Does Israel have nukes? ‘Most of the world assesses they do,’ says Rubio

A Democratic lawmaker in the United States has grilled top diplomat Marco Rubio on whether Israel has nuclear weapons, but the secretary of state did not provide a clear answer.

“Most of the world assesses that they do,” Rubio told Congressman Joaquin Castro at a hearing on Wednesday, though he refused to share Washington’s own position on Israel’s nuclear weapons.

He then suggested instead that the issue should be discussed in a private setting.

The exchange underscored a decades-long taboo in US politics against publicly talking about Israel’s nuclear programme.

Rubio acknowledged that refraining from discussing Israel’s nuclear weapons is a “feature” of US foreign policy.

But Castro pressed on, emphasising that answering the question is necessary at a time when the US is in a joint war with Israel against Iran.

“If they, in fact, possess nuclear weapons — and you’re right, in open-source reporting, that has come across — we don’t know what their red lines are for using those nuclear weapons,” Castro said.

“And so, I guess I’m shocked that our government wouldn’t make an effort to know, to understand and then to give our oversight body the information that we need to make decisions about the war.”