Olmert creates storm in Israel on nuclear issue

MIDDLE EAST:Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert faces serious domestic political fallout from his apparent admission in a German television interview that Israel is a nuclear power.

Mr Olmert dodged questions on the issue during a visit to Berlin yesterday as opposition politicians in Israel denounced the apparent end of "strategic ambiguity" on nuclear weapons.

"Israel has said many times that we will not be the first country to introduce atomic weapons into the Middle East," said Mr Olmert yesterday, scratching his head.

Asked for clarification, he added that Israel would "not be the last country in the region to possess atomic weapons. That was, is, and will remain our policy".

In an interview with German news station N24, Mr Olmert rejected the suggestion that the fact of Israeli nuclear weapons - an open secret for 20 years - complicated western negotiations with Iran over its own nuclear ambitions.

The difference between other nuclear powers and Iran was, he said, that they are democracies that don't threaten the world order or individual countries.

"Without accepting your suggestion [ that Israel has nuclear weapons] . . . Iran threatens openly and explicitly to erase Israel from the map. Can you tell me that their wish for atomic weapons is the same thing as with America, France, Israel and Russia?" he asked.

In reply, the interviewer concluded by telling Mr Olmert that "clearly you haven't done us the favour of confirming the existence of the Israeli atomic bomb".

It remained unclear yesterday whether Mr Olmert's remark was a planned admission or, as various officials insisted, a slip of the tongue or a misunderstanding.

The interview caused a storm in Israel with opposition politicians attacking what one called a "careless" tacit admission that undermined half a century of Israeli security policy.

"The fantastic statement by the prime minister on the nuclear issue . . . raises serious doubts about whether this is a person worthy of serving as prime minister," said Yossi Beilin, chairman of Meretz.

Former foreign minister Silvan Shalom from Likud said Mr Olmert had aided Israel's enemies who question Israel's right to have such weapons.

The Jerusalem Post remarked blithely that "nuclear ambiguity isn't what it used to be".

The non-disclosure policy remained a cornerstone of Israeli policy even after Mordechai Vanunu, a nuclear technician, revealed details of the country's nuclear programme to the Sunday Times in 1986. Days before the story ran, Mr Vanunu was abducted by Mossad agents in Rome and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Mr Vanunu, released in 2004, said yesterday that he hoped Mr Olmert's comment was "the beginning of a policy change" towards open admission of Israel's nuclear weapons.

After talks with Mr Olmert, German chancellor Angela Merkel said she would work next year towards reviving Middle East talks chaired by the international quartet.

She said Germany "rejected absolutely" the Iranian conference questioning the Holocaust.