The World - News from Sept. 8, 1987

Israel is far ahead of the Arabs in its ability to develop nuclear weapons, but it trails in the field of chemical armaments, a top research institute said in its annual report. The Arab threat to employ chemical warfare “is far more realistic than any nuclear threat against Israel,” according to the study by the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, based at Tel Aviv University. The study also said that disclosures by Mordechai Vanunu, a former nuclear technician charged with treason, have only “reinforced widespread assumptions” about Israel’s nuclear capability, but it asserted that “Israel does not actually possess nuclear weapons.”