Report: Israel Offered to Sell South Africa Nuclear Weapons

Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu revealed the existence of Israel's nuclear weapon's program to the Sunday Times in 1986.

Mordechai Vanunu leaves the magistrate`s court in Jerusalem on 30 April 2007. An Israeli court on Monday convicted former nuclear technician Vanunu, who in 2004 completed an 18-year prison term for disclosing Israel`s nuclear military secrets, of violating the terms of his release by speaking to foreign media. [MaanImages/Anat Zakai]

(BETHLEHEM Ma'an) - Ma'an/Agencies - Documents uncovered by an American academic on the close ties between Israeli and the then apartheid South Africa in the 1970s provide the first documented evidence of Israel's possession of nuclear weapons, British media reported.

The secret documents, unearthed by Sasha Polakow-Suransky, reveal that the then Defense Minister, and current president, Shimon Peres responded to a request from his South African counterpart for warheads by offering them "in three sizes," the minutes of top secret meetings reveal, the British daily The Guardian wrote.

The documents show both sides met on 31 March 1975. Polakow-Suransky writes in his book published in the US this week, The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's secret alliance with apartheid South Africa. At the talks Israeli officials "formally offered to sell South Africa some of the nuclear-capable Jericho missiles in its arsenal".

A broad-ranging agreement on military relations between the two countries known as Secment reportedly dictated that the "the very existence of this agreement" was to remain secret, signed in 1975, the daily wrote, and neither party would unilaterally renounce it.

The Israeli authorities tried to stop South Africa's post-apartheid government declassifying the documents at Polakow-Suransky's request and the revelations will be an embarrassment, particularly as this week's nuclear non-proliferation talks in New York focus on the Middle East, the daily wrote.

South African documents show that the apartheid-era military wanted the missiles as a deterrent and for potential strikes against neighbouring states, and among those in attendance during the classified meetings was South African military chief of staff, Lieutenant General RF Armstrong who "immediately drew up a memo in which he laid out the benefits of South Africa obtaining the Jericho missiles but only if they were fitted with nuclear weapons," The Guardian wrote.

The deal was not ratified apparently because of the cost and perhaps the stipulation that Israel's prime minister would have final approval on any deal, the daily wrote.

"South Africa eventually built its own nuclear bombs, albeit possibly with Israeli assistance. But the collaboration on military technology only grew over the following years. South Africa also provided much of the yellowcake uranium that Israel required to develop its weapons," The Guardian wrote.

Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu revealed the existence of Israel's nuclear weapon's program to the Sunday Times in 1986, providing photographs of the Dimona nuclear site but provided no written documentation.

Vanunu was released in 2004 after 18 years in jail for leaking nuclear secrets and was recently handed down a three-month sentence for breaching the terms of his parole which include staying within the a small neighborhood in East Jerusalem, not speaking to journalists or foreigners or leaving the country, among others.

"Shame on you Israel," Vanunu said inside the Jerusalem District Court where he was being served. "The stupid Shin Bet and Mossad spies are putting me back in prison after 24 years of speaking nothing but the truth. Shame on you democracy, the Knesset, synagogues and the world media.

"Shame on you all the Arabs that are allowing me to be put back in prison. Shame on you Senate, congress, and the chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency for not protecting my freedom. Shame on you all the world's religions, the stupid spies, the Jews, Christians and Muslims," the Israeli daily Haaretz wrote.

"Everyone knows that Israel has nuclear weapons," he went on to say, "but no one is talking about it… The world doesn't want nuclear weapons – not in Israel, not in the Middle East and not anywhere in the world."

Source: maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=286581