60 years of denial about Israel’s nuclear weapons program confronts a new reality
- On Tuesday, President Donald Trump suggested cutting nearly $4 billion in military aid to Israel at year's end, claiming they no longer need it amid growing debate over the U.S. policy of nuclear ambiguity.
- In early 1960, Israeli official Addy Cohen told American diplomats the Dimona nuclear facility was a 'textile factory,' a misidentification that launched six decades of deliberate opacity between the U.S. and Israel.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged in June that most nations assess Israel possesses nuclear weapons, though the U.S. officially denies it; independent estimates place Israel's arsenal at 90 warheads.
- Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro called the ambiguity policy 'reckless and dangerous,' arguing the U.S. risks fighting alongside Israel without knowing their nuclear red lines or contingency plans.
- The war with Iran and Houthi military advances in Yemen are complicating the regional nuclear landscape as other nations advance their programs, suggesting the decades-old denial posture may finally be unraveling.
16 Articles
16 Articles
For more than six decades, the United States has pursued a policy of silence regarding Israel's nuclear arsenal, avoiding public confirmation that its Middle Eastern ally possesses such weapons. However, this approach is increasingly being questioned, at a time when the war with Iran has brought the threat of nuclear proliferation to the region back into focus. Israel has never officially admitted that it possesses nuclear weapons, but it has no…
A long-standing US policy of silence on Israel's nuclear weapons could change due to the war with Iran and new pressure from Congress.
In early 1960, a group of American diplomats were traveling in an Israeli helicopter when one of them spotted a construction site emerging from the Negev Desert, some 32 kilometres west of the Dead Sea.
60 years of denial about Israel’s nuclear weapons program confronts a new reality
By Davis Winkie, CNN (CNN) — A group of American diplomats was riding in an Israeli helicopter in early 1960 when one of them spotted a construction site rising out of the Negev desert about 20 miles west of the Dead Sea.The US official pointed and asked the party’s Israeli escort, Addy Cohen from the
Israel is considered by the main research institutes to be a nuclear power, with an estimated arsenal of approximately 90 warheads, although the Israeli authorities have not officially recognised their possession. A CNN analysis reconstructs how the program was hidden and explains why the United States supported this policy of ambiguity.
For almost 60 years, the US and Israel have avoided publicly admitting what is considered one of the Middle East's best-kept secrets, that Israel possesses nuclear weapons.…More...
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