It is the first time Israel‘s nuclear research center has been targeted in the fighting. Israel‘s military said it was not able to intercept missiles that hit the southern cities of Dimona and Arad, the largest near the center in Israel‘s sparsely populated Negev desert.
Archiv: Dimona (Israel / nuclear weapons program site)
20 injured across Dimona after Iranian rocket strike
An Iranian rocket attack struck Dimona, injuring twenty people across twelve locations and causing damage to buildings, according to ‚Israeli‘ media. Emergency teams are on site providing medical assistance and securing the area. Authorities continue to urge residents to stay in safe locations as the situation develops.
Iranian missile hits Dimona, home to a nuclear facility in Southern Israel
An Iranian ballistic missile struck the southern Israeli city of Dimona as Tehran retaliates against attacks on its nuclear infrastructure. Dimona, home to Israel’s Negev Nuclear Research Center, was targeted amid reports of long‑range missile launches by Iranian forces following recent US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, including the Natanz enrichment facility. The Negev facility lies carries symbolic and strategic significance as a cornerstone of Israel’s nuclear research program.
What to know about Israel’s Dimona nuclear site
In 1957, France provided support and approval, supplying Israel with a heavy-water, pressurized reactor. Dimona entered operation around 1963, with a reported capacity of 26 megawatts.
At the heart of the facility’s significance is its role in handling nuclear fuel.
Dimona processes spent nuclear fuel, described as the first stage in producing the atomic bomb, with the fuel then transferred elsewhere to be stored or mounted on missiles.
By 1967, reports cited from the US State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research pointed to a reprocessing plant for uranium and production of weapons-usable plutonium, concluding that Israel possessed a nuclear bomb.
Iran hits Israeli town housing nuclear facility in retaliation for Natanz strike
An Iranian missile has hit the Israeli town of Dimona, home to a nuclear facility, in what Iran said was retaliation for strikes on its own nuclear site at Natanz.
Dimona hosts a facility just outside the main town widely believed to possess the Middle East’s sole nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted to possessing nuclear weapons.
U.S. Firm That Provided Israeli Nuke Facility Imagery Photographed Another Highly Sensitive Site
The area it photographed, located west of Beit Shemesh, appears on ordinary Israeli maps as open space and on civilian flight maps as an off-limits area. But according to numerous foreign reports, this area is home to the Kanaf 2 Israel Air Force base. The website of GlobalSecurity.org says that three squadrons of Jericho surface-to-surface missiles are stationed at this base.
The Battle of the Letters, 1963: John F. Kennedy, David Ben-Gurion, Levi Eshkol, and the U.S. Inspections of Dimona
Washington D.C., May 2, 2019 – During 1963, President John F. Kennedy was preoccupied with issues such as Vietnam, the nuclear test ban negotiations, civil rights protests, and Cuba. It is less well known, however, that one of his most abiding concerns was whether and how fast Israel was seeking a nuclear weapons capability and what the U.S. should do about it. Beginning in April 1963, Kennedy insisted that the Israeli leadership accept regular bi-annual U.S. inspections, or in diplomatic language, “visits,” of Israel’s nuclear complex at Dimona in the Negev Desert. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and his successor, Levi Eshkol, tried to evade and avoid inspections, but Kennedy applied unprecedented pressure, informing them bluntly, in a near ultimatum tone, that Washington’s “commitment to and support of Israel “could be “seriously jeopardized” if it was thought that the U.S. government could not obtain “reliable information” on the Dimona reactor and Israel’s nuclear intentions.
How a Standoff With the U.S. Almost Blew Up Israel‘s Nuclear Program
Throughout the spring and summer of 1963, the leaders of the United States and Israel – President John F. Kennedy and Prime Ministers David Ben-Gurion and Levi Eshkol – were engaged in a high-stakes battle of wills over Israel’s nuclear program. The tensions were invisible to the publics of both countries, and only a few senior officials, on both sides of the ocean, were aware of the severity of the situation
Dimona Geheime Kommandosache
Am 13. Dezember 1960 alarmierte die „Time“ die Weltöffentlichkeit: Israel baue heimlich an der Atombombe. Wie war dem jungen Staat der Bau einer Atombombe gelungen? Die Aufregung war groß, niemand wollte etwas gewusst haben. Auch die erst drei Jahre zuvor gegründete Internationale Atomenergie-Organisation hüllte sich in Schweigen. Das tut sie bis heute. Systematisch wurden die Öffentlichkeit und die Parlamente belogen. Die Wahrheit ist: Schon 1960 wussten die westlichen Regierungen Bescheid. Sie hatten den Bau abgenickt und unterstützt. Die israelischen Atombombe war mit deutschem Geld und deutscher Technologie entstanden, einer Technologie, die im Auftrag des Führers am Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut entwickelt und patentiert worden war.
The Weak are Slaughtered, the Strong Prevail: Netanyahu Says Israel Will Not Shy Away From Conflict
(31.8.2018) It is significant that Netanyahu made the fiery remarks at the country’s top-secret nuclear research facility. Israel is the only state in the Middle East to possess nuclear weapons, though its policy of “strategic ambiguity” makes it difficult to say how large its atomic armory is. Estimates reach as high as 400 nuclear warheads.