Obama Reaffirms He Will Keep Israel’s Nukes ‘Secret’

President Vows to Keep World's Worst-Kept Secret

Following up on assurances he made in May, President Obama has reportedly ‘reaffirmed’ a secret understanding whereby he will not reveal the existence of Israel’s widely known nuclear arsenal, nor will he pressure Israel to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Though Israel has often, albeit accidentally, publicly revealed that they have nuclear weapons, the United States officially has followed a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with the arsenal, the only one of its kind in the Middle East.

The revelation is likely to cause some international consternation, particularly since President Obama championed a bill at the UN Security Council only last week demanding that all the nations of the world to join the NPT.

Despite this call, the US publicly and angrily rejected a resolution calling for Israel to join the NPT only a week before that, saying that it was “unfair.” Israel has ruled out ever opening up its arsenal to the same international scrutiny as NPT signatories do.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.