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Israel Has at Least 150 Nukes, Says Carter
Mohammed Mar’i, Former US President Jimmy Carter says Israel has a nuclear arsenal of at least 150 weapons, The Times of London reported yesterday. While experts have long maintained Israel has a nuclear arsenal, the Jewish state has refused to confirm or deny it. Most estimates, many based on evidence leaked in 1986 by an Israeli nuclear technician, put the number of Israeli nuclear weapons at between 100 and 200. But other experts have said the number is as low as 60 or as high as 400. It was unclear from the newspaper’s account whether Carter was citing those estimates, offering his own independent assessment or drawing on US intelligence he would have had access to as president. Former Israeli Military Intelligence chief Aharon Ze’evi Farkash downplayed Carter’s comments saying that he “is not the first and he won’t be the last to talk about this.” “I think the dialogue about Israel on this subject is known, and I wouldn’t want to expand on this; as it is, it would seem that in (Carter’s) latest visit to the region, he was so hurt (by the political establishment shunning him after meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal) that he saw fit to say things which I think weren’t that responsible,” Farkash told Israeli Radio. He added that Carter “was a president a long time ago, and these kinds of things could do damage, but on the other hand, it could enhance the deterrent.” ** Source: Arabnews
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