Does Israel have nuclear weapons?
Israel has never admitted a nuclear capability, but defense analysts have concluded that Israel has the most extensive and sophisticated nuclear arsenal outside of the major powers.
Talented physicists came to Israel from Europe as a result of World War II, and after Israel was founded as an independent state in 1948, immediately launched the nuclear program. Since Israel was surrounded by much larger Arab states hostile to its existance, it was essential to develop a nuclear deterrent as the ultimate line of defense.
During the 1950′s Israel and France collaborated to bring both into the atomic weapons club. A research reactor was built with the assistance of French engineers at Dimona, in the Negev desert of southern Israel near Beersheba. In December 1960, before the reactor was operational, it was revealed by US intelligence. Israel announced that it was for “peaceful purposes” only and denied nuclear weapons intentions. During the 1960s, the US and Israel sparred over inspections and, it is believed, Israel evaded US attempts to limit the program. The US was not supplying Israel with arms or any security guarantees so Israel had no incentive to sacrifice its defense capability to meet US demands.
In 1962 the Dimona reactor went critical, and the French helped build a plutonium plant, believed to have been completed in 1964 or 1965. The security at Dimona (officially the Negev Nuclear Research Center) is stringent, supporting its military purpose. There is little doubt that some time in the late sixties Israel became the sixth nation to manufacture nuclear weapons, perhaps producing three to five bombs a year.
Nuclear collaboration between Israel and South Africa seems to have developed around 1967 and continued through the 70s and 80s. During this period South Africa was Israel’s primary supplier of uranium for Dimona. It is unknown what role Israel had, if any, in the September 22, 1979 nuclear explosion in the south Indian Ocean which is widely believed to have been a joint test by Israel and South Africa.
Israel never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the 1968 international agreement designed to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, a fact that has often been used by opponents to criticize Israel. But, Israel has few options for strategic defense against the massive capabilities of its enemies, including Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and their Scuds. While signing the treaty would eliminate a propaganda tool against Israel, the loss of the weapons would be too high a price for Israel to pay.
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