Benjamin Netanyahu calls off trip to nuclear conference

Officials say Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called of his trip to Washington next week to attend a conference on the spread of nuclear weapons.

Mr. Netanyahu had said he would attend the conference to underline the dangers of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons.

But officials in his office said early on Friday that Netanyahu decided not to go, because some nations planned to use the conference to target Israel because of its reported nuclear weapons programme. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement has been made.

Israel has not admitted to possessing nuclear weapons and has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Based on evidence, international experts have estimated that Israel has dozens of nuclear bombs.