Tipping Point Quick Hits (11.09.23)

Israel's nukes, witchcraft in the UK, and the U.S. arms Taiwan

Netanyahu Suspends Official for Suggesting Nukes

Last week, Israel’s Heritage Minister Amihay Eliyahu, a member of a far-right party in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, made a statement that appeared to indicate openness to Israel’s use of nuclear weapons on Gaza.

In a radio interview, she was asked about a hypothetical nuclear option in dealing with Hamas.

She answered, “That’s one way.”

Eliyahu has come under significant public pressure since then. For one thing, many outside nations saw this as an admission that Israel had nuclear weapons, which has been a matter of uncertainty up to this point. Israel has not officially acknowledged it has nukes, though nuclear watchdog groups speculate that Israel has several dozen nuclear warheads.

U.S. officials quickly condemned her remark. So did many leaders in the Arab world, including Saudi Arabia. Iran called, of course, for direct action against Israel. “The UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency must take immediate and uninterrupted action,” one Iranian minister said.

That’s to be expected, but Eliyahu’s casual response to the question has received enormous pushback within Israel as well. Israeli broadcasters treated her statement as a scandal, and on Sunday, Netanyahu suspended her from cabinet meetings “until further notice.”

Russia was also enraged, even though Russian officials have publicly warned about the use of Russian nuclear weapons. One Russian official suggested the United States was behind Israel’s ability to stockpile nuclear weapons. And Eliyahu isn’t the only Israeli lawmaker to bring up nuclear weapons. Soon after the Hamas terrorist attack, a member of the Knesset—and a critic of Netanyahu rather than an ally—advocated for the use of a “doomsday weapon” in response to Hamas.

I think Netanyahu is right to hold accountable his cabinet members who are talking casually about the use of a nuclear weapon. Unfortunately, Russia’s attack on Ukraine and Hamas’s attack on Israel have resulted in much more frequent speculation about the use of nuclear warheads around the world. In a world of serious terrorism and security crises, this is understandable. People are worried about escalation.

I hope Israel does not take seriously the option to use a nuclear weapon, and I trust Benjamin Netanyahu would never allow it. He’s too smart for that. But the intensification of this kind of discussion shows us how quickly these current regional conflicts could erupt into a broader conflict.

Any moment in which nations are sniping at each other and bringing up the potential of doomsday weapons, or threatening retaliation and military strikes, can quickly escalate into a larger war. That war is coming, and the world will turn against Israel. We are already seeing it happen.

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