Israel maintains ambiguity about its nuclear program amid attacks
By Sam Mednick
Like Aviv, Israel (AP) – Israel says that it is determined to destroy Iran’s nuclear program because the stealth efforts of its enemine to build an atomic weapon are a threat to its existence.
What is not so secret is that for decades, Israel is considered the only nation in the Middle East with nuclear weapons, even if its leaders refused to confirm or deny their existence.
The ambiguity of Israel has enabled him to strengthen his deterrence against Iran and other enemies, say the experts, without triggering a regional race on nuclear weapons or inviting preventive attacks.
Israel is one of the five countries that are not part of a global nuclear non-proliferation treaty. This relieves international pressure to disarm, or even to allow inspectors to scrutinize their facilities.
Critics in Iran and elsewhere have accused Western countries of hypocrisy for having kept a strict eye on the Iranian nuclear program – that its leaders insist that for peaceful ends – while actually giving the suspicious Arsenal of Israel a free pass.
The US military struck three nuclear sites in Iran on Sunday, part of Israel’s efforts to destroy the Iranian program.
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File – A view of the Sorek nuclear reactor center in Israel near the Israeli central city of Yavne, July 5, 2004. (Photo AP, File)
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File – A view of the Sorek nuclear reactor center in Israel near the Israeli central city of Yavne, July 5, 2004. (Photo AP, File)
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Here is a more in -depth examination of the Israel nuclear program:
A story of nuclear ambiguity
Israel opened its Negev nuclear research center in the desert city distant from Dimona in 1958, under the first chief of the country, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion. He thought that the tiny nascent country surrounded by hostile neighbors needed nuclear deterrence as an additional safety measure. Some historians say they were supposed to be used only in an emergency, as a last resort.
After its opening, Israel kept work in Dimona hidden for a decade, telling the officials of the United States that it was a textile factory, according to an article in 2022 in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, an academic review.
According to this article, based on plutonium produced in Dimona, Israel has had the capacity to dismiss nuclear warheads since the early 1970s, co-author by Hans Mr. Kristensen, director of the nuclear information project with the Federation of American Scientists, and Matt Korda, researcher of the same organization.
Israel’s ambiguity policy underwent a major setback in 1986, when Dimona’s activities were exhibited by a former technician on the site, Mordechai Vanunu. He provided photographs and reactor descriptions to London Snday Times.
Vanunu has served 18 years in prison for betrayal and is not allowed to meet foreigners or leave the country.
Israel has dozens of nuclear warheads say the experts
Experts believe that Israel has between 80 and 200 nuclear warheads, although they say that the lower end of this beach is more likely.
Israel has also stored up to 1,110 kilograms (2,425 pounds) of plutonium, potentially enough to make 277 nuclear weapons, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a global security organization. He has six submarines which would be able to launch nuclear cruise missiles and ballistic missiles which would be able to launch a nuclear warhead up to 6,500 kilometers (4,000 miles), according to the organization.
Germany has provided all the submarines to Israel, which are anchored in the city of northern Haifa, according to the article by Kristensen and Korda.
Nuclear weapons in the Middle East present risks
In the Middle East, where conflicts abound, governments are often unstable and regional alliances often change, nuclear proliferation is particularly dangerous, said or Rabinowitz, researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Associate Professor Guest at the University of Stanford.
“When nuclear armed states are at war, the world always has a remark because we do not like it when nuclear arsenals … are available for decision-makers,” she said.
Rabinowitz says that the military leaders of Israel could consider deploying a nuclear weapon if they found themselves faced with an extreme threat, as a weapon of mass destruction used against them.
Three countries other than Israel have refused to sign the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons: India, Pakistan and South Sudan. North Korea has retired. Iran signed the treaty, but it was censored earlier this month, shortly before Israel launched its operation, by the UN nuclear guard dog – one day before Israel attacked – for violation of its obligations.
Israel’s ambiguity policy helped him escape a more in -depth examination, said Susie Snyder during the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons, a group that strives to promote membership in the United Nations Treaty.
Its policy has also highlighted the failure of Western countries to curb nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, she said.
They “prefer not to remember their own complicity,” she said.
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