US think tank: Israel had plan to use atomic bomb in 1967
Israeli plan to detonate an atomic bomb in the event it faced defeat in the 1967 Mideast war, a leading Washington think tank clarified.
- World
- AP
- Published Date: 12:00 | 05 June 2017
- Modified Date: 04:33 | 05 June 2017
A leading Washington think tank has detailed what it says was a secret Israeli plan to detonate an atomic bomb in the event it faced defeat in the 1967 Mideast war.
The operation never took off. But details about the doomsday scenario, in which Israel planned to set off a nuclear weapon atop a remote mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, shed new light on the fearful climate at the time. It also could undermine Israel's decades-long policy of nuclear ambiguity.
This file photo taken on May 25, 1967 shows a mirage "Vautour" flying over Israeli soldiers sitting o tanks in the the Sinai peninsula on the Israel-Egypt border. In six days in 1967 Egypt's vaunted airforce was destroyed and its army humbled. Egyptians never overcame the shock of that defeat to Israel that spelled the end of their country's regional dominance. (AFP Photo)
The Nuclear Proliferation International History Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars unveiled a website Monday devoted to "Operation Shimshon," the codename for what it said was the hastily arranged plan.
Israel's Foreign Ministry had no comment.
This file photo taken on June 5, 1967 shows Israeli armored forces in action in the Sinai Desert. In six days in 1967 Egypt's vaunted airforce was destroyed and its army humbled. Egyptians never overcame the shock of that defeat to Israel that spelled the end of their country's regional dominance. (AFP Photo)