Jimmy Carter reportedly acknowledged Israel’s nuclear arsenal.
The Sunday Times of London quoted the former U.S. president as saying during a weekend appearance at a British literary festival that Israel has 150 nuclear weapons.
The report did not provide direct quotes from Carter’s speech, which took place Sunday and dealt with U.S. policies toward Iran and the Palestinians.
If Carter did indeed discuss Israel’s military nuclear capabilities, it would mark an unprecedented departure from a longstanding “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on the issue.
Israel is widely assumed to have amassed nuclear weapons since the 1960s, but neither confirms nor denies the arsenal’s existence under an “ambiguity” strategy.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
