Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • News
  • Features
  • Comment
  • Store
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Podcast Info
    • Hanania Podcast intro
    • Live Arab Radio
  • Your Views
  • Submit Press Release
  • Toggle search form
  • Imad Hamad Director American Human Rights Council
    AHRC Calls for Moral Consistency on Human Rights, Urges President Biden to Pause His Trip to Israel: American Arabs
  • The U.S.S. Liberty photo courtesy of the USS Liberty Veterans.
    Survivors of Israel’s strike on USS Liberty commemorate 55th year June 6 – 8 American Arabs
  • AHRC Logo new Feb 2021
    AHRC hosts an open meeting with TSA & community Activism
  • Former City Hall reporter Ray Hanania, ShawnTe Raines-Welch and Nick Kantas, candidates for Judge in the 4th SubCircuit, and Cook County Commissioner Frank Aguilar.
    Nearly 100 candidates, officials address Arab Democratic Club forum Sunday American Arabs
  • Citgo Gas Station and Quik Mart at 3759 W. Chicago Ave in Chicago ordered closed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot because a street gang member with an AK-47 killed someone in front of the store. Only Arab and Muslim stores are being closed by the Mayor
    Arabs and Muslim blast Mayor lightfoot for racist store closings American Arabs
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Chicago aldermen to host “forum” to explore Mayor Lightfoot’s racist crackdown on Arab stores Activism
  • Imam Jamal Saad leads the more than 1,000 muslim attendees in payer at SeatGeek Stadium's open grounds at the Eid al-Fitr celebration May 2, 2022 in Bridgeview
    Local Illinois officials join Chicagoland Muslims for Eid Celebration at SeatGeek stadium American Arabs
  • DCEO Panel discussion on business support opportunities for all businesses including Arab American businesses, April 26, 2022
    DCEO Access to Capital: Arab American Heritage Month business workshop American Arabs
  • DCEO Celebrates Arab American Heritage Month (AAHM) American Arabs
  • Alderman Raymond Lopez addresses the gathering at an Iftar hosted by Radi Abuhashish Thursday April 21, 2022 joined by Dr. Willie Wilson and other candidates for Chicago Mayor.
    Political candidates join local Arab leaders for Iftar Activism
  • U.S. Congressional Candidate Rob Cruz in the 6th District GOP Primary election June 28, 2022
    Republican Candidate for U.S. Congress, Rob Cruz, Opens a Dialogue with the Palestinian Community American Arabs
  • Peak Rock Capital affiliate completes acquisition of Ziyad Brothers, a leading provider of brander Middle Eastern and Mediterranean foods American Arabs
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Chicago aldermen to host forum on Arab businesses closed by Mayor Lightfoot American Arabs
  • April 24, 2022 Illinois DCEO American ArabChamber event
    American Arab Chamber and DCEO host online panel to help Arab Businesses secure funding Activism
  • Oussama Jammal presents Congresswoman Marie Newman with the Courage Award during the USCMO Annual Ramadan Iftar Dinner. Photo courtesy of Marie Newman Facebook Page
    Newman endorsed by major Arab and Muslim leaders Activism

U.S. Documents Corroborate Mordechai Vanunu RE: Israeli WMD

Posted on April 17, 2015September 24, 2018 By Eileen Fleming 7 Comments on U.S. Documents Corroborate Mordechai Vanunu RE: Israeli WMD
SHARE ...
          
 
  

  • Tweet

On Wednesday The National Security Archive of George Washington University published documents corroborating much of what Israel’s Nuclear Whistle Blower Mordechai Vanunu has been saying for twenty-nine years.

The documents detail the discovery of Israel’s nuclear deceptions, debates over Israel’s lack of candor and efforts to pressure the Israelis to answer key questions about the Dimona during the Eisenhower years.

This ‘discovery,’ which came as the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower was drawing to a close, caused apprehension in Washington by raising concern about regional stability and nuclear proliferation, but it also produced annoyance because Israeli officials at all levels repeatedly provided less than credible answers to U.S. questions about Dimona.

Thus, in September 1960, when embassy officials asked about a new construction site when they were on a helicopter ride nearby, an adroit Israeli official, Addy Cohen, improvised a story to keep the secret: it was the site of a textile factory, he said; a story that was not wholly false because there was a textile plant near Dimona.

 

Youtube interview with 87 year-old Addy Cohen, who wrote on March 5, 2015: “It may have transpired that I was the first one who referred to the project as a ‘textile plant’ but I can assure you that it was not planned.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTXr7pUKP9o#t=369

Mordechai Vanunu said:

Did you know that President Kennedy tried to stop Israel from building atomic weapons?

In 1963, he forced Prime Minister Ben Guirion to admit the Dimona was not a textile plant, as the sign outside proclaimed, but a nuclear plant.

The Prime Minister said, ‘The nuclear reactor is only for peace.’

Among the documents are the June 1959 Israel-Norway secret agreement providing for the sale of Norwegian heavy water to Israel [through the United Kingdom], transmitted by Oslo Embassy political officer Richard Kerry, the father of Secretary of State John Kerry.

Excerpted from Document 8:

“Plutonium Production for Weapons Is At least One Major Purpose”

On the basis of intelligence collected during the summer and fall of 1960 (of which much remains classified)…Israel is engaged in construction of a nuclear reactor complex in the Negev near Beersheba.

Acknowledging that there could be various ways to interpret the function of the Dimona complex, the authors believed that ‘on the basis of all available evidence’ that ‘plutonium production for weapons is at least one major purpose of this effort’ and ‘that Israel will produce some weapons grade plutonium in 1963-64 and possibly as early as 1962.’

In 2003, Journalist Peter Hounam told the BBC:

“Vanunu told the world that Israel had developed between one hundred and two hundred atomic bombs [in 1986!] and had gone on to develop neutron bombs and thermonuclear weapons. Enough to destroy the entire Middle East and nobody has done anything about it since.”

Excerpted from Document 10: “Considerable Weapons Potential”

On 9 December, Secretary of State Herter summoned Israeli ambassador Avraham Harman to the State Department and showed him photos of the Dimona reactor, asking for an explanation that would remove ‘bases for concern.’

Harman said he knew nothing of the project but would inform his government. Later that afternoon, Herter called Claude Lebel, the chargé d’affaires at the French embassy, and asked about French involvement in the project.

Herter prefaced his question by referring to a report he had received from his embassy in Tel Aviv that Prime Minister Ben-Gurion was about to announce that a new experimental reactor had been built in the Negev with French aid.

Herter noted that, according to information the United States had ascertained, Israel had been involved since 1958 in constructing a reactor ‘which is at least ten times as large as claimed,’ and that the design appeared to be not for power but for plutonium production, hence, it would provide Israel ‘considerable weapons potential.’

Mordechai Vanunu said:

The French were responsible for the actual building of the Dimona. The Germans gave the money; they were feeling guilty for the Holocaust, and tried to pay their way out.

Everything inside was written in French, when I was there…the Dimona descended seven floors underground.

In 1955, Perez and Guirion met with the French to agree they would get a nuclear reactor if they fought against Egypt to control the Sinai and Suez Canal. That was the war of 1956.

Eisenhower demanded that Israel leave the Sinai, but the reactor plant deal continued on.

Excerpted from Document 18: Israel had “By No Means Come Clean with Us”

Under Secretary of State Merchant briefed Assistant Secretary Lewis Jones about an Operations Coordinating Board [OCB] discussion of the Israel nuclear problem where Allen Dulles had grumbled that Israel had ‘by no means come clean with us.’

The participants were also annoyed that the Development Loan Fund (DLF) had authorized a loan to Israel despite the OCB’s agreement that such action should be delayed.

Eisenhower’s national security assistant, Gordon Gray, emphasized that the president wanted further efforts to secure Israel’s agreement to IAEA inspections.

Such efforts, however, were not to reach the press and any initiative should be ‘conducted quietly through diplomatic channels.’

Excerpted from Document 20: “The Possibility of [It] Embarrassing the Government”

Letter from Richard Kerry, U.S. Embassy Oslo, to William Burdette, Office of British Commonwealth and Northern European Affairs, 30 December 1960:

In response to the State Department request, embassy officers in Oslo obtained more information on the Israel-Norway heavy water deal and the terms of the sale agreement, which included a ‘peaceful uses’ stipulation.

On 30 December, political officer Richard Kerry obtained a copy of the agreement which he believed could be embarrassing to the Norwegian government in light of its efforts to play the role of ‘honest broker’ in international conflicts, including the Middle East.

The agreement included an Israeli commitment that the use of the heavy water was for peaceful purposes, including an inspection clause.

According to Kerry’s letter, a major problem was that the heavy water sale had been initially treated as a commercial sale by the Norwegian firm NORATOM without appropriate vetting by political experts at the Foreign Ministry (like an earlier controversial sale of weapons to the Batista dictatorship in Cuba).

Kerry asked the State Department to keep the transaction a secret and so it stayed until the late 1970s when the Stockholm Institute of Peace Research disclosed it.

Kerry did not mention the British role in the affair…

Excerpted from Document 21: “Clearly Apparent Lack of Candor”

State Department telegram 502 to U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, 31 December 1960

This telegram, originally published in the FRUS in an excised version, showed how unhappy the State Department was with Ben-Gurion’s explanation of the Dimona reactor: his answers ‘appear evasive.’

The State Department saw the ‘clearly apparent lack of candor [as] difficult to reconcile with [the] confidence which had traditionally characterized U.S.-Israel relations.’

To restore confidence, Israel needed to answer questions about its plans to dispose of plutonium, the application of safeguards to plutonium produced, visits by IAEA or other scientists to the reactor site, and whether there were plans to build a third reactor. Moreover, ‘can Israel state unequivocally that it has no plans for producing nuclear weapons?’

Excerpted from Document 23: “Damaging Air of Secrecy or Suspicions”

State Department telegram 2821 to U.S. Embassy Paris, 6 January 1961

Believing that neither France nor Israel had been forthright and that the lack of candor had damaging implications for Middle East stability, Herter asked U.S. Ambassador Amory Houghton to meet with Couve de Murville and discuss his earlier statement about the French-Israeli nuclear project.

If the Dimona project is a ‘large scale production reactor,’ the French need to be ‘unequivocally clear that [their] assistance is directed solely to peaceful uses.’

Excerpted from Documents 27A-B: The Post-Mortem

This ‘post-mortem’ study on SNIE 100-8-60 is one of the most intriguing documents in this collection.

Its aim was to explain why the US intelligence community had failed to detect in real time the Israeli nuclear project, and indeed how late it was in making that determination.

The chronology, on pages 8 through 17, provides an account of what was known, and when, about the Israeli nuclear program, concluding that Washington might have seen through Israeli ‘secrecy or deception’ and better understood Israeli intentions at least a year earlier if the ‘atomic energy intelligence community had properly interpreted’ the available information.

In essence, the overall conclusion was that the root cause of the delay was not so much the absence of information as that some important reports and items of information had been lost in the shuffle and the dots not properly connected…

Connecting that dot:

In 1986, Nuclear Physicist] Frank Barnaby was hired by London’s Sunday Times to verify what Vanunu told Peter Hounam. Barnaby testified at Vanunu’s closed door trial:

I found Vanunu very straightforward about his motives for violating Israel’s secrecy laws he explained to me that he believed that both the Israeli and the world public had the right to know about the information he passed on. He seemed to me to be acting ideologically.

Israel’s political leaders have, he said, consistently lied about Israel’s nuclear-weapons programme and he found this unacceptable in a democracy.

The knowledge that Vanunu had about Israel’s nuclear weapons, about the operations at Dimona, and about security at Dimona could not be of any use to anyone today. He left Dimona in October 1985.

On Friday at Facebook’s Free Mordechai Vanunu Wall, Vanunu wrote:

Here you can see Apr’21/2004,how israel are stage managed my getting out of prison,like evry thing is under their control,But now after 11 years in East Jerusalem.How they are going to end this story…

The ending of Vanunu’s story leads back to what I wrote at the About page for TNT/Telling Nuclear TRUTHS

Israel’s Nuclear Whistle Blower, Mordechai Vanunu was the first to imagine a Nuclear FREE World and do something about it.

But Corporate Media has FAILED to report and Politicians FAIL to Tell the Truth about Israel’s nukes nor hold Israel to the same standards as any other state in the world;

So, we the people of the world call on America and every Member State to honor their obligations under the NPT and UNIVERSAL DECLARATION of HUMAN RIGHTS;

Whereas, the International Court of Justice found that the destructive power of nuclear weapons cannot be contained in either space or time, and that they carry the potential to destroy all civilization and the entire ecosystem of the planet,

Whereas, Governments have obligations and People have rights, and the nuclear threat attacks every core concept of human rights,

Whereas it is a basic human right to be free of threat or violence, and it is the duty of adults to protect children and future generations, we the people of the World unequivocally demand all Governments of the World to pursue a Nuclear FREE World and clean up the chemical and radioactive contamination which have polluted Our World,

Whereas America remains the only nation in the world to unleash Nuclear Weapons and Israel remains the only state in the Middle East with Nuclear Weapons we the people of The World say to Leaders of The World: END ALL Nuclear Deceptions and FREE Vanunu!

 

A few more dots are also connected HERE

 

Flemming_SB_0210_R1_0U

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Eileen Fleming
Senior Non-Arab Correspondent for TADN at The Arab Daily News
Senior Non-Arab Correspondent for The Arab Daily News
Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" who founded WeAreWideAwake.org in response to her first of 8 trips to both sides of The Wall in Palestine Israel.
In 2012, Eileen ran for US House of Representatives District 5, in Fl.
Read her FREE eBooks and more at:http://www.eileenfleming.org/
Latest posts by Eileen Fleming (see all)
  • Vanunu still has more nuclear secrets to spill, Israeli court declares - December 29, 2021
  • 9/11 and a 20th Reflection of That Day - September 5, 2021
  • Mordechai Vanunu: Final Annual Update and this Writers Next Steps - June 19, 2021

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
          
 
  
 
          
 
 Tweet 
Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Eileen Fleming, Palestine & Jordan, Video Tags:Arab people, Arab World, Barack Obama, Dimona, Israel, Israel nuclear weapons, Middle East, Mordechai Vanunu, National Security Archive, Norway, politics, United States, Vanunu, Youtube

Post navigation

Previous Post: Forever Young with Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra
Next Post: Hezbollah leader urges Sunni uprising against Al-Saud

Related Posts

  • Humanitarian Organization to Bring Solar Energy to Gaza Arab World
  • A CMEP Reflection and this American’s Experience of Jesus at the Pool of Bethesda Arab World
  • Israel’s influence on America focus of March 18 conference American Arabs
  • Wheaton College: Forgetting what it is to be Christian American Arabs
  • Palestinian killed by Israeli assault in Gaza Arab World
  • Gaza Life in Photos, strawberry harvest begins Bloggers

More Related Articles

The Nashville Statement and The Christian Manifesto Arab World
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel hosts Iftar for area Muslims American Arabs
Media and Trump Are State of Emergencies #CorporatistGlobalistMedia MUST #KickHimToTheCurb #JonStewart American Arabs
Lebanese film "The Insult" is a 2018 finalist for the Academy Awards in the category of Best Foreign Film. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Only one Arab movie makes Oscar cut Bloggers
Double standards and pro-Israel hypocrisy slam al-Jazeera America American Arabs
Animals rescued from Gaza zoo Arab World

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Palestinian refugees forced to flee their homes at gunpoint by Jewish terrorist groups operating in Palestine in the 1930s, 1940s and after Israel was created on May 14, 1948. Photo courtesy of the United Nations
    Unresolved status of Palestinian rights makes UNRWA essential
    May 7, 2022
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • Hollywood Sign
    Will Smith violence takes Oscar protests to dangerous level
    March 31, 2022
  • Chicago's racist Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered more than 150 Arab owned stores closed in 2021 in a racist effort o fight street gang crimes
    Arab Daily News launches Arab American Network to fight racism
    March 12, 2022
  • NEWS
  • Imad Hamad Director American Human Rights Council
    AHRC Calls for Moral Consistency on Human Rights, Urges President Biden to Pause His Trip to Israel:
    May 24, 2022
  • The U.S.S. Liberty photo courtesy of the USS Liberty Veterans.
    Survivors of Israel’s strike on USS Liberty commemorate 55th year June 6 – 8
    May 23, 2022
  • AHRC Logo new Feb 2021
    AHRC hosts an open meeting with TSA & community
    May 19, 2022
  • Former City Hall reporter Ray Hanania, ShawnTe Raines-Welch and Nick Kantas, candidates for Judge in the 4th SubCircuit, and Cook County Commissioner Frank Aguilar.
    Nearly 100 candidates, officials address Arab Democratic Club forum Sunday
    May 15, 2022
  • NEWSWIRE
  • Imad Hamad Director American Human Rights Council
    AHRC Calls for Moral Consistency on Human Rights, Urges President Biden to Pause His Trip to Israel:
    May 24, 2022
  • The U.S.S. Liberty photo courtesy of the USS Liberty Veterans.
    Survivors of Israel’s strike on USS Liberty commemorate 55th year June 6 – 8
    May 23, 2022
  • AHRC Logo new Feb 2021
    AHRC hosts an open meeting with TSA & community
    May 19, 2022
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Chicago aldermen to host forum on Arab businesses closed by Mayor Lightfoot
    April 15, 2022

The Tabboun Column

The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
  • Tabboun
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    The Political Grapevine/The Tabboun, Friday Dec. 16, 2021
    December 16, 2021
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    Tabboun: Chicago remains strongest Palestine voice
    September 7, 2016
  • The Tabboun: Israeli human rights violations hit
    June 30, 2016
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    Tabboun: Himes questions troop deployment to Syria
    November 3, 2015
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    The Tabboun: Dearborn removes statue of racist former mayor
    September 29, 2015

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Ad-Pantry-essentials.jpg
  • ZiyadBrandLogo-2016BlackRedBackgrnd.jpg
  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Sices-Ad.jpg
  • HANANIA Arab News Op-Eds
  • Ukraine conflict gives Palestinians chance to redefine their conflict
    March 9, 2022
  • Mishmeshan PHC medical center destroyed in Syrian Government assaults. Photo courtesy of UOSSM Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations
    President Biden’s dyslexic policy in Syria is a mess
    October 20, 2021
  • Annissa Essaibi George and family
    Annissa Essaibi George faces “race hypocrisy” in campaign to be Boston Mayor
    October 20, 2021
  • Jerusalem image of Jews and Arabs walking together. Shutterstock. Courtesy of Arab News Newspaper
    Jewish Michigan lawmaker leads push for Two State Solution
    October 7, 2021
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib, book cover. Photo courtesy of Cune Press
    Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib
    November 1, 2021
  • Girl Fighters, new book on Yemen Book Cune Press
    New Book: Girl Fighters: Break Tradition in Yemen 
    October 25, 2021
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • American Arab CHamber President HassanNijem accepts the Proclamation from Chicago Ald. Roderick Sawyer at the Chamber dinner March 30, 2022
    Chicagoland celebrates Arab American Heritage Month
    March 31, 2022
  • Hollywood Sign
    Will Smith violence takes Oscar protests to dangerous level
    March 31, 2022
  • 03-30-22 Arab Chamber Heritage Month Flyer
    Arab Chamber to host Arab Heritage Month dinner March 30
    March 14, 2022
  • “Rupture”, the psychological thriller produced by MBC STUDIOS, has won Best Saudi Film at the 2021 Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF).
    MBC GROUP’s Rupture wins Best Saudi Film at the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival
    December 15, 2021
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
Arab News Newspaper Logo
Read the Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the MIddle East

Follow Ray Hanania at Gab.com, MeWe.com and IDobbinate.com, the alternatives to Facebook and Twitter Censorship.

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2022 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme