"Israel’s Nukes" By Richard Sale

I read recently about Israel’s attempt to “deflect” pressure regarding its nuclear arsenal and felt suddenly tired. 

Israel’s coyness about its nuclear weapons is a bit nauseating.  I have been amazed fo years about media that keep referring to Israel’s “presumed” nuclear weapons.  It prompts you to ask,  what century are they living in? 

After the fiasco of 1956 when the British, French and Israelis invaded Egypt, Guy Mollet, who headed a new French socialist government, told Golda Meir among others, regarding Israel’s nuclear plans, “I  owe the bomb to them. I owe the bomb to them.”

Israel wanted France’s help in building a nuclear reactor whose designs was to be based on a French one at Marculde, which was producing weapons grade plutonium at the time. Israel and France made that deal, although I don’t think it was made public for a year or so but It was Mollet who, after all, cleared the way for the launch of France’s nuclear weapons that year. 

France’s force de frappe was to be the model for Israel’s program.

Shim Peres persuaded Ben-Gurion to site Israel’s program at Dimona after passing over a site at Richon el Zion. French immediate help in building the Israeli desert site turned the area into a boom town. 

By 1959, American U-2s overflying Dimona, made clear what was happening there, but President Eisenhower chose to ignore it.  But business was booming. Israel’s Dimona’s nuclear program was hiring away so many scientists, engineers, technicians from local manufacturing and research companies that the program caused  a slow down in the national industrial base. 

The expenditures drew funds from Israeli military leaders who were attempting to catch up to the Egyptian leader Abdel Nasser who was getting advanced Soviet military weapons like the MiG-21 fighter aircraft.  But it should be remembered too that Israel had to use black channels to cover up its financing of the site. Prime Minister Ben Groin was going to pay for the program off the books, and he turned to American Jews who were already  giving millions and millions of dollars to Israel. 

Shimon Peres created a discreet, trusted group of American donors called The Committee of the Thirty. They included Baron Edmund de Rothschild in Paris and Abraham Feinberg in New York among others.  Peres would later boast that not a penny of the cost of Dimona had come from Israel’s budget but the Committee of Thirty only raised only about $40 million. By the 1960s, Israel was not paying scores of millions to develop nukes, but hundreds of millions of dollars for them. 

Of course, there were dissenters and these included Ariel Sharon, Yoga Allan, Yitzhak Rabin who believed that Israel’s military superiority resided in the training and quality of its military personnel. They thought that nukes were a great equalizer, a last ditch weapon and they were unanimous in believing that an Egypt with nuclear weapons was everybody’s nightmare. 

In any case, the aim of all this was to ensure that Israel had a second strike capability using thermonuclear weapons.  

By the 1960s, Israel had the intermediate range Jericho I.  I  only knew about it in the late 1970s when I was told that its gyroscope  equipment had proved undependable during the nuclear alert in 1973. 

I wrote about this around 1985. Five years I was having a lunch at The Palm and inquired about the gyroscope. This intelligence official, a friend, said, “No, the Israeli’s worked all of that out,” and he then talked of the Jericho II. In the two articles I produced I named the weight of the warhead, and the fact it had been a stolen US Army artillery round developed at the Weizmann Institute.  I even had a source who had seen the warhead there, hidden in an alcove behind a big curtain as he was walking through the place. I had another source who described its deployment on the back of railroad cars nestled in caves with huge blast doors that would open, fire, then go back in as the doors closed behind them. It was based on the US plans to deploy an ICBM, I think the Mark III, but I am having a senior moment, (or, as my son says, I am a senior moment.) 

I wrote this for Aerospace Daily, sister publication of Aviation Week, and when the Washington Post picked up the story, it went to great pains to deny the facts of what I was reporting, even though a senior Carter administration official on the  NSC vouched for the truth of it. 

Of course all the diplomats yawned at the story. To them it was old, old, old news. 

So I am bemused and a bit disheartened about the reluctant to discuss Israel with acting like a cat who wants to fish without getting its feet wet. 

The Peres people, of course, wanted to make sure the Arabs knew Israel had nukes, the Likud people pretended the subject never existed.  At the time I wrote, the Israeli Ambassador to the US, whose name I cannot remember but whose tone and straight ahead manner won my heart instantly when he phoned my publication, whose editor was suspicious of the story and disliked it anyway, was taken back when the ambassador called me by name and said: "Thank Mr. Sale for a wonderful article.” 

Ah, the vicissitudes of politics.

By Richard Sale, author of Clinton’s Secret Wars

Comments

[William R. Cumming]

Thanks for the reminder. No military use under any theory for NUKES but great for political use in diplomacy. Wonder why no collapse of N.Korea or invasion as opposed to several other countries like Iraq and Libya and possibly Syria and Iran. NO NUKES in those countries invaded so far.

What few realize is how deeply nuclear power is implicated in proliferation of weapons issues. And the leading proliferator for that technology guess who? US!

[Grimgrin]

I think the rail program you're describing was part of the MX Missile program. Mobile launchers and distributed shelters designed to make sure land based ballistic missiles would survive a Soviet First strike. IIRC it was spiked by under Reagan.

[Medicine Man]

What I've been told a few times regarding North Korea is that the mass of conventional artillery they have on the DMZ, within range of Seoul, is the real deterrent they possess. The delivery systems for their few nukes could be quickly disabled by US and South Korean air power in the event of a conflict.

[Allen Thomson]

This is perhaps a little tangential to your posting, but one of my minor hobbies is to understand Israel's stand that it "will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons" into the region. I've gathered up various statements on the matter going back to 1963 and have a speculation that 1) the assertion is arguably true while 2) recognizing that Israel has had nukes for a long time. Not to tease, the speculation involves Wheelus AB.

Any other thoughts or opinions?

[Babak Makkinejad]

Mr. Seal:

Is there a basis for your assertion that Israel has thermo-nuclear weapons - as opposed to fission bombs?

[Fred]

WRC,

There was no invasion of North Korea from '54 until the acquisition of nuclear weapons either. I disagree with your implications over commercial nuclear power use. Nuclear power plant utilization is not the causation of acquiring nuclear weapons, the latter is a political decision.

[R Whitman]

Mr Sale:

Can you enlighten us on the part played by the disappearance of fissionable material from Numec in Apollo, Pa in the early 60's?

[JWL]

"By 1959, American U-2s overflying Dimona, made clear what was happening there, but President Eisenhower chose to ignore it".

I cannot believe that Eisenhower, of all people, "ignored" the acquisition of nuclear weaponry by Israel.

He must have green lighted it.

Thanks, Ike.

[Allen Thomson]

@ Babak Makkinejad:

Mr. Seal can provide his own answer, but the assertion that Israel has two-stage fusion bombs goes back to, as far as I know, Mordechai Vanunu:

http://www.wisconsinproject.org/countries/israel/nuke.html

Note that there's some confusion in the story between "boosting", which is a way of using deuterium-tritium fusion to make single-stage fission weapons better and peppier, and true two-stage devices. FWIW, I think that Israel could do either on their own and without testing, at least at a basic level . Although there is the Vela event, which could have been a test of something a bit more advanced:

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Vela_Incident

And it is not to be ruled out that they have other nations' designs sitting in their file cabinets.

In any event, I'm not sure it matters a lot. For its interests, I'd guess Israel could get by just fine with bombs of a few dozen kilotons yield, maybe up to a hundred.

[confusedponderer]

I recall that back in early 2003 I had a (well, one of many) discussion with a fervently gung-ho pro-Iraq war American. The topic of WMD cam up and I mentioned that Israel had nukes and was in that respect the elephant in the living room everybody chooses to ignore.

He, and I don't make that up, very earnestly scolded me for speaking it out, adding that it was not a matter to be spoken about publicly and that I was endangering Israeli national security.

The surprise soon gave way for laughter. Americans were in an odd mood back then.

[turcopolier]

CP

"He, and I don't make that up, very earnestly scolded me for speaking it out, adding that it was not a matter to be spoken about publicly and that I was endangering Israeli national security."

This is part of the process of "perception management." Silence the voices and that of which they speak no longer exists in the public mind. pl

[Roy G.]

The sequel to this story is Israel's activity in proliferation; Peres offered nukes to the apartheid era South African govt., who were evidently seen as kindred spirits.

[John Waring]

One possible reason no one wants to speak of Israeli nukes is their elimination/destruction would be the quid pro quo for Iran to give up its nuclear program. I think that's the trade the Iranians want, and that's the trade the Israelis are bound and determined to prevent.

[J]

Roy G.,

And,......'who' has Israel been helping proliferation wise? How much U.S. Nuke tech have the Israelis purloined and handed over (for a profit) to both the Russians and Chinese?

[Babak Makkinejad]

Allen Thomas:

Thank you for your reply.

In the United States, is it a capital crime to disclose the design details of nuclear weapon?

Or in France?

Does any one know?

[Babak Makkinejad]

In my opinion, the Iranian program has nothing to do with Israel.

It has to do with the war of Iraq against Iran in 1980 and the nuclear tests of Pakistan and Inida in 1998.

No responsible Iranian government will ever give up on the Iranian nuclear program.

[Thomas]

"It has to do with the war of Iraq against Iran in 1980 and the nuclear tests of Pakistan and Inida in 1998."

True, when one is on the recieiving end of a 144 round mustard gas artillery barrage for your daily wake-up call,
you'll wish to see your nation acheive a break out capacity in your children's future.

[Fred]

Iraq is no longer a threat to Iran.

[[email protected]]

Before such a totally numb-minded operation as a pre-emptive attack on Iran takes place I would like to point out that we have already taken our country several steps down the primrose path to perpetual failure and such an operation might only be a final nail on our own, not necessarily only the Iranian's, coffin. We need to consider letting the Iranians and Israelis work out their problems without our interference and keep both at a distance. By the way, look at North Korea - what a trash pit - let them sit there and rot. We don't need to stir up the pot, but we do need to realize that they may eventually implode on their own, so why even give them the privilege of "negotiations" - let them implode on their own. By the way, reference our Neocon swaggers, on this and other national survival issues, speaking with simplicity and force does not necessarily mean with intelligence and understanding.

[William R. Cumming]

Again recommend Paul Bracken's 1989 book "Fire In the EAST"! WAPO indicating in a story about drones an Ethiopian base.

[confusedponderer]

There are today two countries that say that vis a vis Iraq there are is and has to be a 'military option'. If I was an Iranian I would read it as what it is - a threat.

Much like Israel with their inane 'strategic ambiguity' Iran is hedging, and wants to make sure they have the ability to build nukes if they absolutely have to, and in the meanwhile, to be able to continue their peaceful nuclear program unobstructed, which is, after all, their inalienable right. The US and Israel care little about that.

The problem with Iran is not that Iran has nukes, or the threat posed by Iran to ever use nukes, but the significantly improved strategic position that Iran has been enjoying over the last decade (courtesy of US foolishness) and the greater freedom of action and influence that has come with that.

Iran already pursues policies like supporting Hamas and Hezbollah. These are policies Israel and their US allies abhor, as they run counter to Israeli ideas about 'isolating Hamas on the Gaza battlefield' (or Hezbollah in Lebanon) to crush them once and for all.

Much to Israel's and Neo-Con chagrin, Iranian support makes that currently unachievable (clearly it must be that way, since there is no fault to be found in their own plans or notions of their adversaries). The Israelis and the Neo-Cons can't have that and search for ways to 'transform', 'reshape', 'game-change' in order to get that ever elusive decisive victory in favour of Israel and have them impose a 'Siegfrieden' on their adversaries. That is what it is about.

IMO the accusation that the Iranians build nukes is all but a pretext to build pressure on Iran, much like WMD were the excuse to go after Iraq. Ultimately, the goal Israel and the US have vis a vis Iran is, as it was in the past, regime change.

Afterthought: When the US leave Iraq, and if they leave Afghanistan, that will significantly improve Iran's strategic position. As of now, they have two sizeable US armies to the west and to the east. The nuts called hawks may see that development as forcing their hand.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Add to that the fact that every day some one dies of the effect of chemical warfare in Iran - soldier and civilian.

The United States, USSR and EU states taught Iran and indeed the entire world that international instruments of disarmament are worthless.

In the process, they made the world a much more dangerous place.

I guess their leaders considered themselves immune and invincible.

[Babak Makkinejad]

All:

I ask again. does any one know the laws governing unauthorized disclosure of nuclear weapons design in US, UK, or France?

[Allen Thomson]

>I ask again. does any one know the laws governing unauthorized disclosure of nuclear weapons design in US, UK, or France?

This information goes under the name "Restricted Data" in the US and the applicable law is:

TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 23 > Division A > SUBCHAPTER XVII > § 2274

§ 2274. Communication of Restricted Data

Whoever, lawfully or unlawfully, having possession of, access to, control over, or being entrusted with any document, writing, sketch, photograph, plan, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information involving or incorporating Restricted Data—

(a) communicates, transmits, or discloses the same to any individual or person, or attempts or conspires to do any of the foregoing, with intent to injure the United States or with intent to secure an advantage to any foreign nation, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for life, or by imprisonment for any term of years or a fine of not more than $100,000 or both;

(b) communicates, transmits, or discloses the same to any individual or person, or attempts or conspires to do any of the foregoing, with reason to believe such data will be utilized to injure the United States or to secure an advantage to any foreign nation, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than $50,000 or imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Thank you for your reply.

So it is illegal to disclose this information.

Now, this seems to be rather linient compared to penalties under espionage.

I do not understand the relationship between this and the legal codes under which the Rosenberg's were convicted and executed.

I am confused.