President Trump said on Monday that Israel “would never” use a nuclear weapon when asked about comments from David Sacks, the White House’s AI and crypto czar, who recently suggested that Israel might consider the nuclear option if the war with Iran continues to escalate.
“Israel could get seriously destroyed,” Sacks said on an episode of the “All-In Podcast” that was posted on Friday, when discussing the potential scenarios if the US-Israeli war against Iran continues. “And then you have to worry about Israel escalating the war by contemplating using a nuclear weapon, which would truly be catastrophic.”
Sacks’s comments are significant since he is an administration official, and for many decades, both the US and Israeli governments have maintained a policy of not acknowledging the existence of Israel’s nuclear arsenal.
The ambiguity around Israel’s nuclear weapons program allows the US to provide military assistance without worrying about the Symington Amendment, a foreign assistance law that prohibits aid to countries that traffic in nuclear enrichment equipment or technology outside of international safeguards.
Israel is believed to have somewhere between 90 and 300 nuclear warheads, but the real figure is unknown. Last year, The Associated Press reported that satellite images showed construction work on a major new facility at the nuclear site near Dimona, Israel, the location of Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program.
In his response to the question about Sacks’s comments, Trump said, “Israel wouldn’t do that. Israel would never do that.”
Sacks’s overall point was that the US should “declare victory” and withdraw from the conflict, which Trump also addressed. “There’s a theory. You pounded them to hell, and you can just leave now, and it’ll take 10 years for them to build back, not nearly what they have right now,” he said.
