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Israel's Covert Nuclear Program
By Eric Margolis, July 2, 2000
LONDON - In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at
Israel's Dimona reactor center, revealed to the `Sunday Times' of
London that Israel had secretly developed 100-200 nuclear
warheads, using French and American-supplied technology. Vanunu
was lured to Rome in a classic `honey trap' and kidnapped by
Israeli agents. He was convicted of treason and has been held in
solitary confinement for the past 14 years.
Earlier this month, the `Sunday Times' broke a second major story
about Israel's covert nuclear programs. According to leaked
information supplied to the `Times,' Israel used a newly acquired
Dolphin-class submarine to test a hitherto secret cruise missile
designed to carry a nuclear warhead.
The cruise missile is said to have hit a target 900 miles from its
launch point off the coast of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, and
may have a maximum range of 1,200 mile. Israel has become
increasingly involved in Sri Lanka's civil war, supplying the
embattled Colombo government with weapons, munitions, and military
advisors to combat Tamil Tigers rebels.
The state-of-the-art, 1750-ton Dolphin diesel subs were supplied
to Israel by Germany as near freebie `guilt payments' because Iraq
used some German-made components in its military programs during
the Gulf War. Revelations that Israel is using the $440 million
each subs as nuclear launch platforms has deeply embarrassed
Germany's ardentlyanti-nuclear socialist government.
This also raises the fascinating question of how and where the
Dolphins were modified to accept missiles. The cruise missile used
by the Israelis is believed too large to be fired from the
Dolphin's 21-inch torpedo tubes. The original 1990 design called
for lengthening the hull to accommodate a `wet and dry'
compartment for frogmen - unusual in an attack sub- and for `extra
torpedo storage.' This was clearly the cover for what became a
missile compartment of four vertical launch tubes.
If true, this suggests full German collaboration in Israel's
covert nuclear program - in spite of Berlin's anguished denials.
The United States was originally to have supplied the subs to
Israel, but claimed to lack the capability to build modern,
conventional powered boats, and bucked the job to German yards,
who have a century of experience in building U-boats. A cynic
might suspect the US pressured Germany into supplying Israel's
latest nuclear weapons platforms to escape an inevitable firestorm
of protest by its Arab oil clients.
Israel now has a complete nuclear triad: air-delivered bombs;
intermediate-range Jericho missiles; and now the sea-launched
cruise missile. This important development means Israel has a
counter-force nuclear capability that can ride out any enemy
nuclear attack and riposte with a devastating strike from the sea.
Israel will reportedly base one Dolphin in the Mediterranean, the
second in the Red Sea, and the third in port for maintenance.
The Dolphin `roving launch platforms' also give Israel the ability
to strike almost anywhere on the globe, and particularly against
Iran and Pakistan, which Israel singles out as `long-range'
enemies. Israel's Mossad long claimed Iran would deploy nuclear
weapons by 2000. When proven wrong, Mossad now claims the date is
2002. US intelligence estimates Tehran will not even have a
prototype weapon before 2010, and no deliverable warhead until
2012-13 - if ever. Iran denies developing nuclear weapons.
Revelations of Israel's new cruise missile have provoked a storm
of outrage in the rest of the Mideast at an exceptionally delicate
time when regional peace negotiations hang in the balance. One
might suspect Israel's missile test may have been leaked to
scupper Arab-Israeli peace talks.
Some defense analysts maintain Israel's sea-launched missiles are
actually a stabilizing factor that eliminated the threat of a
decapitating nuclear attack. Israel's Jericho missile base at Kfar
Zachariah near Tel Aviv lacks hardened silos and is thus
vulnerable to a surprise nuclear attack. The same applies to
airbases where nuclear bombs are stored for Israel's US-supplied
F-15E's. Inadequately protected nuclear forces lead to a `use or
loose' mentality in time of crisis.
But the latest revelations about Israel's nuclear arsenal - now
the world's fourth or fifth most powerful - will likely spur the
Arab states and Iran to intensify efforts to acquire a nuclear
counter-force, and to develop `poor man's' weapons of mass
destruction to match Israel's extensive nuclear, chemical and
biological arsenal.
This bombshell also comes as Israel faces growing pressure in the
UN over its nuclear weapons. Israel is the only Mideast nation
that refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT).
Egypt insists Israel must sign NPT as part of a comprehensive
Mideast peace. Cairo is pressing for a Mideast nuclear-free zone
and demands Israel allow inspection of its nuclear complex at
Dimona. Egypt claims Israel's 40-year old, French-supplied reactor
there is unsafe and a hazard - a sort of Mideast Chernobyl.
The United States, in an unusual volte face, is quietly backing
Egypt's position. Washington is doubtlessly expressing its growing
displeasure with Israel over recent sales of high-tech Israeli
arms and technology to China, much of them American origin, and
over Israeli espionage against the United States.
The first battery of Israel's `Arrow' anti-missile system just
went operational; THEL, a new laser anti-tactical missile system,
follows soon. Now, sea-launched cruise missiles. What next? An
Israeli landing on Mars?
Copyright 2000, Eric S. Margolis.
