Latest news with #SamsonOption
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Business Standard
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
What is Samson Option, Israel's nuclear threat that's no longer a theory?
Tensions between Israel and Iran have escalated sharply after 'Operation Rising Lion' — Israel's largest strike on Iranian nuclear sites since the 1981 Osirak raid. Iran has responded with missile and drone attacks, straining Israeli defence systems and prompting fears of wider conflict. With Hezbollah mobilising in the north, Houthi threats rising in the Red Sea, and the possibility of a multi-front war looming, Israeli security doctrine is under renewed global scrutiny. At the centre of that attention is the Samson Option, Israel's undeclared but long-assumed nuclear last-resort policy. Once regarded as a Cold War-era relic, the Samson Option has re-emerged as a global worry with serious implications for global security, defence markets, and diplomatic stability. What is the Samson Option? The Samson Option is widely understood as Israel's nuclear last-resort strategy: threat of massive retaliation if the country's survival is at stake. The name is derived from a reference of the biblical figure Samson, who brought down a Philistine temple upon himself and his enemies, an allegory for apocalyptic deterrence. Though Israel has never confirmed possessing nuclear weapons, its policy of 'Amimut' (Israel's policy of neither confirming nor denying the possession of nuclear weapons), or deliberate ambiguity, has kept adversaries guessing. However, foreign assessments suggest Israel has 80 to 400 nuclear warheads, with delivery systems spanning land-based missiles, submarines, and aircraft. The doctrine entered public discourse in the 1990s via US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who, in his book The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy, explored Israel's nuclear journey and its relation with the United States. Since then, Israel hardened its 'strategic ambiguity' concept over the possession of a nuclear arsenal. How did Israel build its nuclear arsenal? Israel's nuclear journey began in the 1950s, with the then Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion envisioning a survival insurance policy for the newly-formed Jewish nation. With covert help from France and Norway, Israel established the Dimona nuclear facility, presented publicly as a research centre. By the time of the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel is believed to have constructed its first nuclear weapon. Who is Samson, and why is Israel's nuclear policy named after him? The doctrine's name draws from the Book of Judges, where Samson, betrayed, blinded, and imprisoned, sacrifices himself to destroy his enemies. This story, ingrained in Israeli strategic thinking, underlines the nation's message: if its destruction is imminent, it will not go quietly. Yet unlike the doomed biblical hero, modern Israel is a technologically advanced military power. The Samson Option, therefore, is not desperation, but a calculated deterrent, designed to force potential adversaries to think twice. What nuclear weapons does Israel have? Although never confirmed, Israel is among the nine nuclear-armed nations alongside the United States, Russia, China, the UK, France, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Estimates suggest Israel possesses about 90 warheads, with enough plutonium to build up to 200 more, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Its arsenal is believed to include: > Aircraft: Modified F-15, F-16, and F-35 jets capable of carrying nuclear payloads. > Submarines: Six Dolphin-class submarines, reportedly capable of launching nuclear cruise missiles. > Ballistic missiles: The land-based Jericho missile family, with a range of up to 4,000 km. Around 24 of these missiles are believed to be nuclear-capable. What was the Vela incident? Israel is the only nuclear power which has not openly conducted a nuclear test. The closest indication came in September 1979, when US satellites detected a double flash over the South Atlantic, an event known as the 'Vela Incident'. At the time, US President Jimmy Carter reportedly believed Israel had conducted a nuclear test in collaboration with apartheid-era South Africa. 'We have a growing belief among our scientists that the Israelis did indeed conduct a nuclear test,' Carter later wrote in his diaries, which were made public in 2010. Despite speculation, Israel has never confirmed its involvement in the incident. How was Israel's nuclear arsenal revealed to the world? In October 1986, former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu exposed Israel's nuclear programme in an explosive interview with the Sunday Times. Having worked at the Dimona plant for nearly a decade, Vanunu revealed that Israel was capable of producing 1.2 kg of plutonium per week, enough for 12 warheads annually. He also disclosed how Israeli officials had deceived US inspectors during visits in the 1960s with false walls and concealed elevators, hiding entire underground levels of the facility. Vanunu was later abducted by Mossad in Rome, tried in Israel, and sentenced to 18 years in prison, spending over half that time in solitary confinement. Even after his release in 2004, he remains under strict surveillance, barred from foreign travel and media engagement. With West Asia at the edge of a potential multi-front war, Israel's Samson Option has moved from the realm of whispered deterrence to an option in real-world decision-making. Its existence, unconfirmed but globally acknowledged, adds a nuclear dimension to an already combustible region.
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First Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- First Post
Does Israel have nuclear weapons?
The conflict with Iran is shedding light on Israel's nuclear arsenal – the only nation in West Asia to have such weapons – and a secret programme to unleash them in case it faces extinction. But what do we know about Israel's nuclear arsenal? And what is the Samson Option? read more Israel is widely known to have nuclear weapons, though the details of its arsenal remain scarce. Now, the Israel-Iran conflict is shedding light on Tel Aviv's nuclear arsenal – the only such country in West Asia to have such weapons – and a secret programme to unleash them in case it faces extinction. But what do we know about Israel's nuclear programme? And about the Samson Option? Let's take a closer look: What do we know? Israel has been wanting a nuclear bomb since its founding in 1948. This was a direct result of the Holocaust – and the desire of the Jewish state to be in control of its own destiny. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Read Israel Iran conflict live updates Three men began Israel's pursuit of the bomb – its first Prime Minister Ben Gurion, scientist Ernst David Bergmann and civil servant Shimon Peres (who himself would later become Prime Minister of Israel). It was Ben Gurion who helped establish the reactor at Dimona – where Israel's nuclear weapons program is still widely believed to be located. The French are believed to have assisted Israel in building the nuclear reactor – known as the IRR-2 research reactor at the Negev Nuclear Research Center – which provided the plutonium for its nuclear weapons program. It remains unclear when Israel conducted its first nuclear test. The country is thought to have had nuclear weapons since the 1960s. The country is thought to have built its first nuclear bomb in complete secrecy – lying even to its staunch ally the United States. Israel first claimed that the center was a textiles factory. Afterwards, they claimed it was a civilian research center that did not have chemical reprocessing plant needed to make a nuclear weapon. Israel is believed to have build or tried to build its first crude nuclear devices during the May 1967 crisis – which came before the Six-Day War. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Israel launched strikes against Iran early June 13, hitting its nuclear programme and targeting its long-range missile capabilities. File image/Reuters The US government by 1975 became convinced that Tel Aviv possessed nuclear weapons. Israel has for decades maintained a position of strategic ambiguity when it comes to its nuclear arsenal – known as 'Amimut'. This means it neither confirms nor denies it has one. 'We won't be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East', Netanyahu claimed in 2011 – echoing what Peres earlier said – despite all evidence to the contrary. Israeli officials and those in the know are also loathe to talk about the program openly. This is because the Israeli state takes an extremely severe attitude towards whistleblowers. Take the example of Mordechai Vanunu, a former nuclear technician who revealed the secrets of Israel's nuclear program to the world in an interview with the Sunday Times. Vanunu was abducted by the Mossad from a foreign country and forcibly taken back to Israel – where he spent nearly two decades in captivity – eleven of those years in solitary confinement. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Israel remains the only country in West Asia to have nuclear weapons. Estimates about its arsenal greatly vary. Some say it has between 75 and 400 nuclear weapons. Others place that number between 100 and 200. Israel has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Nor does it of come under the purview of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Samson Option Israel also has what it calls the Samson Option. This is a means of last resort if Israel is on the brink of extinction. It is a reference to the Biblical hero Samson, who was endowed with supernatural strength. The story of Samson and Delilah – who beguiled him to reveal the secret of his strength (his hair) only to cut it off in his sleep – is a well-known fable. Samson, now absent of his strength, was taken captive by his enemies, the Philistines, and blinded. Samson, who prayed to God for his strength to return one last time during his time in servitude, then brought down the pillars of the temple of Dagon – causing it to collapse and kill himself and all his enemies. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The term Samson Option itself entered the lexicon after award winning journalist Seymour Hersh wrote a book about 1991. Entitled The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy, the book, for which Hersh consulted with Israeli and US intelligence officials, revealed many important details about Israel's nuclear programme and its strategic doctrine. According to Hersh and Israeli historian Avner Cohen, Ben Gurion, Peres, Levi Ashkol, and Moshe Dayan are said to have come up with this term in the 1960s. Under this option, Israel would launch an all-out nuclear assault on the civilian centers of its non-nuclear rivals – in contravention of international law. 'The Samson Option is not designed to deter a nuclear adversary from a first strike or counter strike—Israel is the only nuclear-armed state in the region. Rather, its purported purpose is to ensure Israel's survival. Under the Samson Option, nuclear weapons would be deliberately used against a non-nuclear adversary as a last resort to prevent an Israeli defeat,' Kelsey Davenport, director of nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, told Progressive Magazine. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from agencies
