According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Israel appears to have admitted that it has nuclear weapons and is ready to use them.
Russian officials joined other countries in expressing concern over comments from an Israeli junior minister who appeared to express openness to the idea of an Israeli nuclear strike on Gaza, saying it raised “a large number of questions.”
Moscow’s reaction came on Tuesday, just days after Culture Minister Amihai Eliyahu said in a radio interview that the nuclear option was “one way” to deal with Gaza, suggesting that Israel not only has nuclear weapons – something that The country has never admitted that it is also prepared to use them.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday suspended the minister from a far-right party in the coalition government and from cabinet meetings “until further notice.”
Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said the main problem was that Israel appeared to have admitted it had nuclear weapons.
“Question number one – it turns out that we are hearing official statements about the presence of nuclear weapons?” Zakharova was quoted as saying by the state news agency RIA.
If so, she said, then where are the International Atomic Energy Agency and the international nuclear inspectors?
The Federation of American Scientists estimates that Israel has about 90 nuclear warheads.
On Monday, the United States condemned Eliyahu’s comments as “totally unacceptable.”
“We continue to believe it is important for all sides in this conflict to refrain from hateful rhetoric,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said at a briefing.
The comments were also condemned across the Arab world, with Iran calling for a swift international response.
“The UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency must take immediate and uninterrupted action to disarm this barbaric apartheid regime,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on social media on Monday. “Tomorrow is late,” he posted on X.