Israeli Nuclear Policy

13 Pages 3203 Words

Israel’s Nuclear Policy


The nuclear weapon is considered possibly the most powerful form of defense. Few countries can claim nuclear weapons as part of their military arsenal, but Israel is commonly included among this select group. Officially speaking, however, the nuclear status Israel enjoys is unknown because of the country’s refusal to admit possession of nuclear weapons. This secret policy to which Israel adheres today matured throughout its development of a nuclear arsenal. It is my intent to follow the events leading up to Israel’s realization of nuclear weapons and to expose the need felt by Israeli leaders to keep the project concealed from the world.
From the time Israel gained its statehood in 1948, it has not only been an independent country, but a nuclear country in, at least, ideological terms (Jabber, 1971). The formation of the Jewish state came only a few years after the close of the Holocaust, a time during which Zionist leaders felt virtually helpless in accomplishing their goals. Determined to rid themselves of this feeling, these same leaders, headed by Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, set out to secure Israel’s future by the development of a nuclear arsenal (Cohen, 1998). A man fascinated with science and technology, Ben Gurion was especially intrigued by nuclear energy as shown by his frequent mention of an atomic revolution. And, with the realization that Israel held a sizeable scientific and technical advantage over its Arab enemies, Ben Gurion was even further resigned to make scientific defense research a top priority. His fascination and political commitment, however, was not enough to initiate a nuclear project; for this, Ben Gurion needed the help of superior scientific minds (1998).
In 1952, the Ben Gurion-led government created an organization to oversee all activities associated with atomic energy on the national level. Named the Israel Atomic Energy Commis...