Evidence shows US knew about Israeli nuclear program in 1960s
A series of documents from the 1960s and 1970s, released for the first time, indicate that the White House knew Israel was producing nuclear weapons at the Dimona nuclear reactor
The National Security Archive of the United States declassified a series of documents from the 1960s and 1970s on Tuesday, which pertained to the Israeli nuclear program and US conduct on the matter.
The release of documents is the first time written proof has shown that the US knew Israel was producing nuclear weapons in Dimona, which Israel has never publicly admitted.
An intelligence report dated to December 1960 clearly determines that Israel's nuclear project in Dimona is linked to weapon development.
Other documents revealed that in February 1967, a number of Israeli sources informed the US embassy that Israel "either has or is about to complete" a processing facility in Dimona, and that "the Dimona reactor has been operated at full capacity." The report said Israel was "six to eight weeks" away from manufacturing a bomb.
While the intelligence arm of the State Department could not prove or refute the allegations at that time, it considered some of them as "probabilities," and urged the inspection team in April 1967 to investigate them.
A number of documents from the 1970s were also published, demonstrating how the United States government changed and adapted its behavior surrounding the issue of Israel beginning to produce nuclear weapons.
In early 1978, after the CIA mistakenly published an intelligence assessment confirming that Israel had produced nuclear weapons, then-Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin asked if it was true that Israel had such weapons. In his response, then-secretary of state Cyrus Vance assured Dobrynin that the United States "accept[s] [Israel’s] assurances" that it does not have nuclear weapons, and "will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East."
Other files from early 1978, particularly a report by the State Department on the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation from various countries - highlighted the reason the US abandoned pressure on Israel to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty: "The high US priority in finding a peace settlement in the area is overriding and inhibits effective pursuit of non-proliferation objectives in Israel."
From the beginning of the 1960s until the 1970s, the approach of the US government to Israel's nuclear weapons program changed significantly. During the 1960s, the Americans feared that Israel would use its nuclear reactor in Dimona to produce plutonium for a nuclear bomb. By 1969, documents point to a secret bilateral deal between former US president Richard Nixon and late prime minister Golda Meir, in which the White House "reconciled" with Israel's non-declared nuclear weapons status.