Samson Option

:"For the 1991 book by Seymour Hersh, see "The Samson Option (book)"."

The Samson Option is a term used to describe Israel’s alleged deterrence strategy of massive retaliation with nuclear weapons as a “last resort” against nations whose military attacks threaten its existence, and possibly against other targets as well. [Seymour Hersh, "The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy," Random House, 1991, 42, 136-137, 288-289; [http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/israel/doctrine.htm Israel’s Strategic Doctrine] .] Israel refuses to admit it has nuclear weapons or to describe how it would use them, an official policy of nuclear ambiguity, also known as "nuclear opacity." This has made it difficult for anyone outside the Israeli government to definitively describe its true nuclear policy, while still allowing Israel to influence the perceptions, strategies and actions of other governments. [Avner Cohen, "Israel and the Bomb", Columbia University Press, 1998, 2, 7, 341; Avner Cohen, [http://www.geocities.com/alabasters_archive/nuclear_opacity.html Israel's Nuclear Opacity: a Political Genealogy] , published in “The Dynamics of Middle East Nuclear Proliferation,” Chapter 9, 187-212, edited by Steven L. Spiegel, Jennifer D. Kibbe and Elizabeth G. Matthews Symposium Series, Volume 66, The Edwin Mellen Press, 2001.]

As early as 1976, the CIA believed that Israel possessed 10 to 20 nuclear weapons. [In March 1976 the CIA accidentally publicly admitted that Israel had 10-20 nuclear weapons "ready to use." Arthur Kranish, "CIA: Israel Has 10-20 A-Weapons," The Washington Post, March 15, 1976, p. 2 and David Binder, "Information Abstracts," The New York Times, March 16, 1976, p. 1.] By 2002 it was estimated that the number had increased to between 75 and 200 nuclear weapons. [Norris, Robert S., William Arkin, Hans M. Kristensen, and Joshua Handler. "Israeli nuclear forces, 2002," "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" 58:5 (September/October 2002): 73-75. [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-25888562_ITM Excerpt online.] ] Kenneth S. Brower has estimated as many as 400 nuclear weapons. [Kenneth S. Brower, “A Propensity for Conflict: Potential Scenarios and Outcomes of War in the Middle East,” Jane's Intelligence Review, Special Report no. 14, (February 1997), 14-15.] These can be launched from land, sea and air. [Douglas Frantz, [http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1012-02.htm Israel Adds Fuel to Nuclear Dispute, Officials confirm that the nation can now launch atomic weapons from land, sea and air] , Los Angeles Times, Sunday, October 12, 2003.] This gives Israel a second strike option even if much of the country is destroyed. [ David Eberhart, [http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/10/15/112430.shtml Samson Option: Israel's Plan to Prevent Mass Destruction Attacks] , NewsMax.Com, October 16, 2001.]

The term "Samson Option" has also been used more generally in reference to Israel's nuclear program. [Examples include: Chris Hedges [http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1009-20.htm Bush’s Nuclear Apocalypse] , Monday, October 9, 2006; George Perkovich, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/16/AR2006021601897.html “The Samson Option: The story behind one of the world's worst-kept secrets: the Jewish state's atomic arsenal”] , a review of Michael Karpin’s book “The Bomb in the Basement” in the "Washington Post", February 19, 2006, BW03; [http://www.1888pressrelease.com/syndicated-radio-talk-show-host-paul-mcguire-has-called-pres-pr-3loje3235.html Press Release: Syndicated Radio Talk Show Host Paul McGuire Has Called President Bush To More Actively Support The Nation Of Israel, And Work For Peace In The Middle East] , July 2, 2006.] Commentators have also used the term in reference to situations where non-nuclear actors, such as Saddam Hussein [Tom Holsinger, [http://www.strategypage.com/strategypolitics/articles/20020620.asp Staying Alive - Saddam's Samson Option] , June 20, 2002.] , Yassir Arafat [Herb Keinon, [http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/01/31/News/News.42612.html Selling the 'Samson option'] .] and Hezbollah [Michael Young, [http://www.slate.com/id/2147260/ The Samson Option, Is Hezbollah on the verge of destroying Lebanon?] Slate Magazine, Monday, August 7, 2006.] threatened conventional weapons retaliation, and even to United States President George W. Bush's foreign policy. [Stephen Lendman, [http://www.populistamerica.com/george_bushs_samson_option/ George Bush's Samson Option] , March 12, 2007.]

Deterrence Doctrine

The original conception of the Samson Option was only as deterrence. According to US journalist Seymour Hersh and Israeli historian Avner Cohen, Israeli leaders like David Ben-Gurion, Shimon Peres, Levi Eshkol and Moshe Dayan created the term in the mid-1960s. They named it after the Biblical figure Samson, who is said to have pushed apart the pillars of a Philistine temple, bringing down the roof and killing himself and thousands of Philistines who had gathered to see him humiliated. They contrasted it with ancient siege of Masada where 936 Jewish Sicarii greatly outnumbered by Roman legions committed mass suicide rather than be defeated and enslaved by the Romans. [Seymour Hersh,129, 136-137; Avner Cohen, 236.]

Although nuclear weapons were viewed as the ultimate guarantor of Israeli security, as early as the 1960s the country avoided building its military around them, instead pursuing absolute conventional superiority so as to forestall a last resort nuclear engagement. [ [http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/israel/doctrine.htm Israel’s Strategic Doctrine] , Global Security.Org.]

Seymour Hersh writes that the "surprising victory of Menachem Begin's Likud Party in the May 1977 national elections...brought to power a government that was even more committed than Labor to the Samson Option and the necessity of an Israeli nuclear arsenal." [Seymour Hersh, 259.]

Louis René Beres, a professor of Political Science at Purdue University, chaired Project Daniel, a group advising Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, argues in that paper and elsewhere that the effective deterrence of the Samson Option would be increased by ending the policy of nuclear ambiguity. [ [http://www.milnet.com/beres/daniel-3.htm final report] ] In a 2004 article he recommends Israel use the Samson Option threat to “support conventional preemptions” against enemy nuclear and non-nuclear assets because “without such weapons, Israel, having to rely entirely upon nonnuclear forces, might not be able to deter enemy retaliations for the Israeli preemptive strike.” [ [http://www.jerusalemsummit.org/eng/razdel.php?article_id=101&id=15 Israel and Samson. Biblical Insights on Israeli Strategy in the Nuclear Age] ]

In 2003, Martin van Creveld, a professor of military history at Israel’s Hebrew University, thought that the Al-Aqsa Intifada then in progress threatened Israel's existence [ [http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,,1046646,00.html "We have the capability to take the world down with us"] ] . Van Creveld was quoted in David Hirst's "The Gun and the Olive Branch" (2003) as saying "I consider it all hopeless at this point. ... We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen, before Israel goes under." He quoted General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."

ee also

* No first use
* Nuclear weapons and Israel
* Israel and weapons of mass destruction
* Project Daniel
* Preemptive war

References

External links

*Warner D. Farr, LTC, U.S. Army in [http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cpc-pubs/farr.htm The Third Temple's Holy Of Holies: Israel's Nuclear Weapons] , USAF Counterproliferation Center,Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
*David Hirst, [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1046411,00.html The War Game, a controversial view of the current crisis in the Middle East] , The Observer Guardian, September 21, 2003.
*H. Brown, [http://www.sfcall.com/issues202002/5.3.02/watch_ch_5_3_02.htm Column item on “Samson Option”] , [http://sfcall.com/ San Francisco Call] , May 3, 2002.
*John Steinbach, [http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=4365 Israeli Weapons of Mass Destruction, A Threat to Peace: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal] [http://GlobalResearch.Ca GlobalResearch.Ca] , March 2002.
*Norman Podhoretz, [http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.html?id=5685. "The Abandonment of Israel"] , Commentary Magazine, July 1976.
*Ross Dunn, [http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1223502002 Sharon eyes 'Samson option' against Iraq] , [http://news.scotsman.com/ Scotsman.Com news] , November 3, 2002.
*Ross Dunn, [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/09/20/1032054963247.html In war, Israel retains the Samson option] , [http://smh.com.au Sydney Morning Herald] , September 20, 2002.
*Hal Lindsey, [http://www.standingwithisrael.org/synapse/news/fullstory_public.cfm?articleid=28932&website=standingwithisrael.org The Samson Option] , [http://StandingWithIsrael.Org StandingWithIsrael.Org] , July 14, 2007.
*Louis René Beres, [http://www.jerusalemsummit.org/eng/razdel.php?article_id=101&id=15 Israel and Samson. Biblical Insights on Israeli Strategy in the Nuclear Age] , [http://www.jerusalemsummit.org/ JerusalemSummit.Org] .
* [http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=4/b/vii/171220061 Israel's Nuclear Strategy] , [http://InfoIsrael.Net., InfoIsrael.Net] .
* [http://masada2000.org/sharepain.html “Share the Pain” Samson Option page] , [http://masada2000.org Masada2000.Org] .
* [http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/doctrine/ Strategic Doctrine (of Israel)] , [http://fas.org Federation of American Scientists] .