Does Israel really need nuclear weapons to survive, according to reports? Security expert Robert Farley has decided to dive into the relevant question, against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, in a recent article published in a magazine considered "national interest".
Initially, Farley laid out the history of Israel in the atomic field, based in part on various assessments and publications abroad to which official Israel does not refer. Nuclear.
Therefore, they have been working since the beginning of the establishment of the state to obtain nuclear weapons, in order to survive in a hostile area where Israel did not have many friends. "In this way, Farley claims, Israel apparently obtained its first atomic bomb in 1966 In Dimona.
According to foreign publications, Israel was close to using nuclear weapons only once, during the Yom Kippur War.
At the same time, Israeli supremacy in both this war and other wars has proved that this is not necessary.
"The victories on the battlefield prevented the use of this weapon and in fact proved Israel's strength and its military superiority over the various forces in the Middle East - both if it is one country and if it is several countries in parallel. This situation exists and exists to this day."
IDF forces in Sinai during the Yom Kippur War // Photo: Ron Ilan / GPO,
According to Farley, although Israel enjoys a policy of ambiguity, it would have survived in the past even without nuclear weapons and would continue to exist even without it.
The reason is Israel's military superiority, which has only increased in recent decades, following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the weakening of Arab states in the Arab Spring and Israel's deep and strong ties with the United States (a connection that allows Israel tremendous military and technological superiority over Arab countries).
He said it was difficult to anticipate this reality in the 1950s and 1960s, so in retrospect the country's leaders were right in their quest for protection against annihilation by arming themselves with nuclear weapons.
However, he now claims in his article that the need for such a weapon is extremely low.
At the same time, he clarifies that there is no call in Israel to give up arms.
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