How Israel Deceived the U.S. and Built the Bomb - Analysis

Avner Cohen and William Burr

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Iran’s nuclear activities have been on the front pages for years although it remains unclear precisely how close Tehran is to building its first bomb. Iran’s relative failure in preserving the secrecy of its weapons aspirations stands in sharp contrast to the experience of Israel, the first and only Middle Eastern state to acquire nuclear weapons. During the 1960s, Israel built the bomb in near-absolute secrecy—even deceiving the U.S. government about its activities and goals.

Israel’s first leader, David Ben-Gurion, initiated Israel’s nuclear project in the mid- to late- 1950s, establishing Israel’s nuclear complex at Dimona, during a period when only three countries had nuclear weapons. A decade later, on the eve of the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel secretly assembled its first nuclear devices.