Democrats Press Rubio To Out Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal

Congressional Democrats are calling on the Trump administration to publicly recognize Israel’s nuclear capabilities, a move that threatens to upend a decades-long American policy, one whose first rule, much as with Chuck Palahniuk’s “Fight Club,” has always been: you don’t talk about it. More than two dozen House Democrats sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday, arguing that the war with Iran and the risks of military escalation demand transparency around Israel’s nuclear arsenal.“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,” wrote the lawmakers, led by Representative Joaquin Castro of Texas. “We do not believe we have received that information.”They added that the “risks of miscalculation, escalation, and nuclear use” are “not theoretical” and that America’s unofficial policy of ambiguity “makes coherent nonproliferation policy in the Middle East impossible, for Iran, for Saudi Arabia, and for every other state in the region.” The letter also raises the danger of nuclear facilities in an active war zone, noting that Israel’s Dimona site has been targeted by Iranian missiles.The lawmakers listed 11 questions and requests regarding Israel’s nuclear weapons capabilities, including whether Israel has communicated any “red lines” for nuclear use in the current conflict and whether it has indicated plans to deploy nuclear weapons in the near future. They ask for a response by May 18.While Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons — and to have done so since the late 1960s — it has neither confirmed nor denied the arsenal. Israeli officials have repeated for decades that “Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East.” Intelligence officials estimate that Israel possesses around 90 nuclear warheads, with enough fissile material to produce hundreds more.America’s silence on Israel’s nuclear program dates to an informal understanding reached in 1969 between President Nixon and Prime Minister Golda Meir. Though the precise exchange remains unknown, Nixon’s national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, wrote in an internal memo that the president had made clear to Meir that it was in America’s interest that “Israel make no visible introduction of nuclear weapons or undertake a nuclear test program.” In exchange, America would look the other way.America formally acknowledges the nuclear arsenals of the United Kingdom, France, India, Pakistan, Russia, China, and North Korea.Under American arms control law, the U.S. is obligated to withhold security assistance and impose sanctions on any country that develops or tests nuclear weapons outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The don’t-ask-don’t-tell arrangement with Israel allows the Jewish state to skirt these legal requirements without formally declaring its nuclear status — a declaration some warn would prompt Arab states to respond and trigger a regional arms race.The push to reverse this arrangement reflects the left’s broader pivot against Israel, a shift confirmed last month when 40 of 47 Senate Democrats voted to block arms sales to the Jewish state. A recent Pew survey found that 80 percent of Democrats now view Israel unfavorably, up from 53 percent in 2022.

Democrats Press Rubio To Out Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal

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