Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova speaks during a news conference in Moscow, Russia, April 4, 2023. Portal/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo Acquire LICENSE RIGHTS
MOSCOW, Nov 7 (Portal) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that a remark by an Israeli junior minister who appeared to express openness to the idea of an Israeli nuclear attack on Gaza had raised a host of questions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday suspended Culture Minister Amihay Eliyahu, a far-right party member in the coalition government, from cabinet meetings “until further notice.”
Asked in a radio interview about a hypothetical nuclear option, Eliyahu had replied: “That is a possibility.”
“This raised a lot of questions,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the state news agency RIA.
Zakharova said the main problem was that Israel appeared to have admitted it had nuclear weapons.
Israel does not publicly admit to having nuclear weapons, although the Federation of American Scientists estimates that Israel has about 90 nuclear warheads.
“Question number one – it turns out that we are hearing official statements about the presence of nuclear weapons?” Zakharova said.
If so, she said, then where are the International Atomic Energy Agency and the international nuclear inspectors?
Eliyahu’s statement drew condemnation across the Arab world, outraged mainstream Israeli broadcasters, was deemed “offensive” by a US official and prompted calls from Iran for a swift international response.
“The UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency must take immediate and sustained action to disarm this barbaric apartheid regime. Tomorrow is late,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Platform X on Monday.
reporting by Portal; Edited by Guy Faulconbridge and Tomasz Janowski
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