Israelis piqued by Gates nuclear "confirmation"

[Robbien]

Dec 7 (Reuters) - Robert Gates, the incoming U.S. secretary of defense, won plaudits in Washington this week for his candour on the Iraq war. Some Israelis were less pleased, however, to hear Gates mention with equal frankness what U.S. administrations have long avoided uttering in public -- that the Jewish state has the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal.

To be fair, it was pretty oblique.

During his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Gates speculated on why Iran might be seeking the means to build an atomic bomb. "They are surrounded by powers with nuclear weapons: Pakistan to their east, the Russians to the north, the Israelis to the west and us in the Persian Gulf," he said.

The statement led Israeli news bulletins, with some pundits suggesting that former CIA chief Gates may have breached a U.S. "don't ask, don't tell" policy dating back to the late 1960s.

"I haven't a clue why Gates made those remarks," Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a member of Israel's security cabinet, said in a radio interview.

A retired Israeli diplomat, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, called the testimony "quite unprecedented" and added: "I can only assume he (Gates) has yet to get to grips with the understandings that exist between us and the Americans."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07258813.htm

[Mythsaje]

1. Oh, my god! He said out loud something people already know!

Are these people bent?

[Robbien]

2. Didn't a guy just get out of prison for saying the same thing

He is still under house arrest I believe.

[IA_Seth]

3. Mordechai Vununu

www.nonviolence.org/vanunu

[Zhade]

12. A true hero and Israeli patriot.

It's criminal what they did to him.

[IA_Seth]

19. Word.

I believe I recall you posting in the I/P forum quite a bit back in the day...I haven't been there forEVER (unless a good post gets pushed there)..

Anyway, I agree completely, and the US should be holding them accountable, not endorsing it.

[0rganism]

4. "the understandings that exist between us and the Americans"

uh... speaking of things that are usually left unspoken.... errmmm.... well, nevermind.

[anotherdrew]

9. I think it's time for a few new UNDERSTANDINGS and the secret nukes game is OVER

such utter bullshit and hypocrisy, who the fuck do these people think they are?

oh, nevermind

[Kellyiswise]

21. The understanding exits only between neocons shills. Most of America

is totally unaware of how much influence Israel government has over their government.

[xchrom]

5. in other words -- there is a ''secret relationship'' between

the u.s. government and israel?

seems to be what the annonymous diplomat is saying.

[Lance_Boyle]

6. Not 'Israelis.'

"The govt. of Israel." That govt. does not speak for "Israelis" any more than GWB speaks for "Americans." Good on Gates for speaking his mind without filtering for the benefit of the rogue government of that state. And shame upon shame upon shame to Ben-Eliezer for perpetuating the evil that is his government.

[SquireJons]

11. OK, you've reeled me back in.

You really got me with the point about GWB not speaking for americans, so my angst toward Israel should not be directed at the people of Israel, for the most part. But it does seem hard to find the progressive movement in Israel (other than that gay pride parade they had last week). Even moderates are militant, but then again, I guess so is Hillary.

To me, this whole Middle Eastern mess is a grand hypocrisy, not just Israels nukes. Israel is only a part of it. The damned colonial empires of England, France, Germany, et al set us up for this, and we weren't smart enough to find a way to avoid the trap.

Even after the autocratic governments of Europe were discredited and devastated by the Great War (WWI), the mind set that allowed them to exist persisted. Particularly in the elite. It was they who devised the strategy of dealing with the former Ottoman Empire. They dissected the land and set up monarchy's who would be dependent on the mother country which set them up. Hence, Frances current involvement in Lebanon, a country which was in their mandate.

The whole Middle East is chopped up into dysfunctional parts, forced together like a a bunch of Frankensteins countries. That's why it takes the likes of Saddam Hussein or King Fahd to keep the places functioning.

So, France and England screwed up the Middle East, Germany creates the moral excuse for the creation of the state of Israel (not to mention what Italy did in Africa), but who gets stuck with the bill?

US, that's who. And this sucks. What did we ever do to deserve this?

Oh yeah... Thanks dubya.

[Zhade]

13. Excellent point.

The Israeli people deserve a better government than the war criminals they have in power.

[MisterP]

14. not to mention President Katsav

rapists, war criminals, and a vegetable

[formercia]

7. Some good background on Israel's nuke program

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/nuke/

[donkeyotay]

8. Thanks. I always thought that the next question would be

where did they get their technology. I would have guessed it was us, but it looks like France helped, too.

[Tesha]

22. They didn't get it from us directly...

They didn't get it from us directly, but we were quite
aware of their development efforts and did nothing to
stop them.

See a recent article in The Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists.

http://www.thebulletin.org/index.htm
http://www.thebulletin.org/article.php?art_ofn=mj06cohen

Tesha

[donkeyotay]

23. Thanks, Tesha.

So, basically it's been "don't ask, don't tell" because it would make us look bad if the NPT hadn't been applied to Israel. But, the NPT was a moot point already. Still have to wonder where the technology came from and if that's not part of the need to keep secrets.

Call me dense, but I still don't understand why so many think they need nuclear weapons. They come at great expense, and they're basically useless. Seems like we still live in a Mutually Assured Destruction world, especially when the country you would nuke is next door and/or upwind. What do I know? Anyway, thanks again for the info.

[humbled_opinion]

10. Thous shalt not talk of that of which we do not talk about. n/t

[Lilith Velkor]

15. Nobody talks about Nuke Club. n/t

[UndertheOcean]

16. Talk about Hypocrisy

n/t

[TheLastMohican]

17. Shhh,

nobody talks about proliferation of nukes when our buddies are involved.

[leesa]

18. Height of hypocrisy. Is it no wonder talks go nowhere in the Middle East?

Was there an audible gasp in the room?

[originalpckelly]

20. "I haven't a clue why Gates made those remarks"

I have to say, I think the next few years with this Gates fella are going to be interesting, aren't they?

It makes Israel look pretty bad when they have 200 nukes and are actually trying to get the world worried enough to take out a nation which might have one nuke in a couple of years.

Israel could annihilate Iran.