Population: 6.5 million
Democracy.
Has fought four wars with its Arab neighbors; continuing clashes with Palestinians.
NPT: Has not joined and has not acknowledged that it has nuclear weapons..
NUCLEAR WEAPONS: YES
Has advanced nuclear weapons capability and is thought to possess enough nuclear material for 98 to 172 weapons..
NUCLEAR CAPABILITIES:
-- Estimated to have produced 240 to 425 pounds of weapons-grade plutonium since Dimona nuclear research reactor started up in 1964.
-- Israel produced its first nuclear device from plutonium separated from spent fuel rods in late 1966 or 1967.
-- Has 5 nuclear weapons complexes, uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing plants, and other advanced processing plants. .
DELIVERY SYSTEM: Israels missile program began in the 1960s, with French aid.
-- The strongest military power in the region, Israel has deployed about 100 short-range and medium-range missiles the Jericho-1 (300 miles) and the Jericho-2 (900 miles). Both are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
-- Has U.S.-made F-16, and possibly F-15I, fighter-bombers thatcan carry nuclear bombs.
-- Also may be developing a nuclear capability for its submarines.
[Source: The San Francisco Chronicle, "The dangerous world of nuclear weapons", FEBRUARY 22, 2004, p. A21]
- - - - - - - - - -
March 14, 2008
* Iran threat - should we go ahead and let Israel buy F22 stealth jets?
March 11, 2008
* France's Sarkozy promises to fight against Iran's nuclearization
March 9, 2008
* ElBaradei too acquiescent to Iran, sez Israel's Boim
* UN, IAEA to acquiescent to West, sez Iran
March 5, 2008
February 21, 2008
This is top story on the front page of today's The Guardian, of Manchester and London, England.
January 12, 2008
Jonathan Pollard's treason against USA
Ron Olive, the agent in charge of counterintelligence for the Naval Investigative Service at the time of Pollard's arrest, told the BBC that the incident was "one of the most devastating cases of espionage in US history" during which Pollard stole over "one million classified documents". "Even though Israel is an ally, it had friends that aren't necessarily friend of the US," said Mr Olive, who wrote a book about the case, Capturing Jonathan Pollard. He argues that all countries' intelligence services are susceptible to penetration, including Israel. "We have to assume that not only did the intelligence go to Israel but that it went to other countries as well," he added. ... The documents that Pollard leaked have never been made public for intelligence reasons. But they were said to include information on Soviet arm shipments to Syria, Iraqi and Syrian chemical weapons, the Pakistani atomic bomb and Libyan air defences, according to the author and journalist Wolf Blitzer in his book Territory of Lies.
[Source: Martin Patience (BBC reporter - Jerusalem), Spy case still makes waves in Israel, BBC News (UK), January 11, 2008 09:00 GMT]
October 25, 2006
*
Israel experts uphold nuclear vagueness
United Press International
TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Security experts are upholding the government's policy of 'vagueness' on Israeli nuclear capability. ...
*
Israeli Foreign Minister May Go to Qatar
Salon
... the countries. Earlier this week, officials said Livni might discuss the Iranian nuclear program and the fate of Cpl. Gilad Shalit ...
* [2006-05-21] Israeli PM leaves for Washington
Xinhua News
* [2006-05-19] Report: SA, Israel carried out nuclear test in 1979
Mail & Guardian
* [2006-05-05] The return of the Mahdi
WorldNetDaily (OR)
... Ahmadinejad's belief in this Hidden Imam is so compelling that he may well be persuaded to go to any lengths, including a nuclear attack on Israel and/or the ...
* [2006-05-05] Book Review: The Bomb in the Basement
Palestine Chronicle (WA)
... ÒThe Bomb in the Basement Ð How Israel Went Nuclear and What that Means for the World.Ó Michael Karpin. Simon & Schuster, New York. 2006. 404 p. ...
* [2006-05-05] No UK plans to take Israel to UN over nukes, says minister
IRNA
* 2005-05-18: PA minister accuses Israel of nuclear waste disposal
Al Jazeera
* 2005-05-13: Israel says Iran will have nuclear bomb knowledge
Reuters
* 2005-05-13: Israel voices concern over Iran threat to resume nuclear work
Yahoo! News
* 2005-05-13: Israel may have 400 Atomic Weapons, Says Pentagon Whistle Blower
AKI
* 2005-05-11: UN nuclear talks break deadlock over Israeli arms
Reuters
February 13, 2004
Why the USA isn't so worried about Israel's n-weapons
Here's how Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld answered a Palestinian's questioning of why the United States is worried about Iran and North Korea but is not doing anything about Israel's nuclear arsenal:
"You know the answer before I give it, I'm sure. The world knows the answer... Israel is a small state with a small population. It's a democracy and it exists in a neighborhood. Many, over a period of time, opined from time to time that they'd prefer it not be there and they'd like it to be put in the sea. And Israel has opined that it would prefer not to get put in the sea, and as a result, over a period of decades, it has arranged itself so it hasn't been put in the sea."
[Source: Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough ("Inside the Ring" column), "Rumsfeld on Israel", The Washington Times, February 13, 2004]
August 1, 2003
* The truth about Israel; Rather than deal with the facts, defenders of Israel prefer the easy path of smearing the messenger
Jill Singer, Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), p. 21
This op ed piece has two main themes. One is inane (that bias is in the eyes of the beholder),
and the other (that Israel is on the wrong side of history, nuclear-wise) is backed-up by a variety of arguments including one that seems pretty specious (that Israel was wrong about Saddam when they bombed that nuclear plant of his in 1981). The author then incredibly leaps to the present "Show Us Iraq's WMDs" controversy in arguing that there's no proof that Saddam had nuclear intentions. Memo to Ms. Singer: There's nothing subjective required to identify your bias in this case.
July 1, 2003
* Iran govt - if they stoppped lying, you'd think they were mute - they're complaining about radiation leakage from Israel's nuclear program now.If not for their difference on the abortion issue, it would be hard to tell the Islamo-fascists apart from the green totalitarians.
June 29, 2003
Israeli government likens BBC program to wartime Nazi press
Associated Press article describes Israeli government's reaction to a BBC TV documentary
titled "Israel's Secret Weapon". Israel finds it quite biased that the show treated the issues
of Israel's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons without giving viewers even a hint that Israel is a democracy fighting for its survival.
Nuclear.com didn't see the show, but read the transcript posted at Independent Media Center website. Frankly, I don't think the documentary is descriminatory against Israel. It is descriminatory against secrecy, national security, and things nuclear. They celebrate that traitor Vanunu no more nor less than they would any jailed so-called nuclear whistleblower. This piece is extremely critical, and pretty one-sided (if the Israeli government didn't actively try to quell discussion of the subject, perhaps it would be easier to get the rest of the story out), but it's not the kind of dehumanizing anti-Jewish propaganda that characterized the Nazis.
* Israel - the world's 6th largest n-arsenal, plus CBW
May 12, 2003
Middle East needs to be a WMD-free zone, many nations agree
Malaysia, speaking on behalf of Non-Aligned Movement member states that are parties to the NPT, and other countries including China, renewed calls for the creation in the Middle East of a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
The Non-Aligned Movement also said Israel should accede to the NPT, promptly put "all its nuclear facilities" under International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] safeguards, permit international inspections and agree to the need to establish a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East.
[Source: John Zarocostas (Geneva), "Iran seen ready to develop nuclear arms; Middle East, Korea are danger zones", The Washington Times, May 12, 2003, p. A16]