http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Israel/Nuke_Nation.htmlNuke Nation
Israel's weapons of mass destruction
by John Steinbach
CovertAction Quarterly, April / June 2001
Since the Gulf War in 1991, much attention has been Lavished on an alleged threat from Iraqi weapons of mass destruction while the major culprit in the region, Israel, has been largely ignored.
With between 200 and 500 thermonuclear weapons and a sophisticated delivery system, Israel, population 6 million, recently supplanted Britain as the world's 5th Largest nuclear power. It may now rival France and China in the size and sophistication of its nuclear arsenal.Possessing chemical and biological weapons, an extremely sophisticated nuclear arsenal, and an aggressive strategy for their actual use, Israel provides the major regional impetus for the development of weapons of mass destruction, and represents an acute threat to peace and stability in the Middle East.
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THE ISRAELI BOMB
The Israeli nuclear program began in the Late 1940s. It was established at the Department of Isotope Research at the Weissman Institute of Science under the direction of Ernst David Bergmann, "the father of the Israeli bomb," who in 1952 established the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission.From the very beginning the U.S. was heavily involved in developing Israel's nuclear capability, training Israeli nuclear scientists and providing nuclear-related technology, including a small "research" reactor in 1955 under the "Atoms for Peace" program.
It was France, however, that provided the bulk of nuclear assistance to Israel, culminating in construction of Dimona, a heavy water-moderated, natural uranium reactor and plutonium reprocessing operation situated near Bersheeba in the Negev desert.Israel had been active in the French nuclear weapons program from its inception, and provided critical technical expertise. Dimona became operational in 1964 and plutonium reprocessing began shortly thereafter. Despite Israeli claims that Dimona was "a manganese plant, or a textile factory," the extreme security measures employed belied the bogus claims.
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SOUTH AFRICA AND THE US In 1977, the Soviet Union warned the U.S. that satellite photos indicated South Africa was planning a nuclear test in the Kalahari desert. The apartheid regime backed down under pressure from the Carter administration.
On September 22, 1979, a U.S. satellite detected an atmospheric test of a small thermonuclear bomb in the Indian Ocean off South Africa, but because of Israel's involvement the report was quickly whitewashed by a carefully selected scientific panel, kept in the dark about important details. Later it was Learned through Israeli sources that there were actually three tests of miniaturized Israeli nuclear artillery shells.
The Israeli/South African collaboration did not end with the bomb testing, but continued until the fall of apartheid, especially with the developing and testing of medium range missiles and advanced artillery. In addition to uranium and test facilities, South Africa provided Israel with Large amounts of investment capital, while Israel provided a major trade outlet undermining the international economic sanctions imposed on the apartheid regime.
Although the French and South Africans were primarily responsible for the Israeli nuclear program, the U.S. deserves a Large part of the blame.
An observer remarked the Israeli nuclear program "was possible only because
of calculated deception on the part of Israel, and willing complicity on the part of the U.S." Beginning with the provision of a small reactor in the mid-1950s, the U.S. played a critical role in Israel's nuclear plans.
Israeli scientists were trained largely at U.S. universities and were generally welcomed at the nuclear weapons Labs. In the early 1960s, the controls for the Dimona reactor were obtained clandestinely from a company called Tracer Lab, the main supplier of U.S. military reactor control panels, purchased through a Belgian subsidiary apparently with the acquiescence of the U.S. intelligence community.
In 1971, the Nixon administration approved the sale to Israel of hundreds of krytons, a type of high speed switch necessary to the development of sophisticated nuclear bombs. And in 1979 President Carter provided Tel Aviv ultra-high resolution photos from the KH11 spy satellite, which were used two years later to bomb the Iraqi Osirak reactor. Throughout the Nixon and Carter administrations, and accelerating dramatically under Reagan, U.S. advanced technology transfers to Israel continued and continue to the present.
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Another major use of the Israeli bomb is to compel the U.S. to act in Israel's favor, even when it runs counter to its own strategic interests. As early as 1956 Francis Perrin, head of the French A-bomb project, wrote: "We thought the Israeli Bomb was aimed at the Americans, not to launch it at the Americans, 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"'
During the 1973 war, Israel used nuclear blackmail to force Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon to airlift massive amounts of military hardware to Israel. At that time the then Israeli Ambassador, Simcha Dinitz, is quoted as saying: "If a massive airlift to Israel does not start immediately, then I will know that the U.S. is reneging on its promises and... we will have to draw very serious conclusions..."
John Steinbach is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and the Environment. With his wife Louise Franklin-Ramirez, he is the co-author of the map and database "Deadly Radiation Hazards USA." He is active in the Washington, D.C.-area peace and justice movement
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