Why Israel has long been believed to have a nuclear weapons programme
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.”
A declassified photograph by a US spy satellite shows an Israeli nuclear research centre near Dimona. Pic: AP
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.”
An Israeli Phantom fighter bomber seen in 1970. Pic: AP
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.”
An Israeli nuclear facility in the Negev Desert outside Dimona seen in 2000. Pic: Reuters
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.
Former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu holds a copy of the original newspaper in which he revealed Israel’s alleged nuclear secrets. Pic: AP
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.
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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.
The mushroom cloud over Nagasaki, Japan, after a second bomb to hit was dropped in 1945. Pic: AP
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.”
It is possible that Israel’s fleet of F-35 jets could be capable of launching nuclear weapons. Pic: AP
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.
An Israeli Navy submarine seen in 2021. Pic: AP
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.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in prison.
The former president, 70, was found guilty of criminal conspiracy, but was cleared of all other charges in the trial over the alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign by the government of late Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi.
The court in Paris found him guilty of criminal conspiracy, but not guilty of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, and concealing the embezzlement of public funds.
In a surprise move, the judge said he would be jailed regardless of whether he appeals the verdict, which usually suspends sentencing. He was not sent straight to jail, however, with the start date of his sentence yet to be decided.
Sarkozy denied the charges during the three-month court case, which he claimed was politically motivated.
He was accompanied to Thursday’s hearing by his wife, singer and model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and his three sons.
Overall, the verdict suggested the former president and his co-defendants had conspired to seek Libyan campaign funding – but not that he was directly involved or that money was actually used.
The judge said Sarkozy had allowed his associates to reach out to Libyan authorities “to obtain or try to obtain financial support in Libya for the purpose of securing campaign financing”.
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Earlier this year, Sarkozy was stripped of his Legion of Honour medal, France‘s highest accolade.
In 2021, he was found guilty of trying to bribe a magistrate for information about a legal case in which he was implicated in 2014. Two years later, he was sentenced to a year on electronic tag, of which six months were suspended. After three months, it was ruled he could remove the monitoring device due to his age.
In another case last year, he was convicted of illegal campaign financing during his unsuccessful 2012 re-election bid, having spent almost twice the allowed amount. He was sentenced to a year in prison, with six months suspended.
He has appealed the sentence and is awaiting the outcome from France’s highest court – the Court of Cassation.
Despite his criminal record, Sarkozy has remained an influential figure within the French Right.
Nicolas Sarkozy (right) and Muammar Gaddafi (second right) in 2007. Pic: Reuters
Light shed on French-Libyan relations during Gaddafi’s rule
During the Gaddafi finance trial, he described the case against him as a “plot” staged by the “Gaddafi clan” and other “liars and crooks”.
He claimed it was revenge for his decision to call for Gaddafi to be removed from office.
The allegations stretch back to 2011 when a Libyan news agency reported that Gaddafi had said Libya had secretly sent millions of euros to Sarkozy’s election campaign.
A year later, French investigative outlet Mediapart published what it claimed to be a piece of Libyan intelligence referencing a £43.7m funding agreement, which Sarkozy rubbished and saw him sue for defamation.
The court ruled on Thursday that it “now appears most likely that this document was a forgery”.
In the current case, Sarkozy had 11 co-defendants, including three former ministers.
Two of them, Claude Gueant and Brice Hortefeux, both among his closest confidantes during his presidency, were also found guilty of criminal association but not guilty on other charges.
The trial shed light on France’s relationship with Libya during the 2000s, when Gaddafi, who was toppled and killed in 2011, was trying to restore diplomatic ties with Western countries.
It also saw investigators scrutinise several trips to Libya made by people in Sarkozy’s inner circle while he was still interior minister between 2005 and 2007 – including his chief-of-staff.
In a key development in 2016, Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine told Mediapart he had delivered suitcases full of cash from Tripoli to the French interior ministry while Sarkozy was in charge – but later retracted the claims.
Co-defendant Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine. Pic: Reuters
Mr Takieddine, who was one of the co-defendants, died aged 75 on Tuesday in Beirut, according to his lawyer Elise Arfi said. He fled to Lebanon in 2020 and did not attend the trial.
His change-of-heart is now subject to a separate investigation into alleged witness interference – but it has not yet gone to trial.
Inside a dimly-lit storeroom in Tine’s central market, near the border of North Darfur and Chad, we are shown a haunting video.
Young men crouched on the ground and covered in sand stare up at a phone camera helplessly.
A loud male voice interrogates them and demands to know what they are smuggling into Al Fashir, the regional capital besieged by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
One responds with “rice” and another says “pasta”.
“I will swat all of you like flies,” the man says from behind the camera, before pointing his gun at each of their heads and feigning lethal headshots in a mock execution.
We are shown the clip by Ahmed* and Hassan*, who are using pseudonyms for their protection.
The young men in the video are just one of the many teams they coordinate to smuggle food and lifesaving supplies into Sudan‘s Al Fashir, where around 900,000 people are being forced into famine by an RSF blockade while being bombarded by deadly drone strikes and shelling.
The dangers of this work are extreme as smuggling routes rapidly open and close, and battles for control rage inside the city.
Some of the teams they send make it to Al Fashir, but many do not. The three men in the video are still missing and are feared dead.
“The situation in Al Fashir is catastrophic – you cannot afford to watch and do nothing,” says Ahmed in front of a stack of flour sacks piled up to the ceiling.
“We have no option but to offer what we can for people to eat and survive the shelling.”
Read more: Inside the epicentre of Sudan’s war
The young smugglers are trying to distribute vital supplies
As we drive to the storeroom, their phones constantly ping with messages, voice notes and phone calls.
As Ahmed fires back a voice note requesting costings on bulk food items, Hassan brings his phone to his ear and listens.
He sighs with frustration and says: “We just received a message from HQ that one of our guys smuggling in insulin hasn’t arrived and was likely killed.
“He has been missing for three days. We have to count him among the dead.”
Hassan tells us they are being targeted by the RSF, adamant to uphold their siege.
“It happens a lot. Three days ago, we had a group of 12 people break up into three teams of four. Two of the teams arrived, but one group never surfaced.”
A map showing the berms – raised banks – surrounding Al Fashir. Pic: Yale School of Public Health
Ahmed* and Hassan* spoke to us on the condition of anonymity
The number of dead is mounting and uncountable. They tell us they have lost 30 volunteers in the first week of September alone.
Their network of fearless first responders was born out of the resistance committees created to organise and assist targeted protesters during Sudan’s 2019 revolution.
Now, they carry the burden of feeding and treating war-impacted civilians across the country through the Nobel Peace Prize nominated Emergency Response Rooms.
The battle for Al Fashir – and Sudan
Al Fashir is being suffocated to death by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as they push to claim full control of the Darfur region as a base for their parallel government, after the military recaptured the capital Khartoum and other key sites in central Sudan.
Close to a million people are facing famine in Al Fashir and surrounding camps as the RSF enforces a full blockade, launching armed attacks on volunteers and aid workers risking their lives to bring in food.
Inside the city, thousands are bombarded by almost daily shelling from surrounding RSF troops.
The RSF have physically reinforced their siege with a berm – a raised earth mound. First spotted by Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, the berm is visible from space.
The Sudan war started in April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between the Sudanese army and the RSF broke out in Khartoum.
The US special envoy to Sudan estimates that 150,000 have been killed, but the exact figure is unknown. Close to 12 million people have been displaced.
Several mediation attempts have failed to secure a humanitarian access mechanism or any lulls in fighting.
The RSF are not just targeting these civilian volunteers but also aid convoys attempting to deliver food.
On 3 June, a World Food Programme (WFP)-UNICEF aid convoy approaching Al Fashir was attacked, with five convoy personnel being killed and several food trucks destroyed.
Last month, another WFP convoy approaching an RSF-held town, Mellit, was attacked, and three trucks were set on fire.
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‘Where is the humanity?’
Near a makeshift displacement shelter in Tine, 24 WFP trucks full of food are parked at a transshipment point under the sun.
The trucks will set off to towns in North Darfur that are controlled by the RSF: Mellit, Kutum and Korma.
Korma is only 43 miles from Al Fashir, but aid trucks will not brave facing the RSF by approaching the besieged capital.
WFP Sudan’s country director Laurent Bukera says: “For months, the UN has been trying to secure guarantees for a humanitarian pause allowing safe delivery to the city.
“We received clearances from the government of Sudan’s humanitarian aid commission to deliver aid into Al Fashir and are renewing these, but the RSF has yet to communicate support for a humanitarian pause.”
The WFP has struggled to distribute food in Sudan
Volunteers call for aid airdrops
Hassan, Ahmed and other volunteers we met are calling for food air drops, similar to those in Gaza and South Sudan.
“We need safe humanitarian passage for the delivery of aid – by road or by air drop,” says Hassan. “That is the responsibility of the international community as a neutral entity that can navigate the belligerents.”
But navigating these belligerents has proven difficult for mediators and the United Nations.
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Since the start of the war in April 2023, there has not been a single humanitarian pause or ceasefire that would allow for the guaranteed safe passage of aid.
“We are exploring every option to get aid into Al Fashir,” says Mr Bukera. “Airdrops are up to 10 times more expensive and extremely risky due to high risk of drone strikes, anti-aircraft weapons and shelling in and around Al Fashir.
“Also with the absence of humanitarian pause, to date, no aircraft and pilot have been willing to take the risk.”
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Until a safe corridor for aid is established, Al Fashir’s young volunteers will continue to face death to get food to their besieged and bombarded relatives in friends inside the city.
“If we don’t do it – it’ll be a slow genocide. So, better to die trying,” says Hassan.
“We have no other option but to take these risks.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s moment in the United Nations General Assembly chamber came a day after he told Sky News that Donald Trump’s language represented a “big shift” in America’s stance on Ukraine.
The dust is settling on US President Trump’s social media post on Tuesday.
While it unquestionably represents a shift in position – now claiming Ukraine can take back all of the land lost – big questions remain about Mr Trump‘s personal and material commitment to a Ukrainian victory.
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President Zelenskyy addresses the United Nations General Assembly. Pic: AP
Mr Zelenskyy is taking the win that the language represents, but he, more than anyone, knows that Mr Trump can turn on a dime.
And so his speech was a warning, a message and a continued plea for help.
The Ukrainian leader cited history in warning that Russia won’t stop unless it is defeated.
Mr Zelenskyy said: “We have already lost Georgia in Europe. Human rights and the European nature of the state system are only shrinking there.
“Georgia is dependent on Russia and for many, many years, Belarus has also been moving towards dependence on Russia.”
“Putin will keep driving the war forward, wider and deeper… Ukraine is only the first. Russian drones are already flying across Europe.”
“Europe cannot afford to lose Moldova too,” he said.
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Drawing on the experience of his country, he warned of what he said was a uniquely dangerous proliferation of weapons.
“We are living through the most destructive arms race in human history,” he said, warning specifically of the dangers of drones which will soon be controlled by artificial intelligence (AI).
But he also warned of the proliferation of the use of violence, whether it be from nation states or from political activists.
He cited the assassination attempts on Mr Trump and the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
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He included these moments not just because he believes they represent a dangerous and tragic shift but because he knows he needs to keep President Trump and his base of support on side. Showing empathy with them is important.
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He spoke in perfect English. Not long ago, he struggled with the language. He knows that now, more than ever, he needs to communicate in the language of those who hold the key to his country’s future.
“Of course, we are doing everything to make sure Europe truly helps, and we count on the United States,” he said.
He closed with a plea to the nations of the world, gathered in the chamber.
“Don’t stay silent while Russia keeps dragging this war on… Please join us in defending life, international law and order,” he said.
“People are waiting for action.”
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