Why the world should worry about Israel’s nuclear doctrine (www.aljazeera.com)
from berg@lemmy.zip to world@lemmy.world on 23 Mar 06:35
https://lemmy.zip/post/61234976

The threshold the Israeli authorities have set for the use of a nuclear weapon is dangerously low.

Israeli strategic thinking has long been shaped by the fear of an existential threat. Unlike most nuclear states, whose doctrines revolve around deterrence or competition with other nuclear powers, Israel’s security narrative is rooted in the belief that the country could face destruction if a war turns decisively against it. Israeli leaders have repeatedly framed regional conflicts — from the wars of 1967 and 1973 to present confrontations with Iran and armed groups in Gaza and Lebanon — as struggles for national survival. That mindset matters enormously when nuclear weapons are involved.

#world

threaded - newest

Bullerfar@lemmy.world on 23 Mar 06:59 next collapse

Everything about the current Israel is worrying

Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works on 23 Mar 11:37 collapse

Current? They seem to have always been a rogue borderline terrorist state. Didn’t they steal their nuclear weapons from the US basically?

Sharkticon@lemmy.zip on 23 Mar 19:37 collapse

“steal”

More like they were allowed to “steal” them.

ZiggyTheZygote@lemmy.ca on 23 Mar 10:53 next collapse

I’m not a weapons expert, but all the bombs they’ve dropped so far in Palestine and the region could add up to a few nuclear bombs, no?

cmbabul@lemmy.world on 23 Mar 11:18 next collapse

The collective explosive power isn’t this issue. The issue is that if Israel believes it will lose a war its policy is to believe it will not be allowed to exist in any capacity. Which means its security policy regarding nukes is to take the entire region with them by glassing the Middle East.

Thats bad enough, but additionally because of the way the rest of the worlds nuclear arsenals work, that sort of event could and almost certainly would be the trigger for the end of all life on this planet

ZiggyTheZygote@lemmy.ca on 23 Mar 12:04 next collapse

The Sampson option. And the world is held hostage to their insanity.

couldhavebeenyou@lemmy.zip on 23 Mar 18:08 collapse

Them wanting nuclear weapons basically comes from the fact they were regularly attacked by their neighbours every few years. Having them and posturing as willing to use them has effectively calmed that threat since the '70s

cmbabul@lemmy.world on 23 Mar 19:36 collapse

I can’t blame any nation or from WANTING nukes at this point, having them is the only thing that is guaranteed to offer some level of protection. I get that, but the legit doomsday plans created to utilize them, make the actual practicality of them existing an existential threat to humanity.

Shit the entire message of both the wars in Iran and Ukraine prove that the best thing a country can do to protect itself is to get nuclear program going as soon as possible and then make sure the world knows you have it and are willing to use it.

And as much as Israel and the US will say that the war is to stop Iran from getting nukes. What good did it do them to try and play ball with the west and get the vast benefits of nuclear power. Not a damn thing.

daychilde@lemmy.world on 23 Mar 16:17 collapse

Your question was addressed in the article:

The intensity of the bombardment has been extraordinary. Some military analysts estimate that the explosive power dropped on Gaza during the early stages of the war alone amounted to several times the explosive yield of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

The comparison does not suggest equivalence between nuclear and conventional weapons. The devastation of a nuclear detonation would be vastly greater. But it does reveal something important about the scale of force Israeli leaders have been willing to deploy when they believe national security is at stake. If a state is willing to unleash such overwhelming destruction through conventional means, the uncomfortable question arises: what would its threshold be if it believed it was actually losing a war?

Akh@lemmy.world on 23 Mar 11:43 collapse

The only concern I have are countries lack of willingness to hold Israel to account