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Israel and the bomb

Front Cover
3 Reviews
Columbia University Press, 1998 - Political Science - 470 pages

Until now, there has been no detailed account of Israel's nuclear history. Previous treatments of the subject relied heavily on rumors, leaks, and journalistic speculations. But with Israel and the Bomb, Avner Cohen has forged an interpretive political history that draws on thousands of American and Israeli government documents -- most of them recently declassified and never before cited -- and more than one hundred interviews with key individuals who played important roles in this story. Cohen reveals that Israel crossed the nuclear weapons threshold on the eve of the 1967 Six-Day War, yet it remains ambiguous about its nuclear capability to this day. What made this posture of "opacity" possible, and how did it evolve?

Cohen focuses on a two-decade period from about 1950 until 1970, during which David Ben-Gurion's vision of making Israel a nuclear-weapon state was realized. He weaves together the story of the formative years of Israel's nuclear program, from the founding of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission in 1952, to the alliance with France that gave Israel the sophisticated technology it needed, to the failure of American intelligence to identify the Dimona Project for what it was, to the negotiations between President Nixon and Prime Minister Meir that led to the current policy of secrecy. Cohen also analyzes the complex reasons Israel concealed its nuclear program -- from concerns over Arab reaction and the negative effect of the debate at home to consideration of America's commitment to nonproliferation.

Israel and the Bomb highlights the key questions and the many potent issues surrounding Israel's nuclear history. This book will be a critical resource for students of nuclear proliferation, Middle East politics, Israeli history, and American-Israeli relations, as well as a revelation for general readers.

  

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Review: Israel and the Bomb

User Review  - Chris - Goodreads

Very comprehensive and well-written; however, fairly dense Read full review

Review: Israel and the Bomb

User Review  - Nick Black - Goodreads

I, like, forgot how to read over the past few months. Back on the wagon, huzzah! A poor choice to start with, unfortunately. for Constant Readers, wondering where I've been: JAMES JOYCE FUCK APERIODIC ... Read full review

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Contents

MEN AND ETHOS
5
BEFORE THE BEGINNING
21
THE BEGINNING
37
THE ROAD TO DIMONA
53
DIMONA REVEALED
75
KENNEDY AND THE ISRAELI PROJECT
95
THE BATTLE OF DIMONA
111
DEBATE AT HOME
133
THE ARABS AND DIMONA
239
THE SIXDAY WAR
255
TOWARD OPACITY
273
THE BATTLE OVER THE NPT
289
OPACITY TAKES HOLD
319
EPILOGUE
335
NOTES
347
GLOSSARY
429

KENNEDY AND ESHKOL STRIKE A DEAL
149
THE DIMONA VISITS 19641967
171
AMBIGUITY BORN
191
GROWING PAINS
215
SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
439
INDEX
451
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Israel and the Bomb
Israel and the Bomb
Avner Cohen
Limited preview - 1998

Common terms and phrases

agreement Ambassador American visits Arab Atomic Energy Aviv Bar-Zohar Barbour Bergmann bomb CFPF commitment David Ben Gurion Dayan December decision Department deterrence Dimona project Dimona reactor Dinstein discussions Dostrovsky Eban Egypt Egyptian Eshkol FMRG Foreign Minister France French Golda Meir Gurion Ha'aretz Harman heavy water Hebrew IAEA IAEC Ibid interview by author introduce nuclear weapons Israel Israel Dostrovsky Israel's nuclear program Israel's security Israeli nuclear program Johnson July June Kennedy Kennedy's Knesset Komer Lavon Lavon Affair LBJL leaders letter Levi Eshkol MAPAI Mardor Meir Middle East military Ministry of Defense missile Nasser Ne'eman nonproliferation nuclear issue nuclear project nuclear proliferation nuclear weapons peaceful Peres's plutonium political President prime minister proliferation Rabin RAFAEL Rusk scientists Secretary Shalit Shimon Peres sign the NPT Soviet Telegram tion United uranium USNA visits to Dimona Warnke Weizmann Institute Yuval Ne'eman

References to this book

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References from web pages

Israel and the bomb - International Herald Tribune
Israel and the bomb. ... Avner Cohen is a senior research scholar with the University of Maryland and the author of "Israel and the Bomb. ...
www.iht.com/ articles/ 2007/ 05/ 31/ opinion/ edcohen.php

'Israel and the Bomb'
With ''Israel and the Bomb,'' he has written a scholarly treatise that includes over 1200 footnotes, yet reads like a novel." --Lawrence Korb ...
www.gwu.edu/ ~nsarchiv/ israel/

Israel and the Bomb
CHAPTER ONE. Israel and the Bomb. By AVNER COHEN Columbia University Press. Read the Review. MEN AND ETHOS. The idea that Israel should acquire a ...
www.nytimes.com/ books/ first/ c/ cohen-israel.html

Avner Cohen, Israel and the Bomb
Avner Cohen, Israel and the Bomb. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998, ... What Israel and the Bomb lacks is a more thorough account of the Dimona ...
www.springerlink.com/ index/ N8840Q5411QG0835.pdf

JSTOR: Israel and the Bomb.
Israel and the bomb. By Avner Cohen. New York: Columbia University Press. 1998. 476pp. Index. J21.95. ISBN O 231 10482 0. The blinkering effect which the ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0020-5850(199907)75%3A3%3C664%3AIATB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X

Israel and the Bomb | Middle East Policy | Find Articles at BNET.com
Israel and the Bomb from Middle East Policy in Business provided free by Find Articles.
findarticles.com/ p/ articles/ mi_qa5400/ is_200002/ ai_n21453357

Israel and the bomb: don't ask, don't tell | opendemocracy
The declassified story of Washington’s 1969 deal with Tel Aviv over Israel's development of nuclear weapons casts fresh light on its current dispute with ...
www.opendemocracy.net/ articles/ View.jsp?id=3636

Israel and the Bomb by Avner Cohen at Questia Online Library
Read the complete book Israel and the Bomb by becoming a questia.com member. Choose a membership plan to an academic-level library with more than 67000 ...
www.questia.com/ library/ book/ israel-and-the-bomb-by-avner-cohen.jsp

Blast, from the past to the present
"Israel and the Bomb" by Avner Cohen, Columbia University Press, 470 pages. ... It is certainly not a book about "Israel and the bomb. ...
www.fas.org/ news/ israel/ 000728-israel-1.htm

ingentaconnect Avner Cohen, Israel and the Bomb
Avner Cohen, Israel and the Bomb. Author: Bar-Joseph U.1. Source: Jewish History, Volume 15, Number 1, 2001 , pp. 87-89(3). Publisher: Springer. Abstract: ...
www.ingentaconnect.com/ content/ klu/ jehi/ 2001/ 00000015/ 00000001/ 00322503;jsessionid=7bhd0su2fclop.alice?format=print

About the author (1998)

Avner Cohen is a senior research fellow at the National Security Archive at George Washington University. He has taught and researched in universities in Israel and the United States and has published numerous articles on subjects as diverse as skepticism, political theory, nuclear ethics, nuclear proliferation, and Israeli history. He is the coeditor of "Nuclear Weapons and the Future of Humanity" and "The Institution of Philosophy.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Israel and the bomb
TitleIsrael and the bomb
AuthorAvner Cohen
PublisherColumbia University Press, 1998
ISBN0231500092, 9780231500098
Length470 pages
Subjects › 

Political Science / Security (National & International)
  
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