Israel is not transparent about its nuclear weapons – ICAN

Susi Snyder, Program Coordinator of the Monitoring the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), acknowledged that Israel, which is estimated to have spent $1.1 billion on nuclear armament in 2023 and doesn’t disclose its expenditures on this space, just isn’t clear.

Snyder shared her evaluations with the AA correspondent concerning ICAN‘s 2023 report on nuclear weapons spending and Israel‘s nuclear arsenal.

Snyder famous that there are 9 nations on the earth with nuclear weapons, and these nations collectively possess 12,121 nuclear warheads.

Expressing concern over spending cash on nuclear weapons, Snyder mentioned, “In 2023, the 9 countries with nuclear weapons spent $91.4 billion on them. This amounts to nearly $3,000 per minute, which is a huge amount of money.”

Snyder highlighted that the variety of nations supporting a “nuclear-free” world is way larger than these spending on nuclear weapons. She attributed this to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which makes the possession, use, and risk of use of nuclear weapons unlawful.

Noting that almost 100 nations have signed and ratified this treaty, Snyder emphasised that just about half of the world agrees on the hazard of those weapons and that nobody ought to management them.

“Nuclear Weapons Affect Even Distant Countries”

Drawing consideration to the hazard posed by 9 nations worldwide possessing nuclear weapons, Snyder mentioned, “If these are used at any time and under any circumstances, they will have an impact beyond borders. That is the dangerous aspect of nuclear weapons. You cannot contain them. Nuclear weapons affect even a country far from where they are used.”

Snyder underlined that it’s unattainable to flee the results of nuclear weapons and that their use should be prevented.

Referring to Israel’s nuclear weapons, Snyder acknowledged:

“This is an open secret. Everyone knows that Israel has nuclear weapons, but Israel does not acknowledge it. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that Israel has about 90 nuclear warheads. This is sufficient for any nuclear weapon to cause a major catastrophe and devastating damage. In our report, we mention Israel’s nuclear weapons because they have them.”

Snyder emphasised that Israel spends a major sum of money to take care of its nuclear weapons and famous that they don’t specify how a lot is spent on nuclear weapons of their nationwide budgets.

“Therefore, we use an estimate based on the average nuclear expenditures of other countries and how much Israel generally spends on its military programs. Based on this, we estimate that Israel spent about $1.1 billion on nuclear weapons in 2023,” Snyder mentioned.

Snyder famous that they didn’t see a major enhance in nuclear weapons spending after October 7, 2023, when Israel intensified its assaults on Gaza. “Israel is not transparent about this. We would be very pleased if they confirm whether our assessment of their nuclear spending is accurate. I think this would be very beneficial for us and the rest of the world. This way, we can address this issue,” she mentioned.