Israel denies working on biological weapon to target Arabs

AP Online
11-15-1998
JERUSALEM (AP) _ Israel denied Sunday that it is trying to identify genes unique to Arabs in order to target them with a biological weapon that would leave Jews unharmed.

London's Sunday Times had reported that Israeli scientists were trying to create a genetically modified bacterium or virus that only attacks people who carry specific genes.

David Bar-Illan, a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, rejected the report, saying such stories only proved ``that there is no limit to human gullibility and also no limit to the desire to sell newspapers.''

Asked if he was denying the report, Bar-Illan told The Associated Press, ``this is the kind of story that does not deserve denial.''

The report, attributed to unidentified Israeli military and Western intelligence sources, said the weapon is seen as Israel's response to the threat of chemical and biological warfare from Iraq and could be spread by air or through the water supply.

The newspaper said the program is based at the biological institute in Nes Tziyona, which it described as the main research facility for Israel's chemical and biological weapons. According to the report, researchers have pinpointed ``a characteristic in the genetic profile of certain Arab communities, particularly the Iraqi people.''

Officials at Porton Down, Britain's biological defense facility, told the newspaper such weapons were theoretically possible.