President Trump 'Outs' Israel's Nuclear Arsenal
The commander-in-chief abandons the long-standing U.S. policy of 'opacity'
U.S. President Donald Trump has admitted — indirectly — that Israel possesses nuclear weapons, something no U.S. president is supposed to do, according a long-standing but not-very-secret U.S. policy.
Not Trump. He casually blew up a U.S. policy and created a legal problem for the U.S. government as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which forbids party nations from aiding nations with undeclared nuclear weapons.
Here’s how he did it. At a press conference at the White House on Monday, the following exchange took place:
Reporter: One of your advisers, David Sacks, said the other week that the U.S. should “declare victory and get out” of the Iran war. He also warned that if the conflict escalates, Israel may contemplate the use of a nuclear weapon. Has he shared that assessment with you?
Trump: No, he hasn’t. Israel wouldn’t do that. Israel would never use — do that.
On the verge of saying, “Israel would never use its nuclear weapons,” Trump caught himself. But he didn’t say, “Israel couldn’t do that,” which would have been the natural response concerning nuclear weapons use if in fact Israel did not possess them. He did not do what President Barack Obama did when independent White House correspondent Helen Thomas asked him about Israel’s nuclear arsenal. Obama quickly changed the subject.
Trump’s slip — if it was a slip — once again highlighted the proverbial elephant in the room of the war with Iran: Israel’s nukes.
