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For nearly 60 years, the Israeli state believed that by duping US President JFK by the covert building of a secret nuclear bomb facility in the Negev Desert, it would be outside the inspection of the UN’s IAEA or subject to any control whatsoever by international agreements or treaties, and that by assuming a position of ‘nuclear ambiguity’ within the international, global community, it would afford the Israeli state a unique and unchallengeable position within world affairs.

That strategy might have had some validity a half a century ago, but in 2022, it means that the Israeli state holds the dubious title of being the only undeclared, nuclear weapon state in the world: estimates of its unknown arsenal varying between 40-400 nuclear warheads plus other WMD, either chemical or biological, or both. Such a profile being hardly advantageous, rather it means that such a state is a constant danger to world peace, and could well be the point of ground-zero, where WW3 will start.

Israel today, has the largest number of ethnic Russians, outside Russia itself. At least one million Israeli citizens have Russian as their mother tongue and they form nearly 15% of the population.  Most have roots and relatives in Russia, their acculturation being Russian not Israeli.

Netanyahu and Putin have been close political partners for many years and when Russia declared war upon Ukraine, the Israeli government was in a quandary – which side to choose, its trading partners and arms suppliers in the west, or its political allies in the east? Eventually Netanyahu chose the west which it needs to survive economically and politically.  Unfortunately, he backed the wrong horse when he failed to foresee a close military alliance between Russia and Iran, and that means that, at a stroke, Israel’s future as an independent state is now in jeopardy because Putin has the most comprehensive and advanced nuclear weapons program in the world.

Just one, 10 or 20 k-ton nuclear bomb detonated 50m above Tel Aviv, would mean that Israel would cease to exist, within minutes.

Whether Netanyahu would manage to fire-off one of his own ICBM’s in retaliation, from its underground silo in Dimona, is probably not the point. The damage would have been done. Israel would have ceased to exist and the US would doubtless respond, but how exactly?  By declaring WW3 on Russia that would ensure their global destruction?

Russia is reported to be offering Iran an unprecedented level of military and technical support that will transform the current relationship into a full-bodied, defence partnership that will impact both the Middle East and the world, as the most powerful, global, nuclear entity of WMD.

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Hans Stehling (a pen name) is a regular contributor to Global Research.