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Israel has the most advanced nuclear weapons program in
the Middle East. David Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, clandestinely
established the program in the late 1950s to meet the perceived existential
threat to the nascent state. The program allegedly is centered at the Negev
Nuclear Research Center, outside the town of Dimona. Based on estimates of the
plutonium production capacity of the Dimona reactor, Israel has approximately
100-200 nuclear explosive devices. Officially, Tel Aviv has declared that it
will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East; however,
it has not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
Israel's neighboring states allege that Tel Aviv has an
offensive biological weapons (BW) program, but there are no reliable sources on
specific biological agents the Israelis may possess. Reportedly, Israeli
specialized military units sabotaged water wells with typhoid and dysentery
bacteria in Acre (near Haifa), Palestine during the 1948 war, but evidence of
such events is fragmentary. Speculation that the program is located at the
Israel Institute of Biological Research (IIBR) in Ness Ziona has raised both
international and domestic concerns. Activists within the Israeli community have
recently protested the expansion of the Institute due to reports, denied by
Israeli officials, of multiple injuries and deaths within the facility and one
near-evacuation of the surrounding area. Tel Aviv is not a signatory to the
Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC).
While there are allegations that Israel has an advanced chemical weapons (CW)
program, no confirmed evidence of production or stockpiling exists. Some reports
have suggested an offensive CW program is located at the Israel Institute for
Biological Research in Nes Ziona. In October 1992, an El Al airliner carrying a
cargo of approximately 50 gallons of dimethyl methylphosphonate (a widely used
simulant for defensive research but also a possible precursor of sarin nerve
agent) destined for the Institute crashed in Amsterdam. Tel Aviv stated that
this material was being imported to test gas masks. Israel has signed but not
ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Israel's missile program began in the 1960s. Israel has a
varied missile industry, having developed ballistic and cruise missiles, as well
as missile defense systems and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The Jericho
ballistic missiles series was initiated in the 1960s with French assistance,
beginning with the short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) Jericho-1 with a 500 km
range. In the 1970s, Israel developed the intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM)
Jericho-2, a two-stage, solid-fueled missile with a range of 1,500 to 3,500 km.
There are some unconfirmed reports that suggest the existence of a 4,800
km-range Jericho-3 missile that may stem from Israel's space launch vehicle, the
Shavit. Israel has also developed, with U.S. financial assistance, the Arrow
theater defense missile, which has become one of the only functioning missile
defense systems in the world. In addition to these systems, Israel has become a
leading exporter of UAVs. Israel is not a member of the Missile Technology
Control Regime (MTCR).
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