Summary
Avner Cohen’s term, as presented by Zionist Israel and the Question of Palestine, for Israel’s nuclear posture: neither confirming nor denying possession, under the standard reply “Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East”, sustained domestically by taboo, military censorship and the exclusion of the public, the Knesset and the courts from the topic (Zionist Israel and the Question of Palestine, PDF p.125-126 / printed p.116-117).
Details
- Cohen depicts the policy as a “case of extreme tension between nuclear policy and democracy”, and the “culture of opacity” behind it as leading to “extreme tensions in liberal democracy, in particular when it comes to the question of supervision” (PDF p.125).
- Its three sustaining factors are the taboo as a social code, military censorship as the state’s enforcement instrument, and opacity itself as a political strategy; Cohen also records the public’s “deep-seated desire” to remain oblivious and to leave the topic to the “authorized experts” (PDF p.125-126).
- The policy is paradoxical in Amar-Dahl’s reading: it denies factual possession while declaring the weapons a deterrent “insurance policy” not meant to be used, yet holds in reserve a willingness to resort to “extreme means” legitimised as counter-violence by the “ultimate victim” (PDF p.136).
- Its enforcement is illustrated by the silencing of Eliezer Livneh’s committee in 1962 and by the Vanunu Affair (PDF p.128-129, 130-136).
Related pages
Avner Cohen, Dimona, Vanunu Affair, Eliezer Livneh, Zionist Israel and the Question of Palestine