Israeli nuclear weapons

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Negev Nuclear Research Center , Dimona, November 1968
Negev Nuclear Research Center, Dimona, October 2010

Israeli nuclear weapons are an officially not granted, long suspected and since 1985 part of Israel's military armament that has become publicly known . Along with India , Pakistan and North Korea, Israel is not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty , but is counted among the de facto nuclear powers .

Israeli nuclear weapons program

According to Ibrahim Abu-Lughod , a Palestinian-American political scientist and member of the Palestinian National Council , there were rumors that Israel was in possession of an atomic bomb as early as the 1948 Palestine War . Allegedly these rumors were spread by Israel itself in order to prevent the neighboring Arab states from the planned attack on the young state.

The chairman of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission , Ernst David Bergmann , recommended the construction of atomic bombs in 1952.

In cooperation with the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program under President Dwight D. Eisenhower , an American light water reactor was built in the Sorek nuclear research center from 1958 . On the basis of a secret agreement between Shimon Peres and Guy Mollet in 1957, France also supported the construction of a research reactor in the Negev nuclear research center, southeast of Dimona in the Negev desert. Intelligence shielding and support for the nuclear program was carried out by a specially established service, the Lakam .

France stopped supplying uranium to Israel in 1962. In 1968, 200 tons of yellowcake (a mixture of compounds containing uranium) were allegedly bought by the Mossad in Antwerp . The owner of the loaded ship, the Scheersberg A , was Dan Ert, a member of the Mossad. Previously, the uranium from Zaire from the German company Asmara Chemie GmbH in Hettenhain near Wiesbaden had been bought by the Belgian Société Générale des Minerais. The incident did not become public until 1977. In the Apollo affair about uranium that disappeared in the United States in the 1960s, Israeli connections are suspected. Israel acquired uranium in Argentina and South Africa. Britain sold 20 tons of excess heavy water to the Israel Atomic Energy Agency in 1958. Heavy water was also supplied from France and the United States.

According to the mirror, the first Israeli atomic bomb was completed in 1967. According to the files of the Federal Foreign Office , the German Federal Government had been informed about the Israeli nuclear weapons program since 1961; Helmut Schmidt spoke to Moshe Dajan about the subject in 1977 . According to the notes of the Defense Minister at the time, Franz Josef Strauss , the then Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion had " discussed the production of nuclear weapons" with him in Paris in 1961. In 1961, the German government granted Israel a million dollar loan through the Reconstruction Loan Corporation (KfW) for the construction of a nuclear-powered seawater desalination plant in the Negev desert. The use of funds was never checked and the plant was never built. According to Shimon Peres , who was in charge of the Israeli bombing project at the time, the loan was "partially waived". The funds did not flow into bomb development. Peres covered part of the costs with private donations; the origin of the main funds remains anonymous.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which came into force in 1970, was not signed by Israel, nor was it the Bioweapons Convention or the Ottawa Convention . The Chemical Weapons Convention , Israel has signed but not ratified . It is therefore not binding on Israel under international law.

During the 1973 Yom Kippur War , Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir ordered 13 atomic bombs with the explosive power after being informed by Moshe Dayan on the night of October 8-9 that there was a threat of military defeat against Syria and Egypt of 20 kilotons of TNT each for the Jericho missile on the Sdot Micha missile base and the F-4 on the Tel Nof Airbase ready for action. President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger learned of the move on the morning of October 9th and ordered Operation Nickel Grass , a massive support of military supplies for Israel.

Israeli F-15I Ra'am , a variant of the McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle suitable as a nuclear weapon carrier

In 1975, Shimon Peres, as Secretary of Defense, offered South Africa missile warheads in three sizes. The journalist Sasha Polakow-Suransky suspected in 2010 that these were nuclear warheads. Peres denied that Israel had negotiated the supply of nuclear weapons with South Africa and accused Polakov-Suransky of selective interpretation of the documents. According to Polakow-Suransky, South Africa supplied Israel with a total of 500 kg of uranium.

The Vela incident off the coast of South Africa on September 22, 1979 was viewed by some scientists as a South African-Israeli nuclear weapon test, and contested by others. It was not until 1993 that de Klerk , the President of South Africa, admitted to his parliament that South Africa had built nuclear weapons.

As early as 1982, Der Spiegel reported suspicions that Israel was also building the neutron bomb .

In 1985, the Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu made public that Israel had nuclear weapons. Photographs of Israeli nuclear warheads were published in the London Sunday Times . To be sure, the newspaper had the material checked beforehand by experts Frank Barnaby and Theodore B. Taylor . Vanunu was one of 150 people who had access to the Machon 2 complex (out of a total of ten with several thousand employees). Here, plutonium is separated in the six underground floors and tritium and lithium (isotope 6 Li) (which can be used for a higher energy yield in thermonuclear weapons) are also produced as bomb components . Vanunu was 1986 before the press release of the Israeli agent Cheryl Ben Tov lured from London to Rome, kidnapped there and because of treason sentenced to 18 years in prison. After his release, Vanunu declared again that Israel was also building hydrogen bombs and neutron bombs . He was briefly detained again in 2007.

During his visit to Germany on December 11, 2006, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hinted at Israel as a nuclear power in an interview with N24 : “Iran has openly, publicly and explicitly threatened to erase Israel from the map. Can you say that this is the same level when you strive for nuclear weapons as America, France, Israel, Russia? ” Gernot Erler (SPD), Minister of State in the Foreign Office, commented that the world has long known that Israel Got nuclear weapons.

Estimates of the number of nuclear warheads are usually based on calculations of how much weapons-grade material the reactors in Israel can produce annually. Israeli scientists named the number of 250 warheads in 1982. In 2007, the Federation of American Scientists suspected that Israel had 100 to 250 nuclear warheads for medium-range missiles . Lt. Col. Warner D. Farr of the Air University of the US Air Force estimated the number of nuclear warheads for 1997 at over 400. The International Institute for Strategic Studies , however, assumed a number of up to 200 warheads in 2009.

The Jericho missile entered service in 1973 and is suitable for conventional, chemical or nuclear warheads. The Jericho 2, developed on the basis of the Shavit , has a range of around 5000 km with a payload of around 1000 kg. The Russian PIR Center believes that Jericho 3 missiles with a range of 5,000 to 7,500 km could be operational by 2010.

INS Dolphin

The equipment of submarines of the Dolphin-class submarine with nuclear equippable cruise missiles for a nuclear second strike is suspected for some time. The submarines were built by HDW for the Israeli Navy and partially financed by Germany. The first three boats with diesel-electric propulsion were put into service from 1999 to 2000. Three more boats with additional fuel cell propulsion followed from 2014, and from 2027 another three latest-generation submarines are planned, all of which are or will be stationed at the Haifa naval base . Israel said he did not intend to station submarines at the Eilat naval base on the Red Sea. The Israeli cruise missile Popeye Turbo allows launching from the Dolphin-class submarines; first tests took place in May 2000. The German ex-Defense State Secretary Lothar Rühl and the former head of the Hardthöhe planning staff, Hans Rühle , declared in 2012 that they had always assumed that Israel would station nuclear weapons on the submarines. Rühl also spoke to the military in Tel Aviv about it. The federal government, however, stated that it did not participate in speculation about the armament of the submarines.

Rose Gottemoeller , Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, stated in May 2009 that the US also expected Israel to sign the agreement to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. In September 2009, the International Atomic Energy Agency asked Israel to sign the lock-up treaty and allow inspectors access to its nuclear facilities. However, Israel rejects the implementation of the resolution.

On September 29th and 30th, 2009, talks between Israel and Iran took place in Cairo on a nuclear-weapon-free zone. The organizer was the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament . The representatives included Meirav Zafari-Odiz, in charge of arms control at the Israeli Atomic Energy Agency, and Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In December 2013, Avraham Burg , former Speaker of Parliament and former member of the Knesset's Foreign and Defense Policy Committee , confirmed that Israel had nuclear and chemical weapons . The policy of not officially admitting this fact is "outdated and childish". Only a “regional dialogue with Iran” would help to achieve the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free Middle East.

Israel has 200 nuclear weapons according to Colin Powell and 300 according to Jimmy Carter .

According to a report published in June 2019 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Israel has around 80 to 90 nuclear warheads, including around 30 gravity bombs that can be dropped by fighter jets and around 50 warheads that are ballistically fired from the ground.

Developments in other countries in the region

Before and after the 1967 Six Day War , Egypt tried to obtain nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union. The development of our own rockets was driven forward with the help of German experts, but they were persuaded by the "champagne spy" Wolfgang Lotz to give up their collaboration in the early 1960s. After it was also clear that the Soviet Union would not deliver any nuclear weapons to the Nasser regime, Egypt started developing its own nuclear weapons. After signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Egypt gave up its nuclear weapons program, but observers did not rule out a connection with the establishment of a deterrent dimension against Iran due to the restart or resumption of the nuclear program announced in 2006.

To prevent the development of Iraqi nuclear weapons , Israel destroyed the Osirak reactor in an air strike on June 7, 1981 . The attack was condemned by the UN Security Council as "danger to international peace and security" in resolution 487.

In early 1984, India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi approved the plan that the Israeli Air Force, in consultation with India, destroy the Pakistani research center in Kahuta . The CIA then informed the Pakistani President Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq and put pressure on Israel to stop this action.

On September 6, 2007, Israel destroyed the Syrian Al-Kibar reactor in an air strike in order to prevent a Syrian nuclear program. On July 14, 2011, the UN Security Council dealt with the issue and called on Syria to cooperate with the IAEA (= IAEA ).

Iran , now regarded as one of the main opponents of Israel, joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in advance of 1968 , but the Shah had expressed interest in Israel in developing its own nuclear weapons. As part of the current Iranian nuclear program , Iran operates various nuclear power plants and production facilities, including the Fordo and Natanz enrichment plants . The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported in November 2011 that it was not receiving the necessary cooperation and insight from Iran for control, and expressed serious concerns about the possible military dimensions of the nuclear program. In February 2012, the New York Times reported that US intelligence agencies saw no solid evidence that Iran was building or planning to build nuclear weapons.

In January 2007, the Sunday Times reported that the Israeli Air Force was practicing tactical nuclear bombs to destroy Iran's underground nuclear facilities . The Israeli government denied it. US Vice President Joe Biden signaled in July 2009 that Israel had the right to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.

Israel is suspected of developing the Stuxnet virus and using it in 2010 to damage enrichment facilities in Iran. Unit 8200 is part of the Israeli cyberwar program . Furthermore, the Israeli secret service is suspected of being behind a series of murders of scientists in Iran, including Massud Ali-Mohammadi 2010, Dariusch Rezaie 2011 and Mostafa Ahmadi Roschan 2012. In contrast, journalist David E. Sanger suspects that the cyberattack with Stuxnet was carried out by US -President Barack Obama had been ordered. Sanger's book is based on interviews with stakeholders and was pre-published in the New York Times on June 1, 2012 .

reception

The US Office of Technology Assessment , which advised the US Congress scientifically until 1995 , ruled in 1993 that although Israeli weapons of mass destruction did not threaten the United States, they made political efforts to prevent proliferation more difficult: “Even if Israeli weapons of mass destruction are not themselves deemed to threaten the United States or US interests, however, their implicit acceptance complicates nonproliferation policy. "

Michael A. Lange, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , wrote in 2006: “It seems certain that an imbalance in the region in terms of nuclear potential will not be accepted by any of the parties involved in the long term, but that one will strive to achieve stability if not by preventing, then by creating an equivalent, mutual threat or annihilation potential. "

The German writer Günter Grass sparked a debate in 2012 with his text What must be said . He had called for efforts to "ensure that the governments of both countries would allow unimpeded and permanent control of the Israeli nuclear potential and the Iranian nuclear facilities by an international body". The debate revolved around identifying Israel with Iran and other elements of the text.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b IISS , London, 2009, p. 249 ff .: The Military Balance 2009 ( Memento of December 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), PDF, accessed August 24, 2012.
  2. ↑ Focus, April 26, 2004: The Traitor and the Bomb , accessed August 24, 2012.
  3. ^ I. Abu-Lughod (ed.). The Transformation of Palestine . Evanston 1971, p. 167.
  4. ↑ a b c Olmert tries to defuse political explosives. In: Spiegel Online, December 11, 2006 ( online ).
  5. ↑ The Phantom of Dimona. In: Spiegel Online , January 26, 2004 ( online ).
  6. ↑ Paul Eddy, Elaine Davenport, Peter Gillman: Uran for Israel. Secret Service Operation Scheersberg A. ISBN 3-8105-0504-8 .
  7. ↑ a b Uranium Ship: Dirty Trick . In: Der Spiegel . No. 20 , 1977, pp. 128-131 ( Online - May 9, 1977 ).
  8. ↑ Grant F. Smith: Divert! NUMEC, Zalman Shapiro and the diversion of US weapons-grade uranium into the Israeli nuclear weapons program. 2012, ISBN 978-0-9827757-0-7 .
  9. ↑ Death from the textile factory , Der Spiegel 19/1969, p. 146f
  10. ^ Stephanie S. Cooke: Atom: The History of the Nuclear Age . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2010, ISBN 3-462-30175-6 , pp. Chapter 8 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  11. ^ Michael Salewski: The Nuclear Century: An Interim Balance. Franz Steiner Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-515-07321-3 .
  12. ↑ a b Erich Follath : The Phantom of Dimona . In: Der Spiegel . No. 4 , 2004, p. 110-114 ( Online - Jan. 26, 2004 ).
  13. ↑ a b c Israel equips submarines from Germany with nuclear weapons. In: Spiegel Online , June 3, 2012 ( online )
  14. ↑ The mirror ( online )
  15. ^ Membership of the Biological Weapons Convention. United Nations Office At Geneva. ( online )
  16. ^ United Nations Treaty Collection. Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction. ( online )
  17. ^ Israel 'ready to drop 13 atom bombs'. In: The Age , April 6, 1976 ( online )
  18. ↑ Violent Week: The Politics of Death. In: Time , April 12, 1976 ( online )
  19. ↑ The Last Nuclear Moment. In: New York Times , October 6, 2003 ( online )
  20. ^ A b Warner D. Farr: The Third Temple's Holy of Holies: Israel's Nuclear Weapons. Counterproliferation Paper No. 2, USAF Counterproliferation Center, Air War College, September 1999 ( online ).
  21. ↑ October 9, 1973 conversation (6: 10–6: 35 pm) between Israeli Ambassador to the United States Simcha Dinitz, Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, and Peter Rodman. Transcript. George Washington University National Security Archive ( online ; PDF; 173 kB).
  22. ^ A b Chris McGreal: Revealed: how Israel offered to sell South Africa nuclear weapons. In: The Guardian , May 24, 2010 ( online ).
  23. ↑ Israel supposedly offered nuclear weapons. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , May 24, 2010 ( online )
  24. ↑ Iranian logic. Interview with Sasha Polakow-Suransky . In: Der Spiegel . No. 22 , 2010, p. 82 ( online - May 31, 2010 ).
  25. ↑ Amin Aboufazeli: South Africa's nuclear weapons program. Reasons, beginnings, course, end. Master thesis. University of Vienna. 2008 ( online ; PDF; 1.3 MB)
  26. ↑ Bomb in the basement. Israel is said to already have 200 nuclear warheads and to build neutron weapons together with South Africa . In: Der Spiegel . No. 22 , 1982, pp. 119-122 ( Online - May 31, 1982 ).
  27. ↑ Revealed: the secrets of Israel's nuclear arsenal. In: The Sunday Times , October 5, 1986.
  28. ^ Statement by Frank Barnaby. June 14, 2004 ( online ; PDF; 173 kB)
  29. ↑ Jeffrey T. Richelson: Spying on the Bomb. New York: WW Norton and Company, 2007, pp. 360-363. Quoted from Archived Copy ( Memento of the original from June 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nti.org
  30. ^ "The state's lust for vengeance" Vanunu was again imprisoned. In: n-tv.de, July 2, 2007 ( online )
  31. ↑ Outrage over Olmert's confession of nuclear weapons. In: Spiegel Online , December 12, 2006 ( online ).
  32. ↑ Olmert's confession of nuclear weapons as a “smart breach of taboo”? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , December 12, 2006 ( online )
  33. ↑ Amos Perlmutter, Michael Hendel, Uri Bar-Josef: Two Minutes over Baghdad. London: Valentine and Mitchell, 1982
  34. ^ Nuclear Weapons. Federation of American Scientists. January 8, 2007 ( online ).
  35. ^ A b c Warner D. Farr: The Third Temple's Holy Of Holies: Israel's Nuclear Weapons. September 1999 ( online )
  36. ↑ Claeremont Institute: Jericho first ( online ( Memento of 7 September 2011 at the Internet Archive ))
  37. ^ Harold Hough: Could Israel's nuclear assets survive a pre-emptive strike? In: Jane's Intelligence Review , September 1, 1997 ( online ( June 4, 2007 memento in the Internet Archive ))
  38. ↑ Vladimir Z. Dvorkin: Letter of August 2002. Missile Armes Status & Development Prospects in the Thirld World Countries for the Period up to 2015. PIR Center , August 2, 2002 ( online ( memento of October 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) )
  39. ↑ Pierre Heumann: Secret nuclear power. In: Berliner Zeitung , December 22, 2003 ( online ).
  40. ↑ Israel won't base submarines in Red Sea, official says. In: Haaretz , July 5, 2009 ( online )
  41. ^ Popeye Turbo. Federation of American Scientists ( online )
  42. ^ Federal government defends submarine deal with Israel. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . June 4, 2012 ( online )
  43. ↑ USA increase the pressure on Israel. In: Spiegel Online , May 6, 2009 ( online )
  44. ^ Israeli nuclear capabilities. Resolution adopted on 18 September 2009 during the tenth plenary meeting. In: IAEA , September 2009 ( online ; PDF; 60 kB)
  45. ↑ Israel should open nuclear facilities for UN controls. In: Focus , September 18, 2009 ( online )
  46. ↑ Thorsten Schmitz, Stefan Kornelius: Atomic talks Israel and Iran break taboo. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. October 22, 2009 ( online )
  47. ↑ Julian Borger: The Truth About Israel's Secret Nuclear Arsenal. In: The Guardian , January 15, 2014 ( online )
  48. ↑ Carter says Israel has stockpile of over 300 nuclear bombs by Yoni Hirsch and Israel Hayom Staff, Israel Hayom , April 14, 2014
  49. ↑ Leaked email reveals Israel has '200 nukes' ( en-GB ) September 16, 2016.
  50. ^ Institute: Israel has almost 100 nuclear warheads. In: Israelnetz .de. June 17, 2019, accessed June 26, 2019 .
  51. ^ A b Michael A. Lange, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , Cairo country office: Egypt is considering a new nuclear program. October 2006 ( online )
  52. ↑ UN Resolution 487. June 4, 1984 ( online ( Memento of March 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ))
  53. ^ Israeli-Indian fight against Islamic bombs. In: Die Welt , November 24, 2011 ( online )
  54. ↑ UN Security Council should take care of the Syrian nuclear program. In: Euronews , July 14, 2011 ( online )
  55. ↑ un.org ( Iran and its nuclear program - a consideration under international law )
  56. ↑ "The Agency has serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program." Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council resolutions in the Islamic Republic of Iran. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), November 8, 2011 ( online ; PDF; 356 kB)
  57. ↑ Reports of the US secret services: No evidence of Iranian nuclear weapons program. In: tagesschau.de , February 26, 2012 ( online ( memento of February 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ))
  58. ↑ Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran. In: The Sunday Times , Jan. 7, 2007.
  59. ↑ Haaretz: Israel denies plan to hit Iran enrichment plant with tactical nukes. In: Haaretz , January 7, 2007 ( online ( memento from September 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ))
  60. ^ Biden says Israel has the right to attack Iran. In: Los Angeles Times , July 6, 2009 ( online )
  61. ↑ Holger Stark: The magic weapon . In: Der Spiegel . No. 32 , 2011, p. 94-97 ( Online - Aug. 8, 2011 ).
  62. ↑ Israel seen as prime cyber attack suspect. In: United Press International , October 28, 2010 ( online )
  63. ↑ Ulrike Putz: Israel's murderous sabotage strategy. In: Spiegel Online , August 1, 2008 ( online )
  64. ↑ David E. Sanger: Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran. In: The New York Times , June 1, 2012 ( online )
  65. ↑ Media: Cyber ​​attacks against Iran ordered by Obama. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , June 1, 2012 ( online )
  66. ^ Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Assessing the Risks. US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment , Washington DC, August 1993 ( online ; PDF; 2.1 MB)
  67. ^ Grass' poem in full: What must be said. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. April 4, 2012 ( online )