The Israeli government denied a report that a nuclear bunker is being built inside Ehud Olmert’s residence.
Yediot Achronot carried a front-page report Thursday that the prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem was getting a new bunker to protect the chief executive in the event of a future non-conventional attack.
Olmert’s office was quick to issue a denial. A top aide, Raanan Dinur, told Israel Radio that the project under construction in the official residence is a “safe room” required by law in every dwelling, rather than a special bunker.
The Israeli government has been working on a tunnel network under Jerusalem to house senior staff during a nuclear war. The issue of such fortification touches a nerve, for many Israelis, given the state’s failure to provide comprehensive protection for Sderot, a southern town targeted by Palestinian rocket crews in Gaza.
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.
