# Olmert admits Israel has nuclear weapons **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 12, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olmert-admits-israel-has-nuclear-weapons/383881 "2006-12-12T22:39:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olmert-admits-israel-has-nuclear-weapons/383881/1 "2006-12-12T22:39:53Z")
[In an interview on German TV.](http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=newsone&storyID=2006-12-12T125243Z_01_L12846857_RTRUKOC_0_US-ISRAEL-NUCLEAR-REACTION.xml&WTmodLoc=SciNewsHome_R1_newsone-1) Does this change anything? I mean, they never admitted it before, but the whole world always **knew,** y’know? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olmert-admits-israel-has-nuclear-weapons/383881/2 "2006-12-12T22:54:16Z")
> [@BG](#): > > Does this change anything? Well, as your linked article notes, Israel’s previous maintenance of “nuclear deniability” has allowed them to avoid a US ban on aid to nuke-proliferating countries. I don’t know whether the US government will be willing to explicitly violate that ban if Israel officially cops to having the bomb. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olmert-admits-israel-has-nuclear-weapons/383881/3 "2006-12-12T23:47:23Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Does this change anything? I mean, they never admitted it before, but the whole world always **knew,** y’know? [/QUOTE] Lets not repeat the serious mistake in assuming that a country has a WMD without hard evidence. It could very well be a timely bluff to apply the MAD doctrine in light of current developments in Iran. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olmert-admits-israel-has-nuclear-weapons/383881/4 "2006-12-12T23:59:03Z")
Eh. As your article says, he didn’t “admit” that Israel has nukes, he “implied” that they might. Plausible deniability. Nothing will change. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olmert-admits-israel-has-nuclear-weapons/383881/5 "2006-12-13T00:02:35Z")
We can’t take the chance. I say we invade the bastards now. The citizens will probably throw flowers at us. It’ll be over in a month. The post war transition should be a breeze. How hard could it be to keep the peace in Jerusalem? ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olmert-admits-israel-has-nuclear-weapons/383881/6 "2006-12-13T14:48:25Z")
They got the uranium from South Africa, in exchange for technology. It is based in Dimona (which means it is not). They went public years ago, when they kidnapped some dork who worked in Dimona (Australia rings a bell) who was blowing a whistle. Personally I thought that was a PR job. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olmert-admits-israel-has-nuclear-weapons/383881/7 "2006-12-13T15:19:36Z")
Does anyone, anywhere, have any doubt at all whether Israel has the Bomb? I have to say, a policy of ambiguity that does not result in any doubt in anyone’s mind is not much of a policy at all. As far as US aid to Israel should it admit to having nuclear weapons, the gummit here just overwhelmingly passed a bill that says we don’t really care if India is building nuclear weapons. [Story at 11.](http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/061213/usa/us_india_nuclear_politics_sched_analysis_2) If we’re willing to do that for India, I’m quite sure everyone can rest assured that the U.S. won’t lift a finger to take issue with Israel’s nuclear arsenal.