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Gulf Today
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Israel maintains its policy of nuclear ambiguity
It is ironic that two nuclear weapons powers, the US and Israel, attacked non-nuclear Iran's research sites and put them out of action for months or years. While Donald Trump has repeatedly said Iran cannot be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin said its June 12-day war on Iran was meant to stop it from making nuclear weapons. Iran has denied it seeks to produce nuclear arms and argues its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful civilian purposes. Iran has no bombs and is a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The US, which has 5,500 nuclear warheads, is among the states recognised as possessing nuclear bombs along with France, Britain, Russia, and China. Pakistan, India, and North Korea also have bombs while non-NPT member Israel does not admit to having at least 90 nuclear devices plus between 750 and 1,110 kilograms of plutonium, which would be enough to build 187 to 277 nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, Israel relies on a policy of ambiguity to avoid criticism or sanctions. Iran has submitted to NPT controls and inspections and had abided by the 2015 agreement with the US, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China until 2018 when Trump took the US out of the deal and imposed punitive sanctions, crippling Iran's economy. In 2019, Iran began to breach the terms of the deal by enriching uranium to 60 per cent (a provocative gesture) instead of sticking to the 3.67 per cent permitted, amassing a large stockpile, and curbing UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) inspections. Israeli ambiguity over its nuclear bomb programme and arsenal has been exposed as pointless by a number of international and Israeli writers and experts. France played a key role in the creation in the late 1950's of Israel's nuclear programme by helping to build Israel's main reactor at Dimona in the Negev desert where plutonium was first produced, the first step in weaponization. French-Israeli cooperation initially remained a secret from the US, Israel's protector, which repeatedly queried Israel on its activities at Dimona. Among the whistle-blowers were defected Dimona employee Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli professor Israel Shahak, and Israeli-US historian Avner Cohen. Vanunu published an article in London's Sunday Times in 1986, Shahak released his book 'Open Secrets' in 1997, and Cohen brought out 'Israel and the Bomb' in 1998. It is significant that Shahak and Cohen published their books more than a decade after Vanunu challenged Israel's policy of ambiguity. Vanunu fled Israel but was kidnapped from Rome by Israeli agents, tried, spent 18 years in prison, 11 in solitary confinement, and when released, was banned from travelling outside Israel. I met Vanunu at a dinner party in occupied East Jerusalem soon after he was released from prison in 2004. Branded as a 'traitor' by the Israeli government, Vanunu became a sad, lonely figure hanging around the American Colony hotel's courtyard cafe. Unlike Vanunu, neither Cohen nor Shahak, who was a friend of mine, faced harsh treatment by the Israeli government. 'In 1969, the US accepted the Israeli exceptionalist nuclear status, as long as Israel remained committed to keeping its presence invisible and opaque. This is known as the 1969 Nixon-Meir nuclear deal,' Cohen told MEE. The leaders involved were Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and US President Richard Nixon. Since then, Israel has stuck to ambiguity while the US has not called this a fraud. It is suspected that Israel conducted a secret bomb test in the South Atlantic/Indian Ocean in 1979 with the cooperation of the apartheid South African government which developed its nuclear programme to reach weaponisation stage but abandoned it in 1989. While maintaining its policy of nuclear ambiguity, Israel remains the sole regional state to possess nuclear weapons. Israel has vowed not to use them unless it faced an existential threat. However, it was reported during the 1973 October/Ramadan war when Egypt and Syria mounted a surprise attack on Israel, it stood up but did not use nuclear bombs. While Egypt recaptured territory occupied by Israel in Sinai and Syria in the Golan, the US provided Israel with the arms and munitions needed to roll back these advances. This was a destructive intervention. If, instead, the US had imposed a ceasefire in place, both Egypt and Syria might have reached peace treaties with Israel at that time. Victor Galinsky and Leonard Weiss wrote in March 2025 in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists about an 'extraordinary three-part series on Israeli television, 'The Atom and Me,' [which] lays out how the country got its nuclear weapons.' Effectively torpedoing Israel's policy of ambiguity, the series describes how the US aided Israel in this effort. 'The United States' indulgence of Israeli nuclear weapons has not escaped international attention, and the evident hypocrisy has undermined US non-proliferation policy. The US government's public position continues to be that it does not know anything about Israeli nuclear weapons, and this will apparently continue until Israel releases the United States' gag. This policy is allegedly enforced by a secret federal bulletin that threatens disciplinary actions for any US official who publicly acknowledges Israel's nuclear weapons.' The writers exposed the result of this policy: 'The existence of these weapons may have started as a deterrent against another Holocaust but has now morphed into an instrument of an aggressive and expansionist Israel.' This has been notably true during the premiership of Netanyahu — who Galinsky and Weiss wrote — bragged about nuclear weapons in a 2016 speech on the delivery of Israel's Rahav submarine which was built by Germany. 'The Times of Israel, using the standard 'according to foreign reports,' described the submarine as 'capable of delivering a nuclear payload.' In his speech, Netanyahu said, 'Above all else, our submarine fleet acts as a deterrent to our enemies... They need to know that Israel can attack, with great might, anyone who tries to harm it.' The writers asked, 'How else, other than with nuclear weapons, can a submarine be a deterrent?'
The Advertiser
18-06-2025
- Politics
- The Advertiser
He blew the whistle on Israel's nukes and paid a high price
This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to For a while he was an anonymous dishwasher at the Menzies Hotel in Sydney. After that, he drove cabs. Like many who travelled the backpacker trail through South East Asia in those days he'd ended up in the emerald city and was soon taken with its charms. He decided to stay. But Israeli Mordechai Vanunu harboured a disturbing secret. In his backpack were rolls of film that would finally confirm that his country had built an arsenal of nuclear weapons. Vanunu had been an engineer at Israel's Dimona nuclear research facility in the Negev desert. In the grounds of the St John's Anglican church in East Sydney, he was befriended by a Colombian journalist who wanted to sell his story and photos to the British press. On September 10, 1986, Vanunu flew to London to tell his story to the Sunday Times. He revealed Dimona's work in separating lithium-6 to produce tritium, essential for the production of fission boosted nuclear bombs. Vanunu's revelations led experts to estimate Israel had the capacity to produce up to 150 nuclear weapons. Finally, it was confirmed. Israel had the bomb. An elaborate plan was developed by Mossad to capture Vanunu. In a classic honey trap the engineer was lured to Rome, where he was taken prisoner and spirited back to Israel. Eventually he was tried, convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison, 11 of which were served in solitary confinement. Israel was determined to keep a tight lid on the Dimona story, not least because its chief ally, the United States, had a ban on funding countries which produced weapons of mass destruction. Vanunu was released from prison under strict conditions in 2004. He is not allowed to leave Israel; he can't talk to foreigners without permission from the Shin Bet security service; he can't be in the vicinity of an airport or border crossing; his phone and internet use are subject to ongoing monitoring. The Israeli whistleblower became a cause celebre for the Anglican Church, which had welcomed him as a convert to Christianity during his time in Australia. He was listed as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International after he was sent back to prison for breaching his release conditions by speaking to foreigners. Vanunu has repeatedly applied for the restrictions placed on him to be lifted. Each year they are extended for another 12 months. In July last year, he posted on social media that they'd been extended again. Israel's nuclear secret has been out now for almost 40 years. Vanunu has been punished enough for his part in confirming what the West had long suspected but chose to turn a blind eye to. Now the Middle East is ablaze once more. Israel claims the high moral ground in its determination to stop Iran getting a nuclear weapon while sitting on its own arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Yet we hear little of that inconvenient truth. And we hear virtually nothing of the man who blew the whistle and remains silenced. HAVE YOUR SAY: Is there a double standard at play when nuclear-armed Israel bombs another country it claims wants to build the bomb? Should Mordechai Vanunu be allowed to leave Israel? If Ukraine could give up its nuclear arsenal in 1994, why shouldn't Israel do the same now? Email us: echidna@ SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's scheduled meeting with Donald Trump has been cancelled after the United States president decided to leave the G7 summit early to deal with the Middle East crisis. - Australia's sovereign wealth fund will seek out more assets in places like Europe and Japan as President Donald Trump makes the US a less attractive place to invest. - Australia's political and military leaders are warning of dangerous global conditions as violence in the Middle East escalates. THEY SAID IT: "Everyone knows that Israel has nuclear weapons, but no one is talking about it. The world doesn't want nuclear weapons - not in Israel, not in the Middle East and not anywhere in the world." - Mordechai Vanunu YOU SAID IT: The world might be a better place if its squabbling leaders - generally angry, old men - duked it out in cage fights rather than bombing civilians. "Couldn't agree more," writes Veronica. "Let them kill each other if that is their fancy - just leave me and the rest of the sane world out of it!" Sharon writes: "Yes, put the old men - sorry, little boys - into a cage and make them fight it out. It'd be a very short fight. Pathetic old gits all of them." "For what seems like 100 years I've advocated the old and traditional method: the leaders lead the troops into battle," writes Old Donald. "Frontline. Wearing bright, distinctive clothing clearly marked to show they're the bosses. They know that if they lose, then their lands, spouses, children, even (yes) their dogs are forfeit and probably killed. With today's weaponry available, they think twice ... and ordinary, otherwise happy people get to live ordinary happy lives." Jan writes: "I am so totally fed up with ruining every day of the rest of my life hearing and reading about the misery created by these dysfunctional misfits of men you mentioned that I try my best to avoid following the news altogether. Your tongue-in-cheek cage fighting scenario would save not only many innocent civilian lives but also those of the service personnel who are sent off to do the fighting to feed the insatiable egos of their so-called leaders." This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to For a while he was an anonymous dishwasher at the Menzies Hotel in Sydney. After that, he drove cabs. Like many who travelled the backpacker trail through South East Asia in those days he'd ended up in the emerald city and was soon taken with its charms. He decided to stay. But Israeli Mordechai Vanunu harboured a disturbing secret. In his backpack were rolls of film that would finally confirm that his country had built an arsenal of nuclear weapons. Vanunu had been an engineer at Israel's Dimona nuclear research facility in the Negev desert. In the grounds of the St John's Anglican church in East Sydney, he was befriended by a Colombian journalist who wanted to sell his story and photos to the British press. On September 10, 1986, Vanunu flew to London to tell his story to the Sunday Times. He revealed Dimona's work in separating lithium-6 to produce tritium, essential for the production of fission boosted nuclear bombs. Vanunu's revelations led experts to estimate Israel had the capacity to produce up to 150 nuclear weapons. Finally, it was confirmed. Israel had the bomb. An elaborate plan was developed by Mossad to capture Vanunu. In a classic honey trap the engineer was lured to Rome, where he was taken prisoner and spirited back to Israel. Eventually he was tried, convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison, 11 of which were served in solitary confinement. Israel was determined to keep a tight lid on the Dimona story, not least because its chief ally, the United States, had a ban on funding countries which produced weapons of mass destruction. Vanunu was released from prison under strict conditions in 2004. He is not allowed to leave Israel; he can't talk to foreigners without permission from the Shin Bet security service; he can't be in the vicinity of an airport or border crossing; his phone and internet use are subject to ongoing monitoring. The Israeli whistleblower became a cause celebre for the Anglican Church, which had welcomed him as a convert to Christianity during his time in Australia. He was listed as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International after he was sent back to prison for breaching his release conditions by speaking to foreigners. Vanunu has repeatedly applied for the restrictions placed on him to be lifted. Each year they are extended for another 12 months. In July last year, he posted on social media that they'd been extended again. Israel's nuclear secret has been out now for almost 40 years. Vanunu has been punished enough for his part in confirming what the West had long suspected but chose to turn a blind eye to. Now the Middle East is ablaze once more. Israel claims the high moral ground in its determination to stop Iran getting a nuclear weapon while sitting on its own arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Yet we hear little of that inconvenient truth. And we hear virtually nothing of the man who blew the whistle and remains silenced. HAVE YOUR SAY: Is there a double standard at play when nuclear-armed Israel bombs another country it claims wants to build the bomb? Should Mordechai Vanunu be allowed to leave Israel? If Ukraine could give up its nuclear arsenal in 1994, why shouldn't Israel do the same now? Email us: echidna@ SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's scheduled meeting with Donald Trump has been cancelled after the United States president decided to leave the G7 summit early to deal with the Middle East crisis. - Australia's sovereign wealth fund will seek out more assets in places like Europe and Japan as President Donald Trump makes the US a less attractive place to invest. - Australia's political and military leaders are warning of dangerous global conditions as violence in the Middle East escalates. THEY SAID IT: "Everyone knows that Israel has nuclear weapons, but no one is talking about it. The world doesn't want nuclear weapons - not in Israel, not in the Middle East and not anywhere in the world." - Mordechai Vanunu YOU SAID IT: The world might be a better place if its squabbling leaders - generally angry, old men - duked it out in cage fights rather than bombing civilians. "Couldn't agree more," writes Veronica. "Let them kill each other if that is their fancy - just leave me and the rest of the sane world out of it!" Sharon writes: "Yes, put the old men - sorry, little boys - into a cage and make them fight it out. It'd be a very short fight. Pathetic old gits all of them." "For what seems like 100 years I've advocated the old and traditional method: the leaders lead the troops into battle," writes Old Donald. "Frontline. Wearing bright, distinctive clothing clearly marked to show they're the bosses. They know that if they lose, then their lands, spouses, children, even (yes) their dogs are forfeit and probably killed. With today's weaponry available, they think twice ... and ordinary, otherwise happy people get to live ordinary happy lives." Jan writes: "I am so totally fed up with ruining every day of the rest of my life hearing and reading about the misery created by these dysfunctional misfits of men you mentioned that I try my best to avoid following the news altogether. Your tongue-in-cheek cage fighting scenario would save not only many innocent civilian lives but also those of the service personnel who are sent off to do the fighting to feed the insatiable egos of their so-called leaders." This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to For a while he was an anonymous dishwasher at the Menzies Hotel in Sydney. After that, he drove cabs. Like many who travelled the backpacker trail through South East Asia in those days he'd ended up in the emerald city and was soon taken with its charms. He decided to stay. But Israeli Mordechai Vanunu harboured a disturbing secret. In his backpack were rolls of film that would finally confirm that his country had built an arsenal of nuclear weapons. Vanunu had been an engineer at Israel's Dimona nuclear research facility in the Negev desert. In the grounds of the St John's Anglican church in East Sydney, he was befriended by a Colombian journalist who wanted to sell his story and photos to the British press. On September 10, 1986, Vanunu flew to London to tell his story to the Sunday Times. He revealed Dimona's work in separating lithium-6 to produce tritium, essential for the production of fission boosted nuclear bombs. Vanunu's revelations led experts to estimate Israel had the capacity to produce up to 150 nuclear weapons. Finally, it was confirmed. Israel had the bomb. An elaborate plan was developed by Mossad to capture Vanunu. In a classic honey trap the engineer was lured to Rome, where he was taken prisoner and spirited back to Israel. Eventually he was tried, convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison, 11 of which were served in solitary confinement. Israel was determined to keep a tight lid on the Dimona story, not least because its chief ally, the United States, had a ban on funding countries which produced weapons of mass destruction. Vanunu was released from prison under strict conditions in 2004. He is not allowed to leave Israel; he can't talk to foreigners without permission from the Shin Bet security service; he can't be in the vicinity of an airport or border crossing; his phone and internet use are subject to ongoing monitoring. The Israeli whistleblower became a cause celebre for the Anglican Church, which had welcomed him as a convert to Christianity during his time in Australia. He was listed as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International after he was sent back to prison for breaching his release conditions by speaking to foreigners. Vanunu has repeatedly applied for the restrictions placed on him to be lifted. Each year they are extended for another 12 months. In July last year, he posted on social media that they'd been extended again. Israel's nuclear secret has been out now for almost 40 years. Vanunu has been punished enough for his part in confirming what the West had long suspected but chose to turn a blind eye to. Now the Middle East is ablaze once more. Israel claims the high moral ground in its determination to stop Iran getting a nuclear weapon while sitting on its own arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Yet we hear little of that inconvenient truth. And we hear virtually nothing of the man who blew the whistle and remains silenced. HAVE YOUR SAY: Is there a double standard at play when nuclear-armed Israel bombs another country it claims wants to build the bomb? Should Mordechai Vanunu be allowed to leave Israel? If Ukraine could give up its nuclear arsenal in 1994, why shouldn't Israel do the same now? Email us: echidna@ SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's scheduled meeting with Donald Trump has been cancelled after the United States president decided to leave the G7 summit early to deal with the Middle East crisis. - Australia's sovereign wealth fund will seek out more assets in places like Europe and Japan as President Donald Trump makes the US a less attractive place to invest. - Australia's political and military leaders are warning of dangerous global conditions as violence in the Middle East escalates. THEY SAID IT: "Everyone knows that Israel has nuclear weapons, but no one is talking about it. The world doesn't want nuclear weapons - not in Israel, not in the Middle East and not anywhere in the world." - Mordechai Vanunu YOU SAID IT: The world might be a better place if its squabbling leaders - generally angry, old men - duked it out in cage fights rather than bombing civilians. "Couldn't agree more," writes Veronica. "Let them kill each other if that is their fancy - just leave me and the rest of the sane world out of it!" Sharon writes: "Yes, put the old men - sorry, little boys - into a cage and make them fight it out. It'd be a very short fight. Pathetic old gits all of them." "For what seems like 100 years I've advocated the old and traditional method: the leaders lead the troops into battle," writes Old Donald. "Frontline. Wearing bright, distinctive clothing clearly marked to show they're the bosses. They know that if they lose, then their lands, spouses, children, even (yes) their dogs are forfeit and probably killed. With today's weaponry available, they think twice ... and ordinary, otherwise happy people get to live ordinary happy lives." Jan writes: "I am so totally fed up with ruining every day of the rest of my life hearing and reading about the misery created by these dysfunctional misfits of men you mentioned that I try my best to avoid following the news altogether. Your tongue-in-cheek cage fighting scenario would save not only many innocent civilian lives but also those of the service personnel who are sent off to do the fighting to feed the insatiable egos of their so-called leaders." This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to For a while he was an anonymous dishwasher at the Menzies Hotel in Sydney. After that, he drove cabs. Like many who travelled the backpacker trail through South East Asia in those days he'd ended up in the emerald city and was soon taken with its charms. He decided to stay. But Israeli Mordechai Vanunu harboured a disturbing secret. In his backpack were rolls of film that would finally confirm that his country had built an arsenal of nuclear weapons. Vanunu had been an engineer at Israel's Dimona nuclear research facility in the Negev desert. In the grounds of the St John's Anglican church in East Sydney, he was befriended by a Colombian journalist who wanted to sell his story and photos to the British press. On September 10, 1986, Vanunu flew to London to tell his story to the Sunday Times. He revealed Dimona's work in separating lithium-6 to produce tritium, essential for the production of fission boosted nuclear bombs. Vanunu's revelations led experts to estimate Israel had the capacity to produce up to 150 nuclear weapons. Finally, it was confirmed. Israel had the bomb. An elaborate plan was developed by Mossad to capture Vanunu. In a classic honey trap the engineer was lured to Rome, where he was taken prisoner and spirited back to Israel. Eventually he was tried, convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison, 11 of which were served in solitary confinement. Israel was determined to keep a tight lid on the Dimona story, not least because its chief ally, the United States, had a ban on funding countries which produced weapons of mass destruction. Vanunu was released from prison under strict conditions in 2004. He is not allowed to leave Israel; he can't talk to foreigners without permission from the Shin Bet security service; he can't be in the vicinity of an airport or border crossing; his phone and internet use are subject to ongoing monitoring. The Israeli whistleblower became a cause celebre for the Anglican Church, which had welcomed him as a convert to Christianity during his time in Australia. He was listed as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International after he was sent back to prison for breaching his release conditions by speaking to foreigners. Vanunu has repeatedly applied for the restrictions placed on him to be lifted. Each year they are extended for another 12 months. In July last year, he posted on social media that they'd been extended again. Israel's nuclear secret has been out now for almost 40 years. Vanunu has been punished enough for his part in confirming what the West had long suspected but chose to turn a blind eye to. Now the Middle East is ablaze once more. Israel claims the high moral ground in its determination to stop Iran getting a nuclear weapon while sitting on its own arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Yet we hear little of that inconvenient truth. And we hear virtually nothing of the man who blew the whistle and remains silenced. HAVE YOUR SAY: Is there a double standard at play when nuclear-armed Israel bombs another country it claims wants to build the bomb? Should Mordechai Vanunu be allowed to leave Israel? If Ukraine could give up its nuclear arsenal in 1994, why shouldn't Israel do the same now? Email us: echidna@ SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's scheduled meeting with Donald Trump has been cancelled after the United States president decided to leave the G7 summit early to deal with the Middle East crisis. - Australia's sovereign wealth fund will seek out more assets in places like Europe and Japan as President Donald Trump makes the US a less attractive place to invest. - Australia's political and military leaders are warning of dangerous global conditions as violence in the Middle East escalates. THEY SAID IT: "Everyone knows that Israel has nuclear weapons, but no one is talking about it. The world doesn't want nuclear weapons - not in Israel, not in the Middle East and not anywhere in the world." - Mordechai Vanunu YOU SAID IT: The world might be a better place if its squabbling leaders - generally angry, old men - duked it out in cage fights rather than bombing civilians. "Couldn't agree more," writes Veronica. "Let them kill each other if that is their fancy - just leave me and the rest of the sane world out of it!" Sharon writes: "Yes, put the old men - sorry, little boys - into a cage and make them fight it out. It'd be a very short fight. Pathetic old gits all of them." "For what seems like 100 years I've advocated the old and traditional method: the leaders lead the troops into battle," writes Old Donald. "Frontline. Wearing bright, distinctive clothing clearly marked to show they're the bosses. They know that if they lose, then their lands, spouses, children, even (yes) their dogs are forfeit and probably killed. With today's weaponry available, they think twice ... and ordinary, otherwise happy people get to live ordinary happy lives." Jan writes: "I am so totally fed up with ruining every day of the rest of my life hearing and reading about the misery created by these dysfunctional misfits of men you mentioned that I try my best to avoid following the news altogether. Your tongue-in-cheek cage fighting scenario would save not only many innocent civilian lives but also those of the service personnel who are sent off to do the fighting to feed the insatiable egos of their so-called leaders."
