Among the many competitors for the prize of worst kept secret in international affairs, Israel's nuclear weapons capability is perhaps the most celebrated.
It is 20 years since Mordechai Vanunu was jailed for handing the Sunday Times detailed descriptions of the country's nuclear weapons facility, yet still the official policy remains "strategic ambiguity" - confirm nothing, deny nothing.
But is this at an end after the country's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, apparently let slip the truth?
Quizzed by a journalist about whether Israel's nuclear programme undermined his criticisms of Iran's atomic policy, Mr Olmert replied:
"Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level - when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons - as America, France, Israel, Russia?"
The comment, which Mr Olmert's spokeswoman insisted later did not amount to an admission, was scrutinised carefully in today's Israeli press. Whether an inadvertent mistake or a cunning hint, the Jerusalem Post's Anshel Pfeffer notes, "the inescapable fact is that nuclear ambiguity isn't what it used to be".
Apart from the fact that Iran's ambitions and threatening words towards Israel might make quiet diplomacy defunct, the world is now very different from that shocked by Mr Vanunu's revelations:
"Nowadays, any kid with a computer can easily find on foreign websites the entire rundown on Israel's nuclear arsenal, including squadron numbers and the location of stockpiles and missile bases."
The Israelity blog mocks the official policy in a post titled "Sssshhhhhh!":
"OK, so our Prime Minister Ehud Olmert really stupidly said this thing that he wasn't supposed to say and really shouldn't have said.
So what does the Israeli media do this morning? Talk about the story endlessly in the context of which they say the thing he shouldn't have said over and over again.
And talk about how he shouldn't have said it. But if he shouldn't have said it, then THEY shouldn't be talking about it either..."
The US-based Jewish blogger Yid With Lid was more scathing, saying it made Mr Olmert seem incompetent:
"For years it was assumed that Israel had the bomb, but the policy of ambiguity kept the issue from becoming a 'negotiating point'. With Olmert's blunder how soon will it be before there are UN sanctions against Israel for its nuclear weapons program."
