New information revealed on Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor

 
Recently published documents shed new light on the secretive program and role of John Kerry's father in it

Israel's purchase of American Hawk missiles from the US in the 1960s was a deal shrouded in mystery. The official reason was that the weapon was needed in order to defend Israeli air force bases and other facilities from Egyptian air strikes. However, according to Haaretz's defense and military affairs senior correspondent Amir Oren, the missiles were deployed in order to defend the nuclear reactor located in the southern city of Dimona.

Oren was quoting documents, published this week by nuclear history researchers Avner Cohen and Bill Burr on the website of the National Security Archive of George Washington University in Washington, which shed new light on the story of Israel's secretive nuclear program and on the role of Richard Kerry, US Secretary of State John Kerry's father, in it.

Cohen and Burr researched Israel’s efforts at the time to strengthen ties with Norway as well as to forge nuclear ties with France - a supplier of equipment and know-how.

Though Israel has never publicly confirmed the existence of its nuclear program, maintaining an official policy of "nuclear ambiguity," it is widely assumed that the Nuclear Research Center in the southern town of Dimona contains Israel's nuclear arsenal, which is currently estimated to number around 300 warheads.

"Dimona reactor"

Last December, Israel's former president and iconic statesman Shimon Peres recalled the early days of Israel's nuclear program.

"[Prime Minister David] Ben-Gurion believed in nuclear energy," Peres said. "At first we tried to get a nuclear reactor from America. In America they told us, 'without supervision, we have nothing to talk about.' President Eisenhower had an aid plan to use the nuclear reactor to create isotopes for medical purposes. Those who participated in the plan got $500,000 and a small reactor that was capable of producing several grams of enriched uranium."

Israel accepted the offer, Peres recalled: "We decided to take it and we built it in Nahal Sorek. But since we were against supervision, we build the additional reactor in Dimona at the same time –we did that with the French."

Peres was summoned then by President John Kennedy, who suspected the Dimona reactor was being built despite lacking US approval.

Peres remembered that fateful day in the White House. "I took (then) Ambassador Abe Herman with me and we climbed the steps to the back door. We came in the room; Kennedy was sitting on his rocking chair and started asking questions. Suddenly he asked, 'do you have nuclear weapons?' I told him, 'Mr. President, Israel will not be the first to bring nuclear weapons into the Middle East.' When we left, Ambassador Herman yelled at me, 'Who let you say such a thing?' I said, 'What do you want me to do? To tell Kennedy I was going to call (then prime minister) Eshkol and ask him?' Several weeks later it became the official Israeli policy. In my conversation with Kennedy, I outlined the 'nuclear ambiguity' policy."

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Peres also explained how he managed to recruit the French for the job.

"Ben-Gurion wasn't too excited about the French. Every French I brought to him he would ask, 'Why did you lose the war?' But he told me, 'Go to France.' We had a Polish agent in Paris called Stephen who took 10 percent from us for mediation. One day we came to him for dinner, he lived in a palace Napoleon built for his wife Joséphine. He lived with a beautiful Polish movie star, and served the food in golden dishes. I told him, '10 percent is a lot, we're a poor country.' And he said, 'I'm not taking this for myself, I'm paying a government official,' and gave me the name of the man. I called this man, introduced myself and asked to see him. We met and started working together."
The documents revealed this week add another player to the drama: Richard Kerry, who served at the time as secretary of the US embassy in Norway, Haaretz reported.

According to the report, Kerry's father held conversations in the summer of 1959 with American and Norwegian officials from the two countries’ nuclear energy commissions, as well as regarding his own efforts to look further into the issue of the sale of heavy water to Israel.

"The secrecy, the Norwegians explained, was designed to avoid attracting the attention of officials enforcing the Arab boycott of Israel with regard to the companies involved in the heavy water transaction. Two other reasons cited were Norwegian participation in the United Nations emergency force in Sinai (and on other Arab-Israeli cease-fire lines) and contacts with Egypt over the sale of nuclear equipment for research and medical purposes," Haaretz, quoting the documents, reported.

AFP"Dimona nuclear reactor"

'Dimona Textiles'

The reactor under construction was initially described to the Israeli public and the American administration as a textile factory named "Dimona Textiles."

Only later, when it could no longer be hidden that is was indeed a nuclear reactor, was then-Prime Minister David Ben Gurion forced to provide an explanation.

"We see the development of the Negev as a main goal over the next decade and supported by multi-sided scientific research. For this purpose, we have established an Institute of Scientific Research in Beersheba in order to learn about the wilderness, flora and fauna of the desert. As such we are currently building a research thermal reactor with a power of 24,000 kilo-watts which will serve the needs of industry, agriculture, medicine and science, as well as for training scientists and Israelis in the technique necessary for building a nuclear power plant in the future, as we assume, in 10 to 15 years. The research reactor we are currently building in the Negev is intended solely for peaceful purposes, and was built under the management of Israeli experts," said the statement that was issued by him to the Knesset on December 21, 1960.

The National Security Archive offered another explanation for the story behind the "textile factory."
During a helicopter ride over the northern Negev in the summer of 1960, American Ambassador Ogden Reed asked Adi Cohen of the Israeli Finance Ministry for an explanation regarding the extensive construction work in the area. Cohen, the documents explain, was aware of the difficulties that were being encountered at the Israeli Finance Ministry over funding for the nuclear reactor.
Cohen was also concerned over a loss of American aid to Israel and the prospect that the tax-deductible status of American Jewish contributions to Israel would be eliminated.

He knew that Jerusalem architect Rudolf Trostler was planning industrial facilities in the Negev, including “Dimona Fibers” so he used it as a cover story: “It’s a textile factory,” Cohen told the ambassador on the spot.

http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/67771-150415-new-information-revealed-on-israel-s-nuclear-reactor-in-dimona