The Elephant in the Room: Israel's Nuclear Weapons

[Better Believe It]

The Elephant in the Room: Israel's Nuclear Weapons
by David Morrison
The Electronic Intifada
29 June 2009

At a White House press conference on 18 May 2009, US President Barack Obama expressed "deepening concern" about "the potential pursuit of a nuclear weapon by Iran." He continued:

"Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon would not only be a threat to Israel and a threat to the United States, but would be profoundly destabilizing in the international community as a whole and could set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East."

By his side was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the room with them, there was an elephant, a large and formidably destructive elephant, which they and the assembled press pretended not to see.

I am, of course, referring to Israel's actual nuclear weapons systems, with which Netanyahu is capable of doing to numerous cities in the Middle East, including Tehran, what the US did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Iran, by contrast, has no nuclear weapons. The US President said so himself in Prague on 5 April 2009 in his major speech on nuclear disarmament. "Iran has yet to build a nuclear weapon," he admitted.

Please read the complete article at:

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10621.shtml

[ORDagnabbit]

1. and all the military secrets they've stolen from us over there years. n/t

[invictus]

2. K&R

[LittleBlue]

3. K&R. And please remember Mordechai Vanunu

He was an Israeli scientist who objected to nuclear proliferation in secret and told the world about Israel's nuclear arsenal. When he left, the Mossad kidnapped him in a foreign country and has been holding him (to this day) in Israel illegally. He has asked for asylum for decades!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordechai_Vanunu

Free him!

[masuki bance]

4. Israel has nukes, therefore Iran should have them.

And everyone else.

[Better Believe It]

5. The U.S. and other nations should apply pressure in Israel to dismantle their nuclear arsenal

How can the U.S. government have any credibility when they claim to oppose nuclear arms in the Middle East while at the same time supporting Israel's growing nuclear arsenal?

Now if that isn't a double standard I'd like to know what is.

[LittleBlue]

6. Personally, I don't mind most countries having nukes

The threat of MAD has been a great deterrent to warfare.


And contrary to popular belief, not just anyone can operate a nuke. To this day, nuclear technology is extremely difficult to operate by anyone other than an experienced nuclear physicist.

[Better Believe It]

7. I'd rather see the complete elimination of ALL nuclear weapons worldwide

[hugo_from_TN]

8. MAD relies on a rational leadership that greatly fears nuclear anihillation.

The more countries that get nukes, the more likely it is that a leader with nukes will not act rationally.

[Hippo_Tron]

10. MAD relies on a set of specific conditions

Those include a nuclear arsenal that is capable of destroying most of a nation's major civilian centers and a relatively high probability of those nukes surviving a first strike.

If Iran gets a nuke it may have a deterrent effect, but its nuclear arsenal will likely not be large enough to ensure the destruction of Israel and thus MAD does not apply.

[Jim Sagle]

9. "The Electronic Intifada" is on a sacred mission of death to the Jews.

Anything found there should be judged in that light.