I am surprised, that in the wake of Israel’s application of extraordinary violence in Gaza, with accusations that Israel is advancing “state terrorism,” that the topic of Israel’s stockpile of WMDs, particularly nuclear weapons, has not become a topic of discussion.
Israel’s nuclear weapon program is much documented, but Israel steadfastly refuses to acknowledge its existence. Greenpeace says that one reason that Israel refuses to acknowledge the existence of its nuclear weapons is because, according to US law, it is illegal for the US to grant aid to any country who has unauthorized WMDs: “If Israel formally acknowledges their WMD they would risk losing more than US $2 billion a year in military and other aid from Washington.” (It appears that likely that this amount of US grants is now more like $3 billion or $4 billion every year.)
Robert Gates, in the Secretary of Defense confirmation process in 2006, confirmed that Israel has nuclear weapons, and speculated Israel’s nuclear weapons are is one motivation for Iran to seek nuclear weapons as well.
In 1986, The London Times broke the story of Israel's nuclear weapons.
Last May, Jimmy Carter angered the Israeli government by publicly estimating that Israel has at least 150 nuclear weapons. Carter said, “The US has more than 12,000 nuclear weapons; the Soviet Union (sic) has about the same; Great Britain and France have several hundred, and Israel has 150 or more.”
I accidentally discovered this BBC documentary (below) that tells about Israel’s atomic bomb plant in Dimona. The documentary focuses on a young Israeli citizen, Mordechai Vanunu, who worked at the Dimona facility until 1985 and who provided the London Times with photographs he secretly took at Dimona that proved that the Israelis were making atomic bombs at the Dimona facility. On October 5, 1986, The London Times published an extensive article about Israel’s atomic bomb production using Vanunu’s information. This is a lengthy video, but well worth the time needed to watch it:
Shortly after the Sunday Times’s article appeared, Vanunu was kidnapped by the Israelis and taken to Israel for trial. Vanunu was convicted of espionage and treason and sentenced to 18 years in prison, and 11 years of those 18 years Vanunu spent in solitary confinement. Vanunu was released from prison in 2004, but he is still not allowed to leave the country and his actions are closely monitored by the Israeli secret police.
An article by the “Wisconsin Project On Nuclear Arms Control” says, “France launched Israel on the nuclear path in the late 1950s by building the Dimona reactor, which is still the source of Israel’s plutonium–its main nuclear weapon fuel. The reactor’s heavy water, essential to achieve a chain reaction, was supplied by Norway in 1959. In 1963, when the reactor started operation, the United States supplied four more tons of heavy water. … In 1986, Francis Perrin, high commissioner of the French atomic energy agency from 1951 to 1970, was quoted in the press as saying that France and Israel had worked closely together for two years in the late 1950s to design an atom bomb. Perrin said that the United States had agreed that the French scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project could apply their knowledge at home provided they kept it secret. But then, Perrin said, ‘We considered we could give the secrets to Israel provided they kept it a secret themselves.” He added: ‘We thought the Israeli bomb was aimed against the Americans, not to launch it against America but to say ‘if you don’t want to help us in a critical situation we will require you to help us, otherwise we will use our nuclear bombs.'”
Vanunu today
The Wisconsin Project says, “After the United States discovered the Dimona reactor in 1960, U.S. nuclear specialists inspected Dimona every year from 1965 through 1969, looking for signs of nuclear weapon production. It is not clear what they found, but in 1968 the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reported to President Lyndon Johnson its conclusion that Israel had already made an atomic bomb. In 1969, Israel limited inspection visits by U.S. scientists to such an extent that the Americans complained in writing. Without explanation, the Nixon administration ended the visits the following year.”
November 2007: In an interview with political interviewer David Frost taken on November 2, 2007, the Pakistani politician and Pakistan Peoples Party leader Benazir Bhutto claimed that bin Laden had been murdered by Omar Sheikh. During her answer to a question pertaining to the identities of those who had previously attempted her own assassination, Bhutto named Sheikh as a possible suspect while referring to him as “the man who murdered Osama bin Laden.” Despite the weight of such a statement, neither Bhutto nor Frost attempted to clarify it during the remainder of the interview.[139] Omar Chatriwala, a journalist for Al Jazeera English, claims that he chose not to pursue the story at the time because he believes Bhutto misspoke, meaning to say Sheikh murdered Daniel Pearl and not Osama Bin Laden.[140] The BBC drew criticism when it rebroadcast the Frost/Bhutto interview on its website, but edited out Bhutto’s statement regarding Osama Bin Laden. Later the BBC apologized and replaced the edited version with the complete interview.[141] In October 2007, Bhutto stated in an interview that she would cooperate with the American military in targeting Osama bin Laden.[142]