Israel got nuclear bombs

waltky · Sep 16, 2016

Uncle Ferd says dey prob'ly got dem neutron bombs Jimmy Carter took a pass on...

Powell discusses secret Israeli nukes in leaked 2015 email
September 16, 2016 WASHINGTON (AP) In a private email exchange last year leaked this week by hackers, former Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed Israel's nuclear weapons capability with a friend, saying the country has 200 warheads.

Though Israel is widely believed to have developed nukes decades ago, it has never declared itself to be a nuclear state. The existence of its weapons program is considered classified information by both the Israeli and U.S. governments. Powell, a retired Army general who has served as White House national security adviser and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told The Associated Press on Friday through a spokeswoman he was referring to public estimates of Israel's nukes. "Gen. Powell has not been briefed or had any knowledge from U.S. sources on the existence and or size of an Israeli nuclear capability," the statement said. "He like many people believe that there may be a capability and the number 200 has been speculated upon in open sources." It added: "This email was written 10 years after he left government and has not received briefings on classified matters." Powell, 79, would not say whether he still retains a security clearance.

In the March 2015 exchange from his personal Gmail account, Powell was discussing a speech that day to a joint session of Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The conservative Israeli leader staunchly opposed the deal then proposed by President Barack Obama to curb Iran's nuclear weapons program. "Iranians can't use one if they finally make one," Powell wrote to Democratic donor Jeffrey Leeds, a hedge-fund founder who serves on the board of the Colin L. Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York. "The boys in Tehran know Israel has 200, all targeted on Tehran, and we have thousands." Itai Bardov, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, declined to discuss Powell's email or his nation's policy of not commenting on whether it has nuclear weapons.

Asked about the issue at a briefing Friday, State Department spokesman John Kirby also declined to comment. "I'm not going to discuss matters of intelligence," Kirby said. "We support the nuclear nonproliferation treaty." Powell is not the first top-level U.S. government official to publicly discuss Israel's nukes. Former President Jimmy Carter has said in interviews and speeches that Israel has between 150 and 300 warheads. But the issue is not supposed to be discussed openly by those who work for the U.S. government and hold active security clearances. Even members of Congress are routinely admonished not to even mention the existence of an Israeli nuclear arsenal, said Avner Cohen, a professor at the James Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

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MRogersNhood · Sep 16, 2016

Mmhhmm
oh wait,Israel probably got 27 nukes bigger than what the US dropped pointed at Iran and Saudi Arabia.
With the means to make it happen.
Mess with Israel if you wanna,I wouldn't want to.

juanvaldez · Sep 16, 2016

Common knowledge in the intelligence community. Calling Israel a rogue nuclear power is politically incorrect.They actually kidnaped a spy from London and tried him in secret.

APACHERAT · Sep 16, 2016

South Africa use to have nukes.

America suggested that they get rid of them as soon as they saw that the West was about to loose another battle during the Cold War and the commie ANC was about to take political control of South Africa.

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Israel got nuclear bombs

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Israel got nuclear bombs

waltky Well-Known Member

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