Earlier this week, 30 House Democrats sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging the United States to publicly acknowledge Israel’s nuclear weapons program. Led by Rep. Joaquin Castro, they called Washington’s long-standing policy of silence indefensible amid the war with Iran and asked whether Israel had conveyed any “red lines” for nuclear use. Castro posed a question whose force lay in its simplicity: The United States openly discusses the nuclear programs of Britain, France, India, Pakistan, Russia, North Korea, and China. Why should Israel’s be treated differently?

The letter would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Avner Cohen, a leading historian of Israel’s nuclear program, called it a break with a half-century taboo in American politics. For more than 50 years, Israel’s policy of nuclear opacity survived wars, diplomatic crises, covert campaigns, and even direct strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Everyone knew Israel had a nuclear program, but Washington respected the country’s official policy of never publicly acknowledging its existence. Instead, the conversation remained focused on what Iran was building, not on what Israel already possessed.

Earlier this week, 30 House Democrats sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging the United States to publicly acknowledge Israel’s nuclear weapons program. Led by Rep. Joaquin Castro, they called Washington’s long-standing policy of silence indefensible amid the war with Iran and asked whether Israel had conveyed any “red lines” for nuclear use. Castro posed a question whose force lay in its simplicity: The United States openly discusses the nuclear programs of Britain, France, India, Pakistan, Russia, North Korea, and China. Why should Israel’s be treated differently?

The letter would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Avner Cohen, a leading historian of Israel’s nuclear program, called it a break with a half-century taboo in American politics. For more than 50 years, Israel’s policy of nuclear opacity survived wars, diplomatic crises, covert campaigns, and even direct strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Everyone knew Israel had a nuclear program, but Washington respected the country’s official policy of never publicly acknowledging its existence. Instead, the conversation remained focused on what Iran was building, not on what Israel already possessed.

The latest war with Iran has........

© Foreign Policy