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[INTERNATIONAL] · United States, Israel · 5 sources

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Israel nuclear program history revealed through declassified documents

Israel nuclear program Dimona nuclear facility National Security Archive declassified documents nuclear ambiguity

Declassified documents from the National Security Archive reveal details regarding the origins of Israel’s nuclear program. In early 1960, American diplomats traveling in an Israeli helicopter observed construction in the Negev desert near the Dead Sea. When questioned by US Ambassador Ogden Reid, Israeli Finance Ministry official Addy Cohen described the site as a “textile factory.” The site was actually the Dimona nuclear facility, which became the foundation for the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal.

Secret US diplomatic telegrams indicate that while Cohen initially treated the inquiry with levity, there was an impression he believed the reactor could eventually be used for weapons purposes. Furthermore, US nuclear officials reported that hundreds of pounds of weapons-grade enriched uranium went missing from a Pennsylvania plant five years later. Some US intelligence officials and a recent documentary suggest this uranium was diverted to the Israeli program.

For sixty years, the United States and Israel have maintained a policy of ambiguity, neither formally acknowledging the existence of Israel’s nuclear arsenal. The “textile factory” explanation has since become a popular euphemism used by Israeli officials to allude to the program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently referenced the term in a speech regarding a meeting with the head of the Atomic Energy Commission.

Entities

Benjamin Netanyahu · Dimona nuclear facility · Dimona nuclear facility · Israel · National Security Archive · United States

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Sources

60 years of denial about Israel’s nuclear weapons program confronts a new reality [krdo.com]
60 years of denial about Israel’s nuclear weapons program confronts a new reality [localnews8.com]
Noticias Teleradio America @CANALTRARD [teleradioamerica.com]
İsrail'in nükleer silah programı hakkındaki 60 yıllık inkâr, yeni bir gerçeklikle karşı karşıya [www.habervitrini.com]
Sesenta años de negación sobre el programa de armas nucleares de Israel se enfrentan a una nueva realidad. Todo es Política [todoespolitica.com.ar]