Former PM Barak Tweets Israel Is A Nuclear State

Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak in a tweet criticising the gov't of PM Benjamin Netanyahu for its controversial judicial reforms has seemingly stated that the Israeli gov't is in possession of nuclear weapons. For some time it has been widely speculated in foreign policy and security circles that Israel may be a nuclear state. This has never been confirmed by the gov't, which instead pursued a strategy known as 'nuclear ambiguity.'

• Barak: "“In conversations between Israelis and Western diplomatic officials there are deep concerns raised of the possibility that if the [judicial reforms are implemented], a messianic dictatorship will be established in the heart of the Middle East, which has nuclear weapons, and fanatically wishes for a confrontation with Islam centered on the Temple Mount,"
• The admission that Israel possesses nuclear weapons is unlikely to significantly change power dynamics in the region, given that the country's primary adversary - Iran - already operated under the assumption that Israel had nuclear warheads.
• Barak, former Chief of General Staff of the IDF, served as PM from 1999 to 2001 representing the centre-left Labor Party that has since been much reduced in its political influence. He has been a prominent voice in supporting an end to the reforms and the continuation of mass protests until the plans are fully disposed with.