Countries with nuclear weapons generally hold on to them as a form of existential insurance. There comes a time when they need to be used. For Israel, that time is now.
Israel’s official position is to neither admit nor deny its having nuclear weapons. That has been the government’s stance for decades. But all of the evidence, from Vanunu’s traitorous claims of 200 warheads, to the surprise explosion off the coast of South Africa in 1979 and to the unusual large extra torpedo tubes on the Dolphin submarines, points to Israel having probably several hundred nuclear warheads and various delivery vehicles for them.
Since the last bomb was dropped in anger over Nagasaki nearly 80 years ago, nine countries are known or are suspected to have nuclear weapons. While the US and the Soviet Union performed numerous atmospheric and later underground nuclear tests, today countries sit on their stockpiles and wait to use them. The US, via the nuclear triad, has primarily a second-strike capability: you hit us, we’ll hit you back with land, sea, and air-based nuclear missiles and bombs. The triad is designed to prevent the destruction of all US nuclear capabilities in the event of a surprise attack.
So let’s assume that Israel has nuclear weapons, under what conditions should she use them? Does Israel have to wait until it’s the last minute before being overrun? Does she have to wait until Iran has incinerated Tel Aviv or Haifa? Do you think that the Iranians would have the patience to sit on nuclear devices if they get them? You don’t think that they would use them as soon as they were available? Even the US went from the Trinity Test to bombs away over Hiroshima in a matter of three weeks—taking into account all of the travel required to move the bomb parts and the enriched uranium to Tinian Island.
Think about what happened last week in the Israeli south. Hamas terrorists used guns, rifles, knives, RPGs, IEDs, small bombs, and fire to kill, maim, and torture Jews in any way possible. Those dealing with the murdered say 80 percent show signs of torture on their bodies. Go online if you wish to see the thousands of weapons recovered from the massive attack—you name it, and it’s there. Based on the quantity of weapons recovered and the documents found on dead terrorists, Hamas planned to take and hold a corridor from Gaza into Israel. Israel was very fortunate that the terrorists were killed or captured and within a few days, their presence was reduced to nothing on Israeli territory. If Hamas would use any weapon available to it, would it not seem possible that Iran would also do the same—including a nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb?
What we see from the facts on the ground, Hamas terrorists used any and everything they could carry or get their hands on to kill Jews. They flew in on gliders, they tried to reach Israel by the sea. They used massive tractors to destroy large swaths of the “smart fence” to let in their terrorists. So why wouldn’t Hamas’ patron use a nuclear bomb mated to a long-range rocket to destroy Israel, as Iran has promised for decades? Should Israel just wait it out? Should it rely on its various anti-missile systems like Arrow 3 to knock down any incoming projectile? Should it just absorb a bomb or two and then go to second-strike retaliatory mode so as to be in the right? These all sound like losing propositions. No missile defense system is 100%. Hamas’ recent success with missile strikes appears to be due to their sending tens of missiles at once, thus overwhelming the Iron Dome system. Iron Dome works very well with a few missiles at a time. When there are ten missiles, all headed to built-up areas, it cannot handle the load. Does one want ten Shahab-3 missiles on their way from Iran, where one of them has a nuclear warhead on it?
Israel should prepare to fire nuclear weapons at targets in Iran. The goal should be to destroy Iran’s ability to make nuclear weapons as well as to threaten Israel either directly or through its support of groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. Should Israel warn Iran? No. The world pressure not to fire the missiles would be too great. In the eyes of the press, the UN, and the western left, Israel will always be in the wrong. While Israel may be attacked from every corner after a nuclear volley, a) she and her citizens will still be around and b) she will be attacked anyway for whatever the left decides is the sin of the day—turning off electricity, not allowing trucks to bring food in Gaza, and the like. Don’t you remember the world condemnation of the destruction of the nuclear reactor under construction in Iraq? If that reactor had been completed, there would have been no way that the US could have taken on Iraq in Desert Storm. The threat of nuclear attack on US troops in Saudi Arabia would have made the project too dangerous for US and allied troops.
So my advice, and I am only a permanent resident and not a citizen—yet—of the state of Israel, is to go to the source: Iran was the source for funding, training and encouragement for the shameless and brutal murder of Jews that occurred last week. When Iran has nuclear weapons, she will use them against Israel. Israel should use a portion of her arsenal to defang Iran and make it impossible for her to continue to support its terror surrogates or threaten Israel with nuclear annihilation. If a nuclear airburst over Iran would be enough to shut down the country and make it impotent, then such a shot should be considered. If it means incinerating Iran’s nuclear production sites, then so be it. Iran will use the bomb. The only question is whether Israel will do so before or after.