Why Israel has long been believed to have a nuclear weapons programme

Published

2 months ago

June 23, 2025

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Shrouded in secrecy. Never confirmed or denied by the government. This is Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons programme.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long warned that Iran’s nuclear research is secretly looking to develop a nuclear bomb – something Iran has repeatedly denied.

But for decades there have been suspicions that Israel, not Iran, is the first Middle East country to obtain a nuclear weapon.

“It’s very opaque, there’s very little detailed information about it,” says Professor Nick Ritchie, an expert on international security and nuclear proliferation at the University of York.

But he adds: “There’s no debating whether Israel has nuclear weapons and a nuclear weapons programme. Everybody knows it does.”

When did Israel supposedly get nuclear weapons?

It’s believed Israel began building a stockpile of nuclear weapons in the early 1960s, according to a research document for the UK parliament.

“Israel developed nuclear weapons because of fear of encirclement and attack by the Arab states, potentially supported by the Soviet Union, that opposed its existence,” Prof Ritchie tells Sky News.

“There was a sense of acute threat to the existence of the Jewish state after the Holocaust. Back then it was not the regional power that it is now.”

In a declassified memo to President Richard Nixon in 1969, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger discussed the recent purchase by Israel of American Phantom fighter aircraft – which were capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

He told the president that Israel had committed “not to be the first to introduce nuclear weapons” to the Middle East.

Kissinger added: “But it was plain from the discussion that they interpreted that to mean they could possess nuclear weapons as long as they did not test, deploy, or make them public.”

Whistleblower describes working at Israeli nuclear reactor

In the late 1980s, an Israeli former nuclear technician revealed information about his work at Israel’s Dimona reactor to a British newspaper, which led foreign experts to conclude that Israel had produced enough material for up to 200 nuclear warheads.

Mordechai Vanunu was later kidnapped by Mossad and brought back to Israel, where he was sentenced to 18 years in prison, the UK parliament document said.

When asked on CNN in 2011 whether his country has nuclear weapons, Mr Netanyahu responded: “Well, we have a longstanding policy that we won’t be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East, and that hasn’t changed.”

Prof Ritchie says: “Senior Israeli officials, including prime ministers such as Ehud Barak, have acknowledged that Israel has a nuclear weapons programme, more often when they have retired.”

While it has repeatedly criticised Iran for what it claims is a pursuit of nuclear weapons, Israel itself is not signed up to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which commits countries that don’t have nuclear arms not to build or obtain them.

What nuclear weapons might Israel have?

Given Israel’s policy of ambiguity in relation to its alleged nuclear weapons programme, it’s hard to precisely estimate how many nuclear warheads it may possess – and what type.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an independent organisation that provides analysis about conflict, says Israel likely has 90 warheads and they are made from plutonium.

Prof Ritchie says it is difficult to be certain but it is believed Israel has fission-based nuclear weapons – like the kind dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US.

Whether they have thermonuclear fusion weapons – more powerful bombs like those in the arsenals of the US, Russia and the UK – is “difficult to say with certainty”.

“But of course Israel is a very geographically small state,” Prof Ritchie says, adding that in the event of an existential attack on the country, any use of its nuclear weapons against the armed forces of attackers in the region could result in Israel facing “extensive fallout” from the blasts.

How would Israel launch any potential nuclear attack?

There is the question of how Israel would deliver any nuclear strike.

The UK parliament document says: “Based on unconfirmed reports, Israel could be in possession of the nuclear triad, making it capable of delivering a nuclear capability via land, air and/or sea.”

The IDF operates several planes that could be capable of launching nuclear weapons, including the American-made F-16 and F-35 fighter jets.

Around 30 of Israel’s nuclear warheads are estimated to be gravity bombs (unguided munitions dropped from aircraft) for delivery by fighter jets, SIPRI has said.

It also reportedly has the ground-launched Jericho ballistic missile family, reportedly with ranges that could exceed 5,500km (3,400 miles), according to the UK parliament document.

It’s thought that up to 50 nuclear warheads are assigned for land-based missile delivery, SIPRI said.

The Israeli government has never confirmed that it possesses Jericho missiles.

Finally, Israel operates five Dolphin-class submarines which may also be capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

“Given that Israel does not officially acknowledge its apparent possession of nuclear weapons, the circumstances under which it would use them are highly unclear,” SIPRI said.

Debate over nuclear weapons

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Discussion of Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons programme raises questions about which countries – if any – should possess them and how this is enforced.

“The argument that nuclear weapons are acceptable for Israel but not for other states in the region is widely viewed as Western hypocrisy that is difficult for a number of countries to accept,” says Prof Ritchie.

“If it’s not acceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons, why is it acceptable for Israel to have them? This is why many countries in the region, like Egypt, have pushed for the negotiation of a treaty to ban all weapons of mass destruction in the region, covering chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.”

Sky News has approached the Israeli government for comment.

World

Putin plays down idea of meeting Zelenskyy, saying ‘certain conditions’ must be met

Published

4 hours ago

August 7, 2025

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Putin plays down idea of meeting Zelenskyy, saying 'certain conditions' must be met

Vladimir Putin has played down the possibility of a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying that while it is possible, certain conditions must be met.

The Russian president was responding to an American proposal of a trilateral meeting between him, the Ukrainian president and Donald Trump.

The idea was floated by Steve Witkoff, the US president’s envoy during talks with Mr Putin on Wednesday, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

War in Ukraine: Latest updates

Mr Ushakov said the three-way option was “simply mentioned by the American representative during the meeting in the Kremlin”.

He added, however: “This option was not specifically discussed.”

On the prospect of meeting Mr Zelenskyy, Vladimir Putin said: “I have already said many times that I have nothing against it in general – it is possible.”

However, he distanced himself from any such meeting happening soon, adding: “But certain conditions must be created for this. Unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions.”

Mr Zelenskyy offered to speak to Vladimir Putin in May, challenging him to meet in Istanbul for talks on ending the war in Ukraine – an invitation the Russian leader declined.

While a trilateral meeting appears to be off the agenda, Mr Ushakov said an agreement had been reached for Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to meet “in the coming days”.

After the US president touted a “very good prospect” of the leaders meeting for Ukraine ceasefire talks, Mr Ushakov said on Thursday that Russian and American officials had started working on the details.

“At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement was essentially reached to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days,” he said.

“We are now beginning concrete preparations together with our American colleagues.”

Regarding a trilateral meeting, Mr Ushakov said: “We propose, first of all, to focus on preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump, and we consider it most important that this meeting be successful and productive.”

It would be the first time the two leaders have met since Mr Trump returned to office, and follows a three-hour meeting between Mr Putin and Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Wednesday.

Following the meeting, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it appeared that Russia was “more inclined to a ceasefire”.

The Ukrainian president said he planned to speak on Thursday to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as well as contacts from France and Italy.

He said he planned to discuss a ceasefire, a leaders’ summit and long-term security, adding: “Ukraine has never wanted war and will work toward peace as productively as possible.”

A poll from Gallup suggests 69% of Ukrainians support a negotiated end to the war with Russia – an almost complete reversal from 2022, when 73% favoured fighting until victory.

Most said they were sceptical the war would end soon, with 68% saying they believed it was unlikely that active fighting would stop within the next 12 months.

World

Trump vowed to end Ukraine war in first 24 hours of his presidency – nearly 200 days in, could he be close?

Published

13 hours ago

August 7, 2025

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Trump vowed to end Ukraine war in first 24 hours of his presidency - nearly 200 days in, could he be close?

Seven hours is a long time in US politics.

At 10am, Donald Trump accused Russia of posing a threat to America’s national security.

By 5pm, Mr Trump said there was a “good prospect” of him meeting Vladimir Putin “soon”.

There had, he claimed, been “great progress” in talks between his special envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian president.

It’s difficult to gauge the chances of a meeting between the two leaders without knowing what “great progress” means.

Is Russia “inclined” towards agreeing a ceasefire, as Ukraine’s president now claims?

Is Mr Putin prepared to meet with his Ukrainian foe, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, too?

The very fact that we’re asking those questions suggests something shifted on a day when there was no expectation of a breakthrough.

Mr Trump repeatedly vowed to end the war within 24 hours of becoming president.

On day 198 of his presidency, he might, just might, be one step closer to achieving that.

World

Zoo staff face death threats for feeding baboon remains to lions

Published

13 hours ago

August 7, 2025

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Zoo staff face death threats for feeding baboon remains to lions

Staff at a zoo in Germany which culled 12 baboons and fed some of their carcasses to the lions say they have received death threats.

Tiergarten Nuremberg euthanised the healthy Guinea baboons at the end of July due to overcrowding in their enclosure.

Some remains were used for research while the rest were fed to the zoo’s carnivores.

Plans to kill the baboons were first announced last year after the population exceeded 40, and protestors gathered outside the zoo to show their outrage.

When the site closed last Tuesday to carry out the cull, several activists were arrested after climbing the fence.

The director of the zoo defended the decision, saying efforts to sterilise and rehome some baboons had failed.

“We love these animals. We want to save a species. But for the sake of the species, we have to kill individuals otherwise we are not able to keep up a population in a restricted area,” Dr Dag Encke told Sky News.

‘The staff are suffering’

He said police are investigating after he and the staff were sent death threats.

“The staff are really suffering, sorting out all these bad words, insults and threats,” Dr Encke said.

“The normal threat is ‘we will kill you, and we’ll feed you to the lions’.

“But what is really disgusting is when they say that’s worse than Dr Mengele from the National Socialists, who was one of the most cruel people in human history.

“That is really insulting all the victims of the Second World War and the Nazi regime.”

Josef Mengele was a Nazi officer who performed deadly experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War.

Zoo animals ‘treated as commodities’

Culling animals and feeding them to predators isn’t unheard of in zoos.

In 2014, Copenhagen Zoo caused controversy by euthanizing an 18-month-old male giraffe called Marius and feeding his body to the lions.

At the time, the zoo said it was due to a duty to avoid inbreeding.

Dr Mark Jones, a vet and head of policy at Born Free Foundation, a charity which campaigns for animals to be kept in the wild, denounced the practice and said thousands of healthy animals are being destroyed by zoos each year.

“It reflects the fact animals in zoos are often treated as commodities that are disposable or replaceable,” he said.

Zoo asks for unwanted pets

Earlier this week, a zoo in Denmark faced a backlash for asking for unwanted pets to be donated to be used as food for its predators.

In a Facebook post, Aalborg Zoo said it could take smaller live animals such as chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs, as well as horses under 147cm. It said the animals would be euthanised by specially trained staff before being fed to carnivores like the European lynx.

While some people supported the scheme, saying they had donated animals in the past, others are outraged.

“The very idea of a zoo offering to take unwanted pets in order to kill them and feed them to their predators will, I think, horrify most right-minded people,” said Dr Jones.

Aalborg Zoo has now closed the post to comments and said in a statement: “For many years at Aalborg Zoo, we have fed our carnivores with smaller livestock.

“When keeping carnivores, it is necessary to provide them with meat, preferably with fur, bones, etc., to give them as natural a diet as possible.

“Therefore, it makes sense to allow animals that need to be euthanised for various reasons to be of use in this way.

“In Denmark, this practice is common, and many of our guests and partners appreciate the opportunity to contribute.”