it means business. This reader helps relieve some of my ignorance:
There is a very
simple reason why we have to pretend that Israel does not possess
nuclear weapons- the Non Proliferation Treaty. Under the treaty and US
law, a non-signatory to the treaty (such as Israel) who acquires nuclear
weapons is
prohibited from receiving any foreign aid or military aid
(the last estimates I saw were that Israel receives about a quarter of
the US's entire foreign aid budget, and half of our foreign military
aid budget). So there you go.
Interesting. I should repeat I have no problem with Israel having a nuclear capacity. If I were Israel I'd like that too. But that surely requires openness to other nuclear powers in the region. But I had no idea that military aid to Israel is strictly speaking illegal - or somehow requires being on the nuclear DL. More background here and here. The US was partly responsible for this strange situation, and some Israelis think it's stupid as well. This issue may well return to prominence in the months ahead.
By the way: what do you think is scarier? A nuclear Islamist Iran or a nuclear Islamist Pakistan?
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