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The Bomb in the Basement: How Israel Went Nuclear and What That Means for the World Kindle Edition
Veteran Israeli journalist Michael Karpin explains how Israel, by far the smallest of the nuclear powers, succeeded in its ambitious effort. David Ben-Gurion saw the need for an atomic capability to offset the numerical superiority of Arab armies at war with Israel. The Israeli program relied heavily on French assistance in its early years, until President Charles de Gaulle reduced his country's cooperation. Once it was discovered, Israel's nuclear program cast a shadow over relations between Israel and the United States. The Kennedy administration opposed it, and President Lyndon Johnson approved it only tacitly.
Significant change took place when President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger adopted a new strategy. An Israel that possessed nuclear capability was a more valuable asset to the West than an Israel without such an option. President Nixon ceased to press Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and dropped U.S. surveillance of the Israeli reactor at Dimona. In exchange, Israel committed itself to maintain official ambiguity about its nuclear program. That policy remains in place nearly forty years later. Without American approval and the financial assistance and lobbying of Jews in North America, Israel could not have achieved its nuclear capability.
This is a fascinating story of scientists, politicians, spies, and major international personalities who all played a part in an extraordinary undertaking that continues to shape the politics of the world's most volatile region. Today it remains to be seen whether Israel will permit Iran to build a nuclear bomb and threaten Israel's security.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSimon & Schuster
- Publication dateMarch 1, 2006
- File size1418 KB
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
-- Jacob Heilbrunn, The Washington Monthly
"Entertaining.... Karpin tells this intriguing story through pithy accounts of the major events and profiles of the key actors."
-- George Perkovich, The Washington Post Book World
About the Author
From The Washington Post
Copyright 2006, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.
Product details
- ASIN : B000GCFCSM
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster; Annotated edition (March 1, 2006)
- Publication date : March 1, 2006
- Language : English
- File size : 1418 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 416 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 0743265955
- Best Sellers Rank: #658,465 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Michael Karpin (born 1945; lives in Tel Aviv) is a journalist, author of non-fiction books and director/producer of TV documentaries.
For 25 years Karpin was television and radio news reporter, anchor, and TV Channel One's bureau chief in Bonn (1976-80) and Moscow (1991-92); Chief News Editor (1983-86) and editor and presenter of his network's flagship program, "Second Look" (1986-90 and 1993-95).
Karpin's books and documentaries were instrumental in exposing two of Israel's most controversial issues: Dimona's nuclear activities and the incitement campaign that preceded the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. In 1983, Karpin broke the story of Israel's secret service fabrication of evidence in the course of Bus Line 300's investigation.
For his three chapters' TV series "Distant Relatives" (1995), portraying the Jewish community in North-America, B`nai B`rith awarded Karpin their World Center Award for Journalism.
Karpin's TV documentary "A Bomb in the Basement" (2001) tells for the first time in television the story of the development of Israel's nuclear capability. It had been screened by numerous television networks, international film festivals and professional conferences.
His TV documentary "The Road to Rabin Square" (1997) won a jury Special Recognition in the Biarritz FIPA 1998's Festival, and a Silver Medal in 1997's NY Festival for International Television Programming and Promotion. Television networks in 15 countries screened it, including France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, Italy, South Africa and Australia. Arte screened it twice.
Karpin's documentary "Jerusalem is Full of Used Jews" (2006) presents a new artistic and political perspective of Yehuda Amichai's poems of Jerusalem.
His documentary "I Can't Take It Any More" (2007) describes in details the sorrowful last years of Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
Karpin's website: www.michaelkarpin.com
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There were waves of Jewish illegal immigrants to Palestine. Once the Jewish population reached a critical mass the international community paved the way for the modern Israeli state. This new state needed the ultimate weapon to detour would be invaders. There was a nuclear program before there was a state. The hope was the bomb would be "in the basement" as defensive weapon.
The Arab and North African countries (among others) took offense to the Jewish state. To increase the insult the Jews created an industrialized democracy without the benefit of petro-dollars. Over the years Jews living other Middle Eastern countries became hard so the migration to Israel increased. With the concentration of the Jews in Israel the Arabs had one place to focus their hatred (the US not withstanding).
The premise is forwarded that the bomb in the basement protected Israel during the 1973 war on the assumption that Sadat knew of the bomb and simply wanted the Sinai back in the hands of Egypt. Somehow Sadat knows about the bomb but Assiad in Syria doesn't? If you know they have the bomb then how can you be sure they won't use on you in the heat of battle? Why was there no effort on the part of Egypt to negate the nuclear threat of Israel? Why have the bomb the in the basement if you are the only one that knows it is there?
Lets assume that everyone who would wish Israel harm after 1973 knows they have the bomb, do they let them live in peace or do they just change their tactics? Now we have the diplomatic games such as land for peace and the ever in and out tide terror attacks. Does anyone really expect the Arab nations will allow Jewish state to live in peace? The bomb may have allowed Israel to exist for its first 60 years but what of the next 60? Will Iran have the bomb later this year? What country or group will be next join the nuclear club? Israel is rumored to have over 150 nuclear weapons some of which could be deployed in submarines. If Israel has put nuclear ordinance on submarines then the bomb has already left the basement. As long as there is an Israeli state, that state will always have to be vigilant in protecting its people from hostile forces committed to its destruction.
The book also describes the changing aspects of Israel during the 1950s and 1960s in education, scientific and technological capability, and military prowess. It's somewhat hard to realize today, but Israel was once a poor and industrially undeveloped country.
A couple of details reviewers might find of interest, recalling that Karpin can't say a number of things, and other things he simply doesn't know about (his unknown unknowns). 1) Nothing new here but the bland denials about the 1979 test; yet most who have reviewed the Vela flash and corroborating evidence seem nearly 100% convinced that it was a genuine test. (Karpin talks about "photographs" from Vela, so he hasn't investigated this very deeply.) 2) Nothing new about USS Liberty, although most likely Karpin does know what really occurred. 3) A bit of interesting detail about the Egyptian (prob. Russian) overflights of Dimona in May 1967, during extreme tension. This is good, because a couple of Israeli jokesters have weaved a conspiracy theory about it recently (Foxbats over Dimona). Karpin says they were MiG-21s dashing in from Jordan at 55,000 feet and the IAF Mirage IIICs could not catch them.
A very good read, but obviously not the whole story, and probably not all accurate. Ben-Gurion made a wise choice back at the founding; events continue to prove him right.