Loading ...Actually I can’t verify that only heard it but he uses the term. It may have got mixed up with Tucker over Iran.
I won’t defend a psychopath from not having a nuclear weapon but with one psychopath to another in that case why does Israel have them?
While Israel has never officially confirmed possessing nuclear weapons, maintaining a policy of “nuclear ambiguity,” it is widely acknowledged by intelligence agencies and experts to be a nuclear power. Its acquisition of these weapons is often characterized as “illegal” or “covert” because it relied on secret foreign assistance, espionage, and evading international oversight.
Reddit +4
Israel is one of only a few countries that has never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which technically means it is not in violation of that specific international treaty. However, its methods of acquiring materials and technology frequently bypassed the laws of other nations.
Key Methods of Acquisition
- Secret Deal with France (1950s): In 1957, France secretly agreed to provide Israel with a research reactor and technical expertise for the Dimona facility in the Negev Desert. The facility included a covert underground plant for extracting weapons-grade plutonium.
- Espionage and Stolen Designs: Israel reportedly used a network of scientists and agents to access classified nuclear data from Western nations. This included stealing centrifuge blueprints that were later used for uranium enrichment.
- Operation Plumbat (1968): To secure uranium, the Mossad orchestrated the disappearance of a freighter carrying 200 tons of yellowcake (uranium ore). The cargo was transferred at sea to an Israeli vessel using a web of front companies to evade European Euratom controls.
- The NUMEC Incident (1960s): Between 200 and 600 pounds of highly enriched uranium allegedly vanished from the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) facility in Pennsylvania. Declassified documents suggest this material was diverted to Israel with the help of sympathetic owners.
- Illicit Procurement of Triggers: In the 1980s, an Israeli spy network illegally smuggled krytrons—high-speed electronic switches used as nuclear triggers—out of the United States without the required export licenses.
- Cooperation with South Africa: Evidence suggests Israel collaborated with apartheid-era South Africa on nuclear development, including a suspected joint nuclear test in 1979 known as the Vela Incident.
Current Status
- Estimated Stockpile: Experts estimate Israel possesses between 80 and 90 nuclear warheads, with some estimates ranging as high as 400.
- Strategic Purpose: The arsenal serves as a “last resort” deterrent, often referred to as the “Samson Option”—the threat of massive retaliation if the state’s existence is imperiled.