Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel's policy remains that its neighbors in the Middle East, should not have a nuclear program. Netanyahu did not refute comments made by his close confidant, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer who spoke in an interview on PBS. Dermer indicated that Israel would not oppose Saudi Arabia launching a civilian nuclear power program.
DOES ISRAEL FAVOR OR OPPOSE POTENTIAL CIVILIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM IN SAUDI ARABIA
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Dermer was in Washington to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior officials to discuss efforts to secure a deal that would allow Saudi Arabia to agree to normalize relations with Israel in exchange for demands from the United States.
Dermer said Israel would not agree to a military nuclear program but if Saudi Arabia wanted to It could turn to the Chinese or to France to obtain nuclear power. " They could do that tomorrow if they wanted to. So the question that I asked myself is, if the U.S. is involved in this, what will that mean 10 years down the road, 20 years down the road, 30 years down the road, and what's the alternative?" Dermer said. "And the question will be, when it comes to the details of an agreement, what are the safeguards? And what happens if they take another path if they take a path with the Chinese or something else? We have to think through that whole thing."
The minister said the importance of Saudi-Israeli peace should not be underestimated. "If you get a Saudi-Israeli peace, you're going to have several other Arab countries, and Muslim countries are going to follow. And I think it's the ultimate game-changer," he said.
CONGRESS DIVIDED ON SAUDI-ISRAEL DEAL