:Israel and weapons of mass destruction

{{Main|Nuclear weapons and Israel}}

It is believed that Israel possessed an operational nuclear weapons capability by 1967, with the mass production of nuclear warheads occurring immediately after the Six-Day War. Experts estimated the stockpile of Israeli nuclear weapons range from 60 to as many as 400.{{cite web|url=http://www.wisconsinproject.org/countries/israel/nuke.html |access-date=May 3, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429192508/http://www.wisconsinproject.org/countries/israel/nuke.html |archive-date=April 29, 2015 |title=Israel's Nuclear Weapon Capability: An Overview }}{{cite web |url=http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/090316_israelistrikeiran.pdf |publisher=Center for Strategic and International Studies |title=Study on a Possible Israeli Strike on Iran's Nuclear Development Facilities |first1=Abdullah, Senior Associate |last1=Toukan |first2=Anthony H., Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy |last2=Cordesman |access-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-date=April 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417174702/http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/090316_israelistrikeiran.pdf |url-status=dead }}Brower, Kenneth S., “A Propensity for Conflict: Potential Scenarios and Outcomes of War in the Middle East,” Jane's Intelligence Review, Special Report no. 14, (February 1997), 14-15. It is unknown if Israel's reported thermonuclear weapons are in the megaton range.{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/31/does-israel-really-have-a-thermonuclear-weapon/|title=Does Israel Really Have a Thermonuclear Weapon?|first=Jeffrey|last=Lewis|date=March 8, 2024 }} Israel is also reported to possess a wide range of different systems, including neutron bombs, tactical nuclear weapons, and suitcase nukes.Hersh, Seymour M. The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy. New York: Random House, 1991. {{ISBN|0-394-57006-5}} p.220 Israel is believed to manufacture its nuclear weapons at the Negev Nuclear Research Center.

On 5 November 2023, amid the 2023 Israel-Hamas War, Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu stated that the use of atomic weapons in the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip could be "one of the possibilities". He was neither a member the security cabinet nor of the war cabinet, and was subsequently suspended from cabinet meetings.{{cite web | url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/far-right-minister-nuking-gaza-is-an-option-population-should-go-to-ireland-or-deserts/ | title=Far-right minister: Nuking Gaza is an option, population should 'go to Ireland or deserts' | website=The Times of Israel }}

{{main|Nuclear weapons delivery|Nuclear triad|Jericho (missile)|Popeye Turbo|F-15I}}

Nuclear weapons delivery mechanisms include Jericho 3 missiles, with a range of 4,800 km to 6,500 km (though a 2004 source estimated its range at up to 11,500 km), and which are believed to provide a second-strike option, as well as regional coverage from road mobile Jericho 2 IRBMs. Israel's nuclear-capable ballistic missiles are believed to be buried so far underground that they would survive a nuclear attack.{{cite news| url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/24/AR2006082401050.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | first= Ramit | last= Plushnick-Masti | access-date= May 20, 2010 | title=Israel Buys 2 Nuclear-Capable Submarines | date=August 25, 2006}}{{cite web |url= https://www.scribd.com/doc/6088311/Missile-Survey-Ballistic-and-Cruise-Missiles-of-Foreign-Countries |title=Missile Survey: Ballistic and Cruise Missiles of Foreign Countries |website= Scribd |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080928134704/http://www.scribd.com/doc/6088311/Missile-Survey-Ballistic-and-Cruise-Missiles-of-Foreign-Countries |archive-date=2008-09-28}} Additionally, Israel is believed to have an offshore nuclear second-strike capability, using submarine-launched nuclear-capable cruise missiles, which can be launched from the Israeli Navy's Dolphin-class submarines.{{cite magazine|url= http://www.janes.com/news/defence/jdw/jdw091001_1_n.shtml |title= Israel seeks sixth Dolphin in light of Iranian 'threat' | first =Alon | last = Ben-David|date=October 1, 2009 |magazine= Jane's Defence Weekly|access-date= November 3, 2009|author-link=Alon Ben-David}} The Israeli Air Force has F-15I and F-16I Sufa fighter aircraft which are capable of delivering tactical and strategic nuclear weapons at long distances using conformal fuel tanks and supported by their aerial refueling fleet of modified Boeing 707s.{{cite web |url= http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/israel/iaf.htm |title= Israel Air Force - Israel| first = John | last = Pike |work= Global security}}

In 2006, then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appeared to acknowledge that Israel had nuclear weapons when he stated on German TV that Iran was "aspiring to have nuclear weapons as America, France, Israel, Russia".{{cite news|title=Israeli PM in nuclear arms hint |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6170845.stm |work= BBC Online |date=December 12, 2006 |access-date= July 30, 2015}}{{cite news|title=In a Slip, Israel's Leader Seems to Confirm Its Nuclear Arsenal |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/world/middleeast/12olmert.html |work=The New York Times |date= December 12, 2006 |access-date=July 30, 2015}}{{cite news|title= Israeli PM admits to nuclear weapons |url= http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1809421.htm |publisher= ABC Online |date=December 12, 2006 |access-date= July 30, 2015}} This admission was in contrast to the long-running Israeli government policy of deliberate ambiguity on whether it has nuclear weapons. The policy held that Israel would "not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East."{{cite news|first=Khaled|last=Dawoud|title= Redefining the bomb|newspaper=Al-Ahram Weekly|date= December 2, 1999|access-date=July 2, 2006|url= http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1999/458/intervw.htm |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060626225235/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1999/458/intervw.htm|archive-date=June 26, 2006}} Former International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei regarded Israel as a state possessing nuclear weapons.{{cite web|url= http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Transcripts/2004/alahram27072004.html|title=Transcript of the Director General's Interview with Al-Ahram News|author=Mohamed ElBaradei |publisher=International Atomic Energy Agency|date= July 27, 2004|access-date=June 3, 2007|author-link= Mohamed ElBaradei}} Much of what is known about Israel's nuclear program comes from revelations in 1986 by Mordechai Vanunu, a technician at the Negev Nuclear Research Center who served an 18-year prison sentence as a result. Israel has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but supports establishment of a Middle East Zone free of weapons of mass destruction.{{cite news|title=43 nations to seek Middle East free of WMDs |url= https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25664483 | work =NBC News |date=July 13, 2008 |access-date=September 6, 2011}}

File:CIA report-on-Israeli-Chemical-Weapons.pdf file of the CIA report as described. This version is partially complete, showing only the relevant passages on Israel.]]

Israel has signed but not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).United Nations Treaty Collection. [http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-3&chapter=26&lang=en Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407202014/https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-3&chapter=26&lang=en |date=April 7, 2015 }}. Accessed January 14, 2009. In 1983 a report by the CIA stated that Israel, after "finding itself surrounded by frontline Arab states with budding CW capabilities, became increasingly conscious of its vulnerability to chemical attack... undertook a program of chemical warfare preparations in both offensive and protective areas... In late 1982 a probable CW nerve agent production facility and a storage facility were identified at the Dimona Sensitive Storage Area in the Negev Desert. Other CW agent production is believed to exist within a well-developed Israeli chemical industry."{{cite news |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/09/10/exclusive-does-israel-have-chemical-weapons-too/ |title=Exclusive: Does Israel Have Chemical Weapons Too? |author=Matthew M. Aid |newspaper=Foreign Policy |date=September 10, 2013 |access-date=March 17, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/166817108/1NIE-on-Israeli-Chemical-Weapons|title=1NIE on Israeli Chemical Weapons|work=scribd.com}}

There are also speculations that a chemical weapons program might be located at the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR{{Citation|url=http://www.iibr.gov.il/ |title=IIBR |place=IL |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115121847/http://www.iibr.gov.il/ |archive-date=November 15, 2012 }}.) in Ness Ziona.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bsos.umd.edu/pgsd/people/staffpubs/Avner-CBWart.pdf|title=Israel and Chemical/Biological Weapons: History, Deterrence, and Arms Control|first=Avner|last=Cohen|access-date=April 27, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611165900/http://www.bsos.umd.edu/pgsd/people/staffpubs/Avner-CBWart.pdf|archive-date=June 11, 2009}}

190 liters of dimethyl methylphosphonate, a CWC schedule 2 chemical used in the synthesis of sarin nerve gas, was discovered in the cargo of El Al Flight 1862 after it crashed in 1992 en route to Tel Aviv. Israel said the material was non-toxic and was to have been used to test filters that protect against chemical weapons. It had also been listed on the cargo manifest in accordance with international regulations. The shipment was from a U.S. chemical plant to the IIBR under a U.S. Department of Commerce license.{{cite news|title = Israel says El Al crash chemical 'non-toxic'|date=October 2, 1998|publisher=BBC|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/185199.stm |access-date=July 2, 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20030818042548/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/185199.stm |archive-date = August 18, 2003}}

In 1993, the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment WMD proliferation assessment recorded Israel as a country generally reported as having undeclared offensive chemical warfare capabilities.{{Cite journal|url=http://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk1/1993/9341/9341.PDF| title = Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Assessing the Risks|publisher=U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment|date = August 1993|id=OTA-ISC-559|access-date=December 9, 2008}} Former US deputy assistant secretary of defense responsible for chemical and biological defense Dr. Bill Richardson said in 1998 "I have no doubt that Israel has worked on both chemical and biological offensive things for a long time... There's no doubt they've had stuff for years."{{cite news|url=http://www.salon.com/news/1998/12/02news.html|title=Debunking the "ethno-bomb"|first=Jeff|last=Stein|date=December 2, 1998|access-date=July 11, 2006|work=Salon.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060629051243/http://salon.com/news/1998/12/02news.html|archive-date=June 29, 2006}}

Israel is suspected to have developed an offensive biological warfare capability, per the US Congress Office of Technology Assessment. Israel is not a signatory to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).{{cite web|title=Membership of the Biological Weapons Convention|url=http://www.unog.ch/__80256ee600585943.nsf/(httpPages)/7be6cbbea0477b52c12571860035fd5c?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=3#_Section3|work=United Nations Office At Geneva|access-date=March 12, 2011}} It is assumed that the Israel Institute for Biological Research in Ness Ziona develops vaccines and antidotes for chemical and biological warfare.{{cite web

|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/israel/cbw.htm

|title=Nes Ziyyona

|access-date=February 11, 2007

|date=April 28, 2005

|publisher=GlobalSecurity.org

|quote=Israel is believed to have the capacity to produce chemical warfare agents, and probably has stocks of bombs, rockets, and artillery shells. Public reports that a mustard and nerve gas production facility was established in 1982 in the Dimona restricted area are apparently erroneous. Israel is also probably poised to rapidly produce biological weapons, though there are no public reports of currently active production effort or associated locations.…Israel's primary chemical and biological warfare facility is at Nes Ziyyona [Noss Ziona], near Tel Aviv. The Israeli Institute for Bio-Technology is believed to be the home of both offensive and defensive research.

}}

It is generally agreed Israel does not have a stockpile of chemical weapons; it is speculated that Israel retains an active ability to produce and disseminate biological weapons, likely as a result of its extremely complex biodefense program.{{Cite web|title=Arms Control and Proliferation Profile: Israel {{!}} Arms Control Association|url=https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/israelprofile|access-date=2021-09-03|website=www.armscontrol.org|language=en}}{{cite web

|url=http://www.foi.se/upload/pdf/israel-and-wmd-1734.pdf

|title=Israel and WMD: Incentives and Capabilities

|access-date=February 11, 2007

|last=Normark

|first=Magnus

|author2=Anders Lindblad |author3=Anders Norqvist |author4=Björn Sandström |author5=Louise Waldenström

|date=December 2005

|publisher=FOI

|pages=38

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208203912/http://www.foi.se/upload/pdf/israel-and-wmd-1734.pdf

|archive-date=February 8, 2007

|url-status=dead

|quote=Israel does not stockpile or produce BW in large-scale today. However, we assess that Israel has a breakout capability for biological weapons and also CW, i.e. the knowledge needed to implement theoretical knowledge into the practical management of production and deployment of CBW. The knowledge base would be the one that was built during the 1950s and 1960s where today’s advanced research can be used to upgrade potential BW and CW agents and their behaviour in the environment. We have not found any conclusive evidence that show that Israel’s offensive programs still remain active today.

}}

Israel has taken steps to strengthen its export control regulations on dual-use biotechnologies.

Israel has conducted biological warfare previously, in the 1948 operation Cast Thy Bread.{{cite news | url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-10-14/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/documents-confirm-israelis-poisoned-arab-wells-in-1948/00000183-d2b2-d8cc-afc7-fefed64d0000 | title='Place the Material in the Wells': Docs Point to Israeli Army's 1948 Biological Warfare | newspaper=Haaretz }}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Citation | url = http://www.nti.org/country-profiles/israel/ | contribution = Israel | title = WMD Overview | publisher = Nuclear Threat Initiative | date = May 2014 | access-date = October 7, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150918203453/http://www.nti.org/country-profiles/israel/chemical/ | archive-date = September 18, 2015 | url-status = dead }}.
• [https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/collection/153/israeli-nuclear-history Israeli Nuclear History], Archival Document Collection at the Wilson Center Digital Archive
• [http://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/avner-cohen-collection Avner Cohen Collection] at the Wilson Center's Nuclear Proliferation International History Project
• [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB189/index.htm Israel Crosses the Threshold, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 189], by Avner Cohen and William Burr, April 28, 2006 (originally published at [https://web.archive.org/web/20060928025149/http://www.thebulletin.org/article.php?art_ofn=mj06cohen "Israel crosses the threshold"], Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May/June 2006])
• [https://fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/nuke/biblio.pdf Bibliography of Israeli Nuclear Science Publications] by Mark Gorwitz, June 2005
• [http://bos.sagepub.com/content/58/5/73.full Israeli Nuclear Forces], 2002, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September/October 2002
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20041031191126/http://www.thebulletin.org/issues/2000/mj00/mj00cohen.html "The Bomb That Never Is"], by Avner Cohen, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May/June 2000, Vol. 56, No. 3 pp. 22–23
• Israel and the Bomb ([http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/israel/ online]; Columbia University Press, 1998), including declassified documents.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160408221909/http://fas.org/news/israel/000808-israel-1.htm "Obsessive secrecy undermines democracy"] by Reuven Pedatzur. Ha'aretz. Tuesday, August 8, 2000—Cohen published Israel and the Bomb in the United States, and a Hebrew translation of the book has appeared here. In the eyes of the defense establishment, Cohen has committed a double sin.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160408221853/http://fas.org/news/israel/000806-eye-haaretz.htm Fighting to preserve the tattered veil of secrecy] by Ronen Bergman. The publication of Dr. Avner Cohen's book and of the Vanunu trial transcripts set off alarm bells for the Defense Ministry's chief of security, who is striving to protect the traditional opacity regarding Israel's nuclear affairs.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160408210214/http://fas.org/news/israel/000728-israel-1.htm "Blast, from the past to the present"] by Yirmiyahu Yovel. Ha'aretz,. July 28, 2000. If, in the context of the peace agreements and talks with the United States, Israel were to confirm its nuclear capability - while committing itself to no nuclear testing and pledging to build its defense system on conventional weapons as in the past - maybe then it might achieve at least de facto recognition, if not international legitimacy, for its nuclear weaponry, to be used only as a "last resort" and a tool for safeguarding peace after Israel withdraws.
• [https://fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/nuke/farr.htm The Third Temple's Holy of Holies: Israel's Nuclear Weapons] Warner D. Farr, LTC, U.S. Army, September 1999
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061128053251/http://www.wisconsinproject.org/countries/israel/plut.html "Israel: Plutonium Production"]. The Risk Report, Volume 2 Number 4 (July–August 1996).
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101107061617/http://www.wisconsinproject.org/countries/israel/uranium.html "Israel: Uranium Processing and Enrichment"]. The Risk Report, Volume 2 Number 4 (July–August 1996).
• [https://fas.org/irp/threat/svr_nuke.htm#israel Israel The Nuclear Potential of Individual Countries Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons] Problems of Extension Appendix 2 Russian Federation Foreign Intelligence Service April 6, 1995
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=doO-SLaJgbcC The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy] by Seymour M. Hersh, New York: Random House, 1991

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Category:Israeli nuclear development

Weapons of mass destruction, Israel

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