It’s a constant source of frustration to me that Israel has a much better press than the United States. Case in point, from Haaretz:
The Central Intelligence Agency, backed by bodies including the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the Defense Intelligence Agency, determined in August 1974 that Israel had nuclear “weapons in being,” a “small number” of which it “produced and stockpiled.”
Israel was also suspected of providing nuclear materials, equipment or technology to Iran, South Africa and other then-friendly countries.
This top secret document, consigned to the CIA’s vaults for almost 32 years, was suddenly released to the public this week, during U.S. President George W. Bush’s visit to Israel and on the eve of his trip to the Persian Gulf.
A small part of the document was released in early 2006 under a Freedom of Information Request placed by scholars Avner Cohen and William Burr, but only as an attachment to a 1975 State Department paper ostensibly disputing the portrayal of Israel’s nuclear weapons as a fact.
I like that last part where a partial declassification had the effect of hiding the conclusions of the Intelligence Community. In reality, the IC was almost certain that Israel had developed nuclear weapons, and that they were giving nuclear know-how to Iran and South Africa.
In both the original 1974 document and the 1975 State Department paper (in which it was retyped), the entire intelligence community determined, “Israel already has produced nuclear weapons.” This analysis was based on “Israeli acquisition of large quantities of uranium,” in part covertly; on Israel’s ambiguous efforts to enrich uranium; and on the huge investment in the “Jericho” surface-to-surface missile “designed to accommodate nuclear warheads.” Short of a grave threat to the nation’s existence, Israel was not expected to confirm its suspected capability “by nuclear testing or by threats of use.”
While Israel’s nuclear weapons “cannot be proven beyond a shadow of doubt,” several bodies of information point strongly toward a program stretching back over a number of years, the document states.
The 1974 document describes the Jericho project, from its inception in France through its migration to Israel to the replacement of the original inertial guidance system by an Israeli design “based on components produced in Israel under licenses from U.S. companies.”
Israel Aircraft Industries is responsible for the development of the missile and has constructed a number of facilities for production and testing north of Tel Aviv, near Haifa, at Ramle and nearby it “a missile assembly and checkout plant.”
On Iran, the 1974 NIE said, “there is no doubt of the Shah’s ambition to make Iran a power to reckon with. If he is alive in the mid-80’s, if Iran has a full-fledged nuclear power industry and all the facilities necessary for nuclear weapons, and if other countries have proceeded with weapons development, we have no doubt that Iran will follow suit.”
The Shah’s ouster in 1979 (and death a year later) apparently slowed down Iran’s nuclear project.
The authors of the NIE wrote that the U.S. helped France expedite its nuclear program, France in turn helped Israel, and much like France and India, Israel, “while unlikely to foster proliferation as a matter of national policy, probably will prove susceptible to the hue of economic and political advantages to be gained from exporting materials, technology and equipment relevant to nuclear weapons programs.”
Israel never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty so they are not in violation of any international law. The other non-signatories (North Korea, Pakistan, and India), have all developed nuclear weapons.
In any case, see if you can find a mention of this story in the American press. A quick Google News search shows stories from Reuters, the Iranian press, and the Israeli press, but nothing in the U.S. except a UPI story. When people talk about grand conspiracies of control of the press, this is the kind of thing that gives their theories salience. Except for one thing…the story is featured prominently in the Israeli press. They aren’t censoring it. It’s the American press that is censoring it.
As they say in the business, everyone knew it so it was old news, No need to tell the American people.
To be clear, Israel has never formally admitted that they have nuclear weapons.
Yeah, what a joke.
And who do you think gave them the materials for the weapons?
France.
The Dimona center was overflown by ‘unidentified’ jets some days before the Six Day War. Some people think that they were Russian, not Arab jets.
The U.S. knew as early as the 1960s that Israel had a reactor with plutonium and enriched uranium. Israel probably had weapons by the Six Day War.
Seymour Hersh has some information about this too, but from second-hand sources. Still good, though.
how did South Africa get theirs?
Israel and South Africa found common ground in a lot of their aims. They were essentially settlers surrounded by hostile nations. They shared tactics in containing black South Africans and Palestinians.
Black and progressive newspapers and mags in the U.S. and Britain were saying this since the mid-Seventies. South Africa (pre-Mandela) and Israel were testing nukes in areas where there were predominantly black populations. I have often wondered whether and how many of these people were affected by these tests.
Israel’s been interested in nukes since 1948. Like they really need our help in anything.
The Israeli press is also about the only place you can find criticism of AIPAC as well as the neocon leadership of Israel (such as Sharon) which does NOT represent all Israelis.
Thanks God for the internet is all I can say.
Pax
Doesn’t just about everyone have them? (Save for some African and Asian countries.)
have what? nukes? No. The five UN Security Council countries, and the four non-signatories of the NNPT.
Plus, maybe Brazil…I’ve heard rumors.
Who are they gonna bomb?
Our media is obsessed with the silly drama the passes for our political process these days . . . not the big events that are taking place as Bush enters his last year in office. Bush has all the appearances of making one last push to realize his greater geopolitical agenda. The press should be looking at Bush’s visit to the Middle East and first trip to Israel in greater detail. This is happening just as Iran and the U.S. are trading jabs at each other and something is going on between certain forces in the intelligence services and the military. I wonder how this release of information plays in relation to the release of the NIE on Iran being released last year and the reports that Israel intelligence was going to brief Bush while he’s there and give a differing opinion on Iran. Is “de-classifying” this info at this time a way to strike back at the Israeli effort to influence Bush?
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration will notify Congress on Monday of its intent to sell $20 billion in weapons, including precision-guided bombs, to Saudi Arabia, moving up the announcement to coincide with the president’s arrival in Riyadh.
A main aim of Bush’s Mideast visit is to convince the Saudi leadership as well as those in Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates that he remains committed to preventing Iran from destabilizing the region, despite U.S. intelligence findings that Tehran halted its nuclear weapons development in 2003.
Although administration has staunchly defended the sale as critical to U.S. interests, its desire to sell Saudi Arabia sophisticated weaponry has raised eyebrows from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who say the transfer of Joint Direct Attack Munitions technology would lend it highly accurate targeting abilities that could threaten Israel.
Tony Blair and the Saudi Arms Deal
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
Beginning in 1975 two test shafts over 250 meters deep for conducting nuclear tests were drilled at the Vastrap military base in the Kalahari Desert. A Soviet surveillance satellite detected these test preparationss in August 1977, and the Soviets notified the US of their discovery. South Africa was forced to cancel the tests in the face of diplomatic pressure from America, the Soviet Union, and France.
A flash over the Indian Ocean detected by an American satellite in September 1979 was suspected of being a nuclear test, possibly conducted by either Israel or South Africa, alone or in combination. the Carter administration assembled a panel of scientists from academia to review the data.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."