Senior Policy Director John Erath spoke with NBC News about Israel’s secretive nuclear weapons program.
“They are intentionally secretive about their nuclear capabilities and that’s part of the policy that they follow,” John Erath, senior policy director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, said in a phone interview Wednesday.
He said that policy was likely in part to ensure Israel’s “potential adversaries would not know what they can do in the event of a crisis.”
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Monitors, including the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, have argued that the ambiguity around Israel’s nuclear program hinders efforts to ensure the peaceful use of nuclear energy in the Middle East.
“The lack of clarity surrounding an Israeli nuclear weapons program is a key obstacle to establishing a weapons of mass destruction free zone in the Middle East,” the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation says on its website, adding that the global pledge to create such a zone in 1995 was “crucial to securing the indefinite extension of the NPT.”
Experts have also warned that Israel’s attacks on Iran may fuel the country’s nuclear ambitions, rather than act as a deterrent.
“They’re very likely going to decide that they need to have more nuclear capabilities to deter such attacks in the future,” Erath said. “This puts us on a very dangerous path.”
