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Jimmy Carter - Israel 'has 150 nuclear weapons'

news.bbc.co.uk — Ex-US President Jimmy Carter has said Israel has at least 150 atomic weapons in its arsenal. He also described Israeli treatment of Palestinians as "one of the greatest human rights crimes on earth".

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LostRiot 176 days ago

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FrankHope, on 05/27/2008, -6/+21Carter said, "The US has more than 12,000 nuclear weapons; the Soviet Union has about the same; Great Britain and France have several hundred, and Israel has 150 or more."

Israel is almost at a par with Great Britain and France in terms of nuclear weapons. Yet while Britain and France are global powers that sit on the United Nations Security Council, Israel is a local Middle East power. The Middle East is a volatile region and it should be a nuclear free zone.

Many years ago South Africa gave up its nuclear weapons program. It is time for Israel to do the same. Also many years ago South Africa abandoned its Apartheid policies. It is time for Israel to do the same.
- nomzz, on 05/27/2008, -7/+4wow free zone nice way and what a conclusion made by your self and finding others fate in your hand bravo!!
- ElAssoWipo, on 05/27/2008, -4/+9I don't see why Israel should give up their nuclear weapons.
  
  I also don't see why Iran, Syria and Lebanon shouldn't have the right to get some, as sovereign countries.
  
  It would shut everybody up. The cold war wasn't cold for nothing.
  
  Do you really think McCain would have sung "Bomb, bomb Iran" if they had nukes? His speech would immediately change to "we need to make friends with these people".
  
  Plus it's not like the US has a moral leg to stand on.
  - hmunkey, on 05/27/2008, -2/+2Wait, you don't see why Iran, Syria, and Lebanon shouldn't have nukes? Really? I am not a Republican, but it is pretty easy to tell that giving theocracies nuclear weapons is never a good idea, especially those who have started wars and declared their goals of destroying entire populations.
    - ElAssoWipo, on 05/27/2008, -0/+2You don't give theocracies anything.
      
      You don't meddle in their affairs and you don't kill them.
      
      Here's a tip for all Americans who go on vacation overseas: don't kill people. They tend to like you more when you don't do that.
- franklymister, on 05/27/2008, -6/+3I agree that the Middle East should be a nuclear-free zone, in fact, I believe that the Earth should be a nuclear-free zone.
  
  The question I have for you is, how do you propose to protect Israel against its neighbors, once you have disarmed them?
  
  I would assume, given your use of charged words like "Apartheid" to diminish the suffering of the real South Africans who went through that era, and to reduce the complex issues of Israeli and Palestinian rights to a propaganda slogan, that you don't really care what happens to Israel.
  That's a shame, because the road to peace doesn't start with finger pointing - it starts with reconciliation.
  - ElAssoWipo, on 05/27/2008, -3/+3Probably the same way their neighbours defend themselves against Israel.
    
    And actually, it's the Palestinian struggle that is diminished by the word Apartheid.
    
    South Africa never bombed civilian areas.
    - franklymister, on 05/27/2008, -2/+1I'm sorry, but if you're not interested in talking about solutions, there's no reason to argue with you.
      
      I'm sure you can find plenty of people to sit around and repeat dogmatic slogans with, probably right here on Digg. Good luck to you, ElAssoWipo.
    - ElAssoWipo, on 05/27/2008, -1/+3You mean like equating any objection to crimes against humanity and the constitution of a country being based on religious doctrine and racist principles as childish and closed minded?
      
      "I would assume, given your use of charged words like "Apartheid" to diminish the suffering of the real South Africans who went through that era, and to reduce the complex issues of Israeli and Palestinian rights to a propaganda slogan, that you don't really care what happens to Israel."
      
      People who commit straw man fallacies shouldn't throw logic at ad hominem attack houses.
      
      Or something like that.
  - FrankHope, on 05/27/2008, -1/+0You really should learn to use Google before you express your uninformed opinion.
    "If apartheid ended in South Africa, surely it can end in the Holy Land”… Desmond Tutu.
    
    Here's some homework for you, read this article by Desmond Tutu titled "Apartheid in the Holy Land"
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/apr/29/commen ...
    
    I expect a full report in 24 hours.
- TheOrange, on 05/29/2008, -0/+1I couldn't agree more FrankHope - highly volatile region that Israel does nothing to deter. If the surrounding Arab states have developed nuclear capability then perhaps you could understand, but the fact is that these states never really saw the need for trying to build their own until Israel did the same.
  
  @FranklyMister - it's about time Israel realised that they need to address the root cause of the problem (illegal occupancy of more and more Palestinian land, starvation of people in the Gaza strip, treating civilians like dirt)... if they want to improve things in the region
notgoingalong, on 05/27/2008, -4/+15Jimmy Carter is an nuclear engineer, was a submarine captain, and backed counter-revolutionary covert actions and assistance to repressive regimes and the nutron bomb.

In defiance of the security council resolution 487 of June 1981, Israel has not placed its nuclear facilities, whether civilian or military, under IAEA safeguards.
Indeed, while it is an open secret that Israel's nuclear facility at Dimona started producing atom bombs in 1968, and that it has built up an arsenal of some 200 nuclear bombs
Moreover, Israel has ongoing biological and chemical weapons programmes. The Israeli Institute for Biological Research (IIRB) at Nes Ziona, south of Tel Aviv, established in 1952, is the Israeli military and intelligence community's front organisation for developing, testing and producing biological and chemical weapons. Access to Nes Ziona is denied even to the members of the Israeli parliament

The US Office of Technology Assessment for Congress reported in 1993 that Israel had "undeclared offensive chemical warfare capabilities" and was 'generally reported as having an undeclared offensive biological weapons programme.' In that year the Israeli government acknowledged that Marcus Klinberg, deputy head of the IIRB, was given 20 years sentence in solitary confinement in 1983 for leaking information on Israel's biological weapons programme to the Soviet
- jforjools, on 05/27/2008, -1/+5Really, I thought the creds you listed for Carter at the beginning of your comment were a joke...But then the rest of what you said made great sense, so I looked him up.
  
  I am truly, truly amazed that I didn't know about Carter's naval career. (Only graduate of Naval Academy to every become president...and graduated much higher--59th out of 820-- in his class than did McCain, who was 894th out 899.)
  
  Also had no idea he did posgrad work in nuclear engineering. (Bet he even knows how to say the word "nuclear").
  
  Jimmy Carter has contributed so much to the world and to America. I'm glad to know a little bit more about him...after all these years.
  - notgoingalong, on 05/27/2008, -2/+0J,
    
    Are you blinded by elections to the actuality of US imperialism and the duplicitous underpinnings that is organic to it?
    
    I will cite from an article of Counterpunch by James Petras:
    Beware of Jimmy Carter July 8, 2004
    
    'Carter has deliberately and systematically worked over the past quarter of a century to undermine progressive regimes and candidates and promote their pro-imperialist opponents.
    
    In June 1978, President Jimmy Carter sent a private letter to the Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza lauding Somoza for the "human rights initiatives" while he criticized Somoza publicly. Carter had made "human rights" a centerpiece of his interventionist propaganda ( Morris Morley, Washington, Somoza and the Sandinistas, 1994, pp 115-116). This two-faced policy occurred during one of the bloodiest periods of Somoza's rule when he was bombing cities sympathetic to the revolution. Carter's rhetorical declaration of concern for human rights was for public consumption, his private assurances to Somoza encouraged the dictator to continue his scorched earth policy.
    
    Carter convened a meeting of foreign ministers of several Latin American countries who were opposed to Somoza's dictatorship. President Carter entered and immediately tabled a proposal to form an "Inter-American Peace Force", a military force of US and Latin American troops to invade Nicaragua to "end the conflict" and support a diverse coalition. The purpose, according to the former Panamanian minister present, was to prevent a Sandinista victory, preserving Somoza's National Guard and replace Somoza with a pro-US conservative civilian junta. Carter's proposal was rejected unanimously as unwarranted US intervention. Carter in a pique ended the meeting abruptly. Carter's attempt to throttle a popular revolution to preserve the Somocista state and US dominance clearly belied his pretensions of being a "human rights" President. His legacy of using "Human Rights" to project imperial military power became standard operating procedure for Reagon, Clinton and both Bush presidencies.
    
    President Carter's intervention in Afghanistan initiated the Second Cold War, which was pursued with even greater intensity by Reagan. Carter backed a series of surrogate wars in Angola, Mozambique, Central American, the Caribbean and elsewhere. Carter was clearly an advocate and practitioner of the worst kind of imperial intervention and a master of public relations: he was an early practitioner of "Humanitarian Imperialism"--humane in rhetoric and brutally imperialist in practice.'
    - jforjools, on 05/27/2008, -0/+1Ah, no wonder I was confused by your comments first time around.
      
      "Are you blinded by elections to the actuality of US imperialism and the duplicitous underpinnings that is organic to it?"
      
      No, not blind ***at all*** that the US pretends to be one thing and acts quite differently--on many levels. ...But haven't actually heard Jimmy Carter attacked in such a way (as an imperialist extraordinaire) before.
      
      As US politicians go, I'd say Jimmy Carter is generally up towards the head of the pack. I don't have time to look up a bunch of ***** to disagree with your points...but I'll certainly take them under consideration. --But thanks for pointing out some amazing creds for Jimmy Carter.
CoolHandLuke70, on 05/27/2008, -3/+6I agree with Carter and I hope that he does not get suicided for being such a thorn in the side of the zionists in power over Israel! They forever cry out about the holocaust to gain any power they can muster and yet nonchalantly do the same thing to the Palestinians, perhaps worse! Jesus calling out hypocrites comes to mind all of a sudden!
jforjools, on 05/27/2008, -2/+7It's not a big deal and Jimmy Carter didn't 'out' Israel. Citing an actual number makes from some good pseudo-drama and that's about it.

Recently, when Sen. Clinton made her 'obliterate Iran' remarks...SEVERAL journalists wrote articles and blogs noting this point: Why would the US have to do *anything* if Iran were to nuke Israel? Then they all went on to note that Israel not only had nukes (and great technology to deliver them) of their own--but that even if Israel is totally obliterated (presumably by a nuke attack from Iran) that Israel's nuke technology would create a scene where there would *instantly* be a counter attack....So that Iran could possibly celebrate for a few minutes before their own complete annihilation.

The point of several articles (by plain ol' journalists--not former presidents) was that Israel has a very strong and sophisticated nuke program. ...Frankly, from the way they were talking, I assumed that they may have many more than the 150-number that Carter cited.

And please, this is crazy to act like this is 'news' to Iran...or to anyone.
zolthar, on 05/27/2008, -5/+7Whatever Israel has, it never used it.
You measure a nation's actions, not it's potential damage.
On the other hand, the non-nuclear countries around, who has been throwing less sophisticated forms of chemical/biological forms of mass killing at each other and national minorities, are being forgiven.
- Kizilbash, on 05/27/2008, -4/+5It uses everything else against fighters and civilians both: saturation with cluster bombs (and really old ones with half of them not exploding, essentially spreading landmines by air), white phosphorous in Lebanon (at least in 1982) that will burn straight through to the bone, flechette shells (basically the same as a nail bomb), 1000 kilo bombs in residential neighbourhoods, sniper fire at civilians, you name it, they used it.
  - spongya77, on 05/27/2008, -1/+3But they are civilized people. They didn't nuke Gaza, did they?
- notque, on 05/27/2008, -1/+1You're only saying that because it's in your propaganda interests. You don't mean that as the universal you claim it would be, or you would be for every country having nuclear weapons including North Korea because "potential damage" isn't a concern.
FrankHope, on 05/27/2008, -5/+6Israel has used its F16 jets to attack its neighbors. It has used its Blackhawk helicopters to attack innocent Palestinians. It has used cluster bombs against civilian targets in Lebanon.

Israel also has submarines equipped with Harpoon cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads!!! This was revealed in 2003 in a Guardian article.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/oct/12/israel ...
Nobody is forgiving anything. The fact is the whole region is unstable, and the presence of nuclear weapons creates the potential for a WW III. The US should be active in disarming the region, including Israel, not in providing a never ending supply of ever more sophisticated military weapons.
FrankHope, on 05/27/2008, -0/+8According to Henry Kissinger's Nuclear Security Project:
- "Israel is the sixth nation in the world, and the first in the Middle East, to develop and acquire a nuclear weapons capability."
- "In many ways, the story of Israel's nuclear project parallels the larger Zionist narrative of the creation of the state of Israel."
- 'Sometime in early 1958, Israel started the excavation and construction work at the Dimona site."
- "From the outset, the Israeli nuclear case posed a great challenge to U.S. nonproliferation policy. President Kennedy was determined to thwart Israel's efforts to acquire a nuclear capability, fearing that it could undermine his nonproliferation efforts. He firmly insisted that U.S. scientists be allowed to visit Dimona to verify Israel's claims that the facility was not for producing plutonium for nuclear weapons."
- "By the time U.S. scientists began the visits to Dimona in early 1964 according to the Kennedy-Eshkol deal, Kennedy had been assassinated, and President Johnson was less committed to nonproliferation in general and to the Israel case in particular."
- "The advent of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), co-sponsored and signed by the United States in the summer of 1968, reshaped the U.S.-Israeli dialogue on the nuclear issue. By November 1968, against the background of strong U.S. pressure to join the NPT—a demand that was linked to the first sale of Phantom aircraft to Israel—Israel told the United States that, given its unique security needs, it could not sign the NPT at the present time. President Johnson ultimately approved the Phantom deal without linking it to Israeli concession on the NPT issue."
- "Less than one year later, in September 1969, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir reached a secret agreement with President Richard Nixon on the Israeli nuclear issue."
- "In the wake of the Meir-Nixon agreement, the United States ended its annual visits in Dimona; in addition, the United States no longer pressured Israel to sign the NPT, adopting instead a de facto policy of "don't ask, don't tell." "
- "Israel continues to assert that it will not discuss disarmament issues until after a comprehensive Middle Eastern peace agreement has been reached."
- FrankHope, on 05/27/2008, -0/+4Link to information on Israel's nuclear program at the Nuclear Security Project website.
  http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Israel/Nucl ...
  All the quotes above are from this article. There is much more information in the article, so I encourage you to read it in full and form your own informed opinion.
- Kizilbash, on 05/27/2008, -2/+3Kissinger should know, he's the one who gave it to them.
FrankHope, on 05/27/2008, -1/+9Mordechai Vanunu is the brave Israeli citizen that revealed the Israeli Nuclear Weapons Program to the world.

His "crime" was to reveal publicly what was already an open secret - that Israel was building nuclear weapons at its "research reactor" at Dimona, where he had worked. The most damaging detail he gave away the was the extent of it, that Israel had made enough material for 200 advanced weapons.

An Israeli female agent lured Vanunu from London to Rome, where he was seized, drugged and shipped in chains aboard a yacht to Israel. There, he was tried and sentenced in secret and slapped in solitary confinement that lasted 12 years, with only brief visits by family, clergy and counsel. He reportedly has been gagged for rare court appearances.

Vanunu says "Israel continues to punish me. They arrested me, I am under restrictions, not to leave, not to speak freely." You can read more about this brave soul at his website.
http://www.vanunu.com/
exgop, on 05/27/2008, -8/+2I look forward to pissing on Jimmy Carter's grave.
- Waiting2awake, on 05/27/2008, -2/+3 You clearly demonstrate your class.
Bobaliki, on 05/27/2008, -1/+3http://digg.com/world_news/Israel_has_150_nuclear_ ...
Ryan0617, on 05/27/2008, -3/+3This was just on the front page, why is it being repeated? There is a reason for the duplication change digg bought in.
- CrudeDarkness, on 05/27/2008, -0/+1because there are people like me who didn't see it the first time.
borez, on 05/27/2008, -2/+5"He also described Israeli treatment of Palestinians as "one of the greatest human rights crimes on earth"."

Yep...and one of the most hypocritical
h0ser, on 05/27/2008, -3/+2I don't think Israel should exist. After world war 2 all the displaced jews should have gone back to the countries they originally came from. Not have a piece of land handed to them because a bunch of people felt sorry for them. Now if anyone even speaks out against Israel they are branded an antisemite and are ridiculed in the media. Way too much sensitivity on Israel's behalf.
- notque, on 05/27/2008, -0/+2I don't see the problem with Israel existing. I do see a problem with their criminal actions for the majority of their history. That isn't all israelis though, and they should not be punished for that.
  
  Anyone who has moved into occupied territory understands what they are getting into, and receives bonuses to move into the areas. They need to be moved back into Israel, and Palestine receiving their autonomy again without checkpoints limiting their movement. The water resources should be split in half which is where I disagree with the previous borders.
suzywang3000, on 05/27/2008, -7/+2Jimmy Carter has no idea what's going on - he's a senile old fart.
- breadfred, on 05/27/2008, -1/+1Right. And you are a stupid *****. See how stupid the comment is? No facts, nothing to defend, just a stupid comment. You are just being silly, right?
notque, on 05/27/2008, -0/+2The United States is breaking the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (which Iran is upholding) that says that you cannot fund or finance anyone who breaks it. Israel broke the treaty by building nuclear weapons, yet we continue to send them a ton of money for weapons.

Iran is upholding the treaty by building nuclear energy and not weapons. But we continue to suggest that by building energy, they will build weapons. Well the non-proliferation treaty that we signed says they can use it for energy. And we helped them with nuclear energy when we had a puppet government installed in Iran.

All politics are *****. The media and the government work together to spread a propaganda line which most Americans then repeat because they have no other sources for information and implicitly trust what little information they receive.
TheOrange, on 05/29/2008, -0/+1It's about time Israel realised that they need to address the root cause of the problem (illegal occupancy of more and more Palestinian land, starvation of people in the Gaza strip, treating civilians like dirt)... if they want to improve things in the region.

I recently got back from a trip there and was appalled by some of the things the Israel soldiers make the Palestinians do - walking through high radiation metal detectors, armed scary military checkpoints every few miles when they need to go somewhere, requiring Palestinians to get permits to do anything such as freedom of travel, have water pumped into their houses, or even exporting goods for trade.

As "borez" states above - the hypocrisy of the Israeli's does not help the Jewish people around the world in any way. Personally I expect to hear nothing again about the Holocast until they look at the present and stop the mantra of the "abused becoming the abusers"
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Jimmy Carter - Israel 'has 150 nuclear weapons'

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