(3.3.2016) The day before the test, NSC head Yossi Cohen left to take over at the Mossad; Netanyahu named Jacob Nagel as his interim replacement. Nagel, an expert in nuclear arms control, received the draft and held a meeting on it.

Israeli officials said some NSC members supported immediate publication of the condemnation, but Nagel and other officials opposed the idea. The opponents argued that Israel did not have to push itself into every world event, the officials said.

Another argument was that publishing the condemnation might draw attention to Israel’s nuclear program. A further argument, a bit unusual, was that the Japanese and South Koreans had not been condemning terror attacks against Israel, so there was no need to respond to their request.