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Israel’s Bold Shock And Awe Violence In Gaza Should Bring New Attention To Israel’s Nuclear Weapons

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 secret nuclear weapon program

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.”

Robert Reich Decries $350 Billion Waste Of TARP I, Outlines Recommendations For TARP II

Robert Reich says, in his blog, about TARP I, that it looks like American taxpayers wasted $350 billion. He says, “No one knows exactly where it went…. In all likelihood, on the basis of the skimpy evidence we now have, the money went to bank shareholders in the form of dividends; to bank executives, traders, and directors as compensation to some holders of bank debt; and to platoons of lawyers, accountants, and other financiers who have advised the banks about other places to park the rest of the money in the meantime.”

These are Reich’s recommendations of how the second $350 billion, TARP II, should be spent:

Do not use any of the money to buy stock in — that is, to “recapitalize” — the banks. This is a sinkhole of cosmic proportion. Citigroup, to take but one example, has so far received $45 billion of taxpayer cash since early October (along with some $250 billion in taxpayer-supported guarantees from the Fed for junky assets on Citi’s balance sheets), and is in far worse financial shape than it was three months ago. Perhaps, someday over the rainbow, these shares in Citi along with Citi’s lousy assets will be worth more than taxpayers paid for them. But we’re not in Wonderland yet and probably never will be. Giving Citi or any other big bank more taxpayer money is analogous to giving it to Bernard Madoff. It’s a giant Ponzi scheme. The money will disappear.
Do not use the money to buy the banks’ “troubled” assets. This might have made sense a year ago when the proportion of such assets — which include mortage-backed securities as well as loans to private-equity partnerships that pissed them away — was relatively small. But these days a huge and growing proportion of bank assets are “troubled.” (It’s also a huge waste of taxpayer dollars for the Fed to exchange them for Treasury bills.)
Prohibit any bank that gets TARP II funds from issuing dividends, purchasing other companies, or paying off creditors.
Bar any bank that gets TARP II funds from paying its executives, traders, or directors more than 10 percent of what they received in 2007.
Require that any bank getting TARP II funds be reimbursed by its executives, traders, and directors 50 percent of whatever amounts they were compensated in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. This compensation was, after all, based on false premises and fraudulent assertions, and on balance sheets that hid the true extent of these banks’ risks and liabilities.
Insist that at least 90 percent of the TARP II money be used for new bank loans. If the banks cannot find suitable borrowers, they should return the money.

Reich says, “You may judge these conditions harsh. I think them prudent. They may force a number of big banks to go into chapter 11 bankruptcy, which would not be the end of the world but perhaps the beginning.”

In addition, Reich says, “Congress should attach to TARP II — or to the upcoming stimulus bill — a small change in the bankruptcy law allowing homeowners to renegotiate their mortgages on their primary residences (as owners of second homes and commercial real estate can already do). The practical effect will be to give homeowners more bargaining leverage with their mortgage banks, and save at least 800,000 homes from foreclosure.”