Israel and weapons of mass destruction

Israel is very widely believed to possess a substantial arsenal of nuclear weapons and intermediate-range ballistic missiles to deliver them. There is also speculation that it may have chemical and biological weapons programs. Israel acceded to the Geneva Protocol on February 20, 1969.

Nuclear weapons

The Israeli government refuses to officially confirm or deny that it has a nuclear weapon program, and has an official Policy of Vagueness on this subject, saying only that it would not be the first to "introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East" http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1999/458/intervw.htm. Israel is the only Middle Eastern country not to sign or ratify the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) since Oman acceded on January 23, 1997.

Related Topics:
Middle East - Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons - Oman - January 23 - 1997

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The United States had been opposed to Israel acquiring the bomb - an August 2005 BBC investigation showed that in the late 1950s the US rejected an Israeli request to sell it heavy water, because of Israel's refusal to guarantee it would be used only for civilian purposes. Consequently, because the world's largest supplier of heavy water, Norway, did not have enough stock, Britain sold Israel 20 tons of surplus heavy water, without requiring safeguards, or informing the US. The decision to ship 10 tons in June 1959, and another 10 tons a year later, appears to have been made entirely by civil servants at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, without political involvement. A 1961 request for a further five tons was declined - again without ministerial involvement - after a Daily Express report the year before on Israel's activities at Dimona had made the issue too politically sensitive.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4743493.stm

Related Topics:
United States - BBC - 1950 - Heavy water - Norway - Britain - 1959 - Civil servant - Foreign and Commonwealth Office - 1961 - Daily Express - Dimona

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first public revelation of Israel's nuclear capability (as opposed to development programme) came in the London-based Sunday Times on October 5, 1986, which printed information provided by Mordechai Vanunu, formerly employed at the Negev Nuclear Research Center, a facility located in the Negev desert south of Dimona. For publication of state secrets, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for treason and espionage. Although there had been much speculation prior to Vanunu's revelations that the Dimona site was creating nuclear weapons, Vanunu's information indicated that Israel had also built thermonuclear weapons.

Related Topics:
London - Sunday Times - October 5 - 1986 - Mordechai Vanunu - Negev Nuclear Research Center - Negev desert - Treason - Espionage - Thermonuclear weapon

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1998, former Prime Minister Shimon Peres admitted publicly that Israel "built a nuclear option, not in order to have a Hiroshima but an Oslo." http://www.fas.org/news/israel/980714-israel1.htm. The "nuclear option" may refer to a nuclear weapon or to the nuclear reactor in Dimona, which Israel claims is used for scientific research. ("Hiroshima" refers to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, while "Oslo" refers to the Oslo Peace Accords). Peres, in his capacity as the Director General of the Ministry of Defense in the early 1960s, was responsible for building Israel's nuclear capability.

Related Topics:
1998 - Shimon Peres - Hiroshima - Oslo - Dimona - Atomic bombing of Hiroshima - Oslo Peace Accords

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, based on Vanunu's information, Israel has approximately 100-200 nuclear explosive devices and a Jericho missile delivery system. A United States Defense Intelligence Agency report (leaked and published in the book "Rumsfeld's War" by journalist Richard Scarborough in 2004) puts the number of weapons at 82. The difference might lie in the amount of material Israel has on store versus assembled weapons.

Related Topics:
Nuclear Threat Initiative - Jericho missile - Defense Intelligence Agency - Rumsfeld's War - Richard Scarborough - 2004

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Israel has operated three modern German-built Dolphin class submarines http://www.dolphin.org.il/dolphins/ since 1999. Various reports indicate that these submarines are equipped with American-made Harpoon missiles modified to carry small nuclear warheads http://www.dolphin.org.il/press/#3 and/or the larger Israeli-made 'Popeye Turbo' cruise missiles, originally developed for air-to-ground strike capability http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/israel/popeye-t.htm.

Related Topics:
Dolphin class submarine - 1999 - Submarine - Harpoon - Cruise missile

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

No known nuclear weapons test has been conducted within Israel, although the boosted weapons shown in Vanunu's photographs may well have required testing. It is also possible that the Israelis received results from French nuclear testing in the 1960s. Another story has it that, it was Britain who assisted Israel in 1958. In June 1976, the West Germany Army Magazine, Wehrtechnik, claimed that a 1963 underground test took place in the Negev, and other reports indicate that some type of non-nuclear test, perhaps a zero yield or implosion test, may have occurred on 2 November 1966. In September 1979, a Vela satellite may have detected a 3 kiloton oceanic nuclear explosion near to South Africa, accompanied by underwater acoustic and ionospheric effects which may have been a joint nuclear test between Israel and South Africa (see Vela Incident).

Related Topics:
Boosted weapons - French - 1960s - 1976 - West Germany - 1963 - 2 November - 1966 - 1979 - Vela - Satellite - Kiloton - Nuclear explosion - South Africa - Ionospheric - Israel - Vela Incident

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~