"There Was a Time When the Pentagon Feared Israel’s Nukes" Topic

"Israel's nuclear weapons program is one of the biggest military open secrets in the world. Now we know a little more about the angst inside the Pentagon in the late 1960s, as Israel was months away from activating its nuclear deterrent.

That's all according to new documents obtained by the non-profit National Security Archive at George Washington University. In 2006, the researchers revealed the Nixon administration's wrangling over what to do about Israel's nuclear weapons program. But the latest round of documents show new details about the debate—and the stark warnings from Pentagon officials about the dangers of Israeli nukes.

One of the more severe warnings came from then-Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard. On July 14, 1969, Packard sent a memo to Melvin Laird—the secretary of defense—laying down what to discuss with the president. The memo reflected a "general consensus" among Pentagon officials and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that Israel's weapons program would destabilize the region…"
Full article here
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Amicalement
Armand

It didn't stop the Arabs invading them in '73, though had Israel lost the conventional conflict nukes would have been rightfully used as a last resort.

It didn't stop the Arabs invading them in '73, though had Israel lost the conventional conflict nukes would have been rightfully used as a last resort.

I figure that the Israelis would most likely launch when the Arab armies were ~60 minutes travel from Tel Aviv/ Jerusalem/etc.

Which is actually better than the readiness state of the French nukes, which I estimated to be "order the launch when the Soviet forces are ~30min travel from the French border, to hit them as soon as they cross the border."

It takes about half an hour for orders to percolate down, including prep/flight time of the weapons.

Considering how we let them get away with wilfully attacking the U.S.S. Liberty, we were probably afraid of them. And still are.

Remember the USS Liberty and their dead and wounded!

Just in case to refresh anyone's memory – link That being said, whatever really happened that day. Right or wrong, the Israelis paid reparations/punitives. Whatever the legal terms are. To the US and it's service members. I'm still waiting for Hezzbollah, Syria or Iran pay the US [or France for that matter] for the deaths of US Military personnel in Lebanon in '83. link Or all the US or other Europeans killed by weapons, etc., supplied by Iran in GWII. As well as the various moslem countries that supported the Taliban, AQ, et al. in Afghanistan, etc., that caused, US/NATO deaths … That is off the top of my head, of course … Just my take …

Didnt we just take Hezzbollah off the terrorist organization list?

Well, I see that only as temporarily, with all that is going on in the Mid East, etc. … Things have become a holy mess !