Russian Foreign Ministry Voices Concern Over Israeli Minister’s Nuclear Strike Remark

Russia’s Foreign Ministry expressed alarm on Tuesday over comments made by Israeli Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu hinting at Israel’s nuclear capabilities. In a radio interview, when asked about the possibility of a nuclear strike on Gaza, Eliyahu, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, responded, “That’s one way.” This statement prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to suspend Eliyahu from cabinet meetings until further notice.

Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, highlighted the concern that Israel had effectively acknowledged possessing nuclear arms, an arsenal not officially confirmed or denied but estimated by experts to contain some 80 to 400 warheads. Zakharova questioned why international nuclear inspectors had not addressed this issue.

Eliyahu’s remark has sparked widespread criticism across the Arab world and was labeled “objectionable” by a US official. Iran has urged the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency to act immediately against what Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian described as a “barbaric and apartheid regime.”