Haaretz
Kislev 20, 5767
Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday moved closer toward lifting Israel's policy
of nuclear ambiguity, a policy that has characterized the state's usual
response to allegations surrounding its nuclear program.
"Israel
doesn't threaten any country with anything - never did," Olmert told the
German N24 new channel. "The most that we tried to get for ourselves is to
be able to live without terror. But we never threatened any nation with
annihilation.
"Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to
wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when
they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel,
Russia?"
It was not immediately clear if Olmert's comments, which
he made after landing in Berlin for his first visit there as prime
minister, were a slip of tongue or intended to disclose Israel's nuclear
aspirations.
Incoming U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told a
Senate committee last week that Israel has nuclear weapons, saying that
this partially explains Iran's motiviation to acquire nuclear
weapons.
Though Israel is widely assumed to have a nuclear weapons
arsenal, it has stuck to its policy of ambiguity on the subject, insisting
against all the evidence that it will not be the first to introduce
nuclear weapons into the Middle East. A retired Israeli general said
Thursday Israel is no longer trying to convince anyone that it has no
nuclear arsenal.
Olmert on Monday also called on Germany to cut its
vast economic ties with Iran, saying Berlin's obligations toward Israel
were greater because of its Nazi past.
MKs slam Olmert's remarks
on nuclear program
Meretz Chairman Yossi Beilin said in response to
the comments, "The prime minister's astonishing remark on nuclear weapons
displays his carelessness, even abandonment, and places a doubt whether
the man is suitable to be prime minister."
MK Yuval Steinitz
(Likud) called for Olmert's resignation because of "the problematic slips
of tongue regarding security issues." Steinitz added that, "the
unfortunate remarks in Germany harms the 50-year policy of nuclear
ambiguity, and joins the irresponsible slips of tongue like the awful
message about the fate of the kidnapped soldiers in Lebanon. A prime
minister, who is incapable of controlling his remarks concerning sensitive
security issues, must resign and leave the keys."
MKK Aryeh Eldad
(National Union) said that if Olmert's remarks were intentionally meant as
a change in policy, and not a slip of the tongue, then he should publicly
announce "a clear message for the free world that if you don't stop Iran,
we will stop it at any price."
Olmert calls on Germany to cut
economic ties with Iran
In comments broadcast Monday ahead of his
visit to Berlin, Olmert said Germany must not use business as a pretext
for a relationship with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has
described the Holocaust as a "myth" and called for Israel to be wiped off
the map.
The broadcast also coincided with a widely criticized conference in Tehran attended by prominent
Holocaust deniers from around the world.
"May I suggest to the
German people, don't ever again use this argument when it comes to the
life of the Jewish people. You may have an economic interest, you may have
a business interest, but you have deeper and more fundamental moral
obligation to yourself, to your history and to your future," he told the
German TV station N24, Sat1. "This is a responsibility of the highest
order."
Since World War II, Germany has paid billions of dollars in
reparations to Israel and victims of the Holocaust, and relations between
the countries are strong.
Israel has welcomed Germany's efforts to
help curb Iran's nuclear program. Israel believes Tehran is trying to
develop nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.
Olmert remained coy
about Israel's own nuclear capabilities, sending a jab at incoming U.S.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who in his confirmation hearing before
the U.S. Senate last week openly stated that Israel had a nuclear
bomb.
When asked about the bomb, Olmert cut the interviewer off,
saying, "I'm
certain you can go to the secretary of defense of America
and talk to him
about that."
Israel is widely believed to
possess several hundred nuclear warheads, but it has consistently stuck to
a policy of ambiguity, insisting it will not be the first to introduce
nuclear weapons into the Middle East.
Olmert did not address the
issue in the interview but reacted angrily when asked if Israel's alleged
nuclear program weakened the Western case against Iran, saying no such
comparisons should be made.
"Israel is a democracy, Israel doesn't
threaten any country with anything, never did. The most that we tried to
get for ourselves is to try to live without terror but we never threaten
another nation with annihilation. Iran openly, explicitly and publicly
threatens to wipe Israel off the map," he said.
He also noted that
the U.S., Russia, France and Great Britain possess nuclear weapons, but
there was no equating them with a country like Iran.
"You are
talking about civilized countries that do not threaten the
foundations
of the world, that do not threaten other countries that they will use the
nuclear weapons in order to destroy them. That is why there is a big
difference," he said.
In the wide-ranging interview, Olmert said he
would consider an offer to
dispatch German troops to the Gaza Strip as
part of an international
peacekeeping force, but said the proposal
must be clarified and understood before Israel gave its final
go-ahead.
"Do you want German soldiers to be killed in Gaza because
of terror? Do the Italians want their soldiers to be killed in terrorist
actions in Gaza?" he asked. "I don't say no to anything that advances
peace but I don't hasten to say yes to something that is not understood
and which may prove to be very, very damaging to the countries
involved."