What about Israels nuclear weapons?

H.R.A. · Jan 31, 2013

What about Israels nuclear weapons?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...0e486a-f389-11e1-a612-3cfc842a6d89_story.html

Readers periodically ask me some variation on this question: Why does the press follow every jot and tittle of Irans nuclear program, but we never see any stories about Israels nuclear weapons capability?

Its a fair question. Going back 10 years into Post archives, I could not find any in-depth reporting on Israeli nuclear capabilities, although national security writer Walter Pincus has touched on it many times in his articles and columns.

I spoke with several experts in the nuclear and nonproliferation fields , and they say that the lack of reporting on Israels nuclear weapons is real and frustrating. There are some obvious reasons for this, and others that are not so obvious.

First, Israel refuses to acknowledge publicly that it has nuclear weapons. The U.S. government also officially does not acknowledge the existence of such a program. Israels official position, as reiterated by Aaron Sagui, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy here, is that Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East. Israel supports a Middle East free of all weapons of mass destruction following the attainment of peace. The introduce language is purposefully vague, but experts say it means that Israel will not openly test a weapon or declare publicly that it has one.

According to Avner Cohen, a professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California who has written two books about this subject, this formulation was born in the mid-1960s in Israel and was the foundation of a still-secret 1969 agreement between Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and President Richard Nixon, reached when the United States became sure that Israel possessed nuclear bombs.

President John Kennedy vigorously tried to prevent Israel from obtaining the bomb; President Lyndon Johnson did so to a much lesser extent. But once it was a done deal, Nixon and every president since has not pressed Israel to officially disclose its capabilities or to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. In return, Israel agrees to keep its nuclear weapons unacknowledged and low-profile.

Because Israel has not signed the treaty, it is under no legal obligation to submit its major nuclear facility at Dimona to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections. Iran, in contrast, did sign the treaty and thus agrees to periodic inspections. IAEA inspectors are regularly in Iran, but the core of the current dispute is that Tehran is not letting them have unfettered access to all of the countrys nuclear installations.

Furthermore, although Israel has an aggressive media, it still has military censors that can and do prevent publication of material on Israels nuclear forces. Censorship applies to foreign correspondents working there, too.

Another problem, Cohen said, is that relatively few people have overall knowledge of the Israeli program and no one leaks. Those in the program certainly do not leak; it is a crime to do so. The last time an Israeli insider leaked, in 1986, nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu was kidnapped by Israeli agents in Italy, taken home to trial, convicted and served 18 years in jail, much of it in solitary confinement.

And perhaps most important, Americans dont leak about the Israeli nuclear program either. Cohen said information about Israeli nuclear capabilities is some of the most compartmentalized and secret information the U.S. government holds, far more secret than information about Iran, for example. U.S. nuclear researchers, Cohen said, have been reprimanded by their agencies for talking about it openly.

George Perkovich, director of the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said there are benign and not-so-benign reasons that U.S. officials are so tight-lipped. The United States and Israel are allies and friends. Do you out your friends? he asked.

And not being open about Israels nuclear weapons serves both U.S. and Israeli interests, Perkovich noted. If Israel were public about its nukes, or brandished its program recklessly as North Korea does every time it wants something it would put more pressure on Arab states to obtain their own bomb.

Among the less benign reasons U.S. sources dont leak is that it can hurt your career. Said Perkovich: Its like all things having to do with Israel and the United States. If you want to get ahead, you dont talk about it; you dont criticize Israel, you protect Israel. You dont talk about illegal settlements on the West Bank even though everyone knows they are there.

I dont think many people fault Israel for having nuclear weapons. If I were a child of the Holocaust, I, too, would want such a deterrent to annihilation. But that doesnt mean the media shouldnt write about how Israels doomsday weapons affect the Middle East equation. Just because a story is hard to do doesnt mean The Post, and the U.S. press more generally, shouldnt do it.
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NotAmused · Jan 31, 2013

H.R.A. said: ↑

What about Israels nuclear weapons?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...0e486a-f389-11e1-a612-3cfc842a6d89_story.html
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Because Israel has not signed the treaty, it is under no legal obligation to submit its major nuclear facility at Dimona to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections
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Israel may be under no legal obligation to submit to inspections; but has blatantly disregarded humanitarian law, which in turn is contrary to the principles of international law.

axialturban · Feb 1, 2013

The idea is to stop proliferation. This means in 3 simple terms;

1. if you dont have it, dont build it - easiest
2. if you do have, stop building new ones - less easy
3. if you do have, decommission the current ones - hardest to do

People who support Iran getting nuclear weapons are also supporting nuclear proliferation. Supporting nuclear proliferation is one the stupidest things possible that humanity could do.

NotAmused · Feb 1, 2013

axialturban said: ↑

The idea is to stop proliferation. This means in 3 simple terms;

1. if you dont have it, dont build it - easiest
2. if you do have, stop building new ones - less easy
3. if you do have, decommission the current ones - hardest to do

People who support Iran getting nuclear weapons are also supporting nuclear proliferation. Supporting nuclear proliferation is one the stupidest things possible that humanity could do.
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So, because its 'hard' this excuses the international community from dealing with Israels ongoing habit of contravening Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty?

One of the most stupid things humanity can possibly do is to allow itself to continue to be at the mercy of genuine madmen disguised as politicians; and I am not referring to Ahmadinejad here,

H.R.A. · Feb 1, 2013

It is really funny world. An illegal and illegitimate regime makes nukes secretly and then threaten other countries to prevent them to reach nuclear science. And this regime is supported by the US.
Well read this news:

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Jordan_king_says_Israel_disrupted_nuclear_plans_999.html

King Abdullah II on Wednesday accused Israel of disrupting Jordan's nuclear energy plans and warned of sectarian violence spilling across the border from Syria, in a wide-ranging interview with AFP.

The king, whose country needs atomic energy to meet its energy needs and power water desalination plants, said "strong opposition to Jordan's nuclear energy programme is coming from Israel."

He also warned of a spillover of the Syrian turmoil into its neighbours, saying the risk is "looming closer."

"When we started going down the road of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, we approached some highly responsible countries to work with us. And pretty soon we realised that Israel was putting pressure on those countries to disrupt any cooperation with us," the king added.

"A Jordanian delegation would approach a potential partner, and one week later an Israeli delegation would be there, asking our interlocutors not to support Jordan's nuclear energy bid," King Abdullah said.

Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.

"Against this backdrop, I feel that those who oppose our peaceful nuclear programme for all the wrong reasons are furthering Israeli interests more efficiently than Israel could ever do," the king said.

An Israeli official in Jerusalem dismissed the charge.

"The king's accusations sound (like) a hollow excuse," the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We were consulted and we always said that of course if this was done according to NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) regulations and supervision and everything, then fine, we have no objection."

Jordan, which imports 95 percent of its energy needs, is struggling to find alternatives to Egyptian gas, which normally covers 80 percent of power production.

Since 2011, the gas pipeline from Egypt to both Israel and Jordan has been attacked 14 times, with a consequent disruption of supplies.

With 92 percent of its territory desert, Jordan is one of the world's 10 driest countries and wants atomic energy to power desalination plants to overcome a crippling water shortage.

"Nuclear energy will be the cheapest reliable way to desalinate water," the king said.

The option the government seeks would cost about 3.5 billion dinars ($4.9 billion) "for a plant that would constitute one third of the total power capacity generated in Jordan today."

"The attacks on the Egyptian gas pipeline over the past two years have cost us already 2.8 billion dinars. That could have paid for almost one reactor," he said.

-- Danger of Syria conflict spillover --

----------------------------------------

Amman is currently weighing an offer by a consortium formed by French nuclear giant Areva and Japan's Mitsubishi, as well as a proposal by Russia's Atomstroyexport, to build Jordan's first nuclear plant.

A joint venture between Jordan Energy Resources Incorporated and Areva discovered more than 20,000 tonnes of uranium in central Jordan in June.

The king also said he is "extremely worried about the risk of a fragmentation of Syria."

"Over the past few months we have witnessed an increase in sectarian violence," he said.

"This not only endangers the unity of Syria, but it could also be a prelude to a spillover of the conflict, into neighbouring countries with similar sectarian composition. We have already seen signals that this risk is looming closer."

UN investigators have said that growing numbers of victims of the conflict in Syria are being targeted because of their religion, while gross violations of human rights occur on a regular basis.

More than 27,000 people have been killed since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in March 2011, according to rights monitors.

The king called for "a formula for a political transition where all components of Syrian society, including the Alawites, feel that they have a stake in the country's future."

"An inclusive transition process is the only way to stop the escalation in sectarian violence.

"It is in the best interest of the Syrian people, as it would preserve the territorial integrity and unity of Syria, and it is in the best interest of regional stability and the international community."

Jordan currently hosts more than 200,000 Syrians who have fled the violence.

"I have been saying all along that the issue is not the individual, but the system. If President Bashar were to leave tomorrow, but the system stayed, then what would the Syrian people have achieved?"

He said that not all Syrians in Jordan sought refuge.

"We have discovered that a few came here, not to seek safe haven, but to carry out other missions -- intelligence gathering on refugees, or schemes to target Jordan's stability and security.

"Let me simply say, the way Syria deals with its neighbours is one of the potential escalations that we are watching closely."

He said Syria has shelled Jordanian territory.

"So we are keeping our options open, if, for example, there are more escalations. Jordan will always act under the framework of international and Arab consensus, and in accordance with international law."
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As I said before, Israel is not just a dangerous problem for Palestinians or the ME people. The are the most important problem for the world.

HBendor · Feb 2, 2013

H.R.A. said: ↑

It is really funny world. An illegal and illegitimate regime makes nukes secretly and then threaten other countries to prevent them to reach nuclear science. And this regime is supported by the US.
Well read this news:

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Jordan_king_says_Israel_disrupted_nuclear_plans_999.html

As I said before, Israel is not just a dangerous problem for Palestinians or the ME people. The are the most important problem for the world.
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I disagree the problem is Iran/Persia with their uneducated Ayatollahs and the dwarf Ahmedinejad...
Persia has more to lose than anyone here. A furtive attack by Persia being conventional or atomic will retrograde it to the stone age. I wish the smart ones in Iran can make their own calculations.

HBendor · Feb 2, 2013

H.R.A. said: ↑

It is really funny world. An illegal and illegitimate regime makes nukes secretly and then threaten other countries to prevent them to reach nuclear science. And this regime is supported by the US.
Click to expand...

Israel is not illegal nor illegitimate, Israel is part of the family of nations... go open a book.
Israel was when Xerxes was reigning in Persia... Who is illegal??????? hmmmmmmmmmmm

H.R.A. · Feb 4, 2013

HBendor said: ↑

Persia has more to lose than anyone here. A furtive attack by Persia being conventional or atomic will retrograde it to the stone age. I wish the smart ones in Iran can make their own calculations.
Click to expand...

hahaha..... . It first is better to defeat Hezbollah and then talk about Iran. Have you forgotten Israel-Hezbollah 2006 war? If you forgot you could ask you that time secretary of defense who resigned after war or read the Winograd commission report.
I am sure you don't know anything about war.

H.R.A. · Feb 4, 2013

HBendor said: ↑

Israel is not illegal nor illegitimate, Israel is part of the family of nations... go open a book.
Israel was when Xerxes was reigning in Persia... Who is illegal??????? hmmmmmmmmmmm
Click to expand...

Do you know anyone else of history famous people except that Xerxes?? And he was the Achaemenid Empire king 2500 years ago. What is the relation between him and the today illegal and illegitimate Israel regime??!!
Could you please tell me how many of you Israelis parents or grand parents were born in occupied Palestine. Most of you are European. It is the thing you will never be able to deny it.

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