Begin Doctrine

The Begin doctrine is the common term for the Israeli government's preventive strike, counter-proliferation policy regarding their potential enemies' capability to possess weapons of mass destruction (WMD), particularly nuclear weapons.

The roots of this doctrine can be tracked at least to Operation Damocles at the beginning of 1960s. Secret and diplomatic operations against the Iraqi nuclear program were started by Yitzhak Rabin government at middle of 1970s.

The doctrine itself was enunciated by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in June 1981, following Israel's attack on Iraq's nuclear reactor Osirak in Operation Opera. The doctrine remains a feature of Israeli security planning.[1] The initial government statement on the incident stated: "On no account shall we permit an enemy to develop weapons of mass destruction against the people of Israel. We shall defend the citizens of Israel in good time and with all the means at our disposal."[2]

Two days after the attack in a dramatic press conference in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Begin took full responsibility for the operation, praised its execution as extraordinary, and justified it both on moral and legal grounds. Begin referred to the strike as an act of "anticipatory self-defense at its best." The message Begin conveyed was that the raid on Osirak was not a one-time operation, but rather a long-term national commitment. He ended his press conference with these words:[3]

"We chose this moment: now, not later, because later may be too late, perhaps forever. And if we stood by idly, two, three years, at the most four years, and Saddam Hussein would have produced his three, four, five bombs. ... Then, this country and this people would have been lost, after the Holocaust. Another Holocaust would have happened in the history of the Jewish people. Never again, never again! Tell so your friends, tell anyone you meet, we shall defend our people with all the means at our disposal. We shall not allow any enemy to develop weapons of mass destruction turned against us."

On June 15, in a television interview on Face the Nation, Begin reiterated this doctrinal point: "This attack will be a precedent for every future government in Israel. ... Every future Israeli prime minister will act, in similar circumstances, in the same way."[3]

Following the attack and Israeli government comments, many foreign powers opposed it and the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 487 condemning the attacks.

Gulf War

Israeli civilians taking shelter from rockets (left) and aftermath of attack in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv (right)

Before the Gulf War (1990–91) the United States sought to form a military coalition that included Arab countries to confront Saddam Husein’s Iraq following his invasion of Kuwait. During the war, Iraq fired many Scud missiles potentially containing poison gas at Israel, which caused considerable distress and damage in Israel, hoping to provoke an Israeli military response. The Iraqi government hoped that Arab states would withdraw from the coalition, as they would be reluctant to fight alongside Israel.[4] Following the first attacks, Israeli Air Force jets were deployed to patrol the northern airspace with Iraq. Israel prepared to militarily retaliate, as its policy for the previous 40 years had always been retaliation. However, US President Bush pressured Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir not to retaliate and withdraw Israeli jets, fearing that if Israel attacked Iraq, the other Arab nations would either desert the coalition or join Iraq. It was also feared that if Israel used Syrian or Jordanian airspace to attack Iraq, they would intervene in the war on Iraq's side or attack Israel. The coalition promised to deploy Patriot missiles to defend Israel if it refrained from responding to the Scud attacks.[5][6]

Iraq fired 88 Scuds during the war, 42 at Israel, without an Israeli response. The Scud missiles targeting Israel were relatively ineffective, as firing at extreme range resulted in a dramatic reduction in accuracy and payload. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, a total of 74 Israelis died as a result of the Iraqi attacks: two directly and the rest from suffocation and heart attacks.[7] Approximately 230 Israelis were injured.[8] Extensive property damage was also caused, and according to Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "Damage to general property consisted of 1,302 houses, 6,142 apartments, 23 public buildings, 200 shops and 50 cars."[9] It was feared that Iraq would fire missiles filled with nerve agents such as sarin. As a result, Israel's government issued gas masks to its citizens. When the first Iraqi missiles hit Israel, some people injected themselves with an antidote for nerve gas. It has been suggested that the sturdy construction techniques used in Israeli cities, coupled with the fact that Scuds were only launched at night, played an important role in limiting the number of casualties from Scud attacks.[10]

Operation Outside the Box

The Begin doctrine was followed in 2007 under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with Operation Outside the Box against a Syrian nuclear facility. What was particularly notable about the attack on Syria was what occurred in its aftermath, the near total lack of international comment or criticism of Israel's action. This lack of reaction contrasted starkly to the international outcry that followed Israel's preventive strike in 1981 against Iraq's reactor. Foreign governments may have reserved comment because of the lack of information after the attack, but the Israeli and U.S. governments imposed a virtually total news blackout immediately after the raid that lasted for seven months. Syria was initially silent on the matter and then subsequently denied that the bombed target was a nuclear facility. The international silence continued even after the CIA made information public in April 2008.[3]

Iranian nuclear program

The doctrine also has been used since 2009, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with regard to Iran and its nuclear capability. During this time the Iranian nuclear issue openly turned into Israel's number one security issue. Netanyahu, along with his key cabinet ministers, such as Minister of Defense Ehud Barak and Vice Premier Moshe Ya'alon, has repeatedly referred to a nuclear Iran, or even a nuclear-capable Iran, as an unacceptable and existential threat to Israel. With virtually all Israelis agreeing that Iran should be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons, there is an ongoing bitter debate among policymakers on how best to achieve this goal. So far, the Israeli government has been willing to allow the U.S. and Europe to implement economic sanctions and pursue diplomatic solutions, while also carrying out covert operations, such as computer viruses and assassinations of key Iranian scientists, designed to stall Iran's nuclear program.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Country Profiles -Israel, Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), updated May, 2014
  2. ↑ Israeli and Iraqi Statements on Raid on Nuclear Plant, The New York Times, June 9, 1981
  3. 1 2 3 Leonard S. Spector and Avner Cohen, Israel's Airstrike on Syria's Reactor: Implications for the Nonproliferation Regime, Arms Control Today, Vol. 38, No. 6 (July/August 2008), pp. 15–21, Arms Control Association
  4. ↑ Waldman, Shmuel (2005). Beyond a Reasonable Doubt. Feldheim Publishers, p. 179. ISBN 1-58330-806-7
  5. ↑ Lawrence Freedman and Efraim Karsh, The Gulf Conflict: Diplomacy and War in the New World Order, 1990–1991 (Princeton, 1993), 331–41.
  6. ↑ Thomas, Gordon, Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad
  7. ↑ "The Gulf War". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
  8. ↑ Fetter, Steve; Lewis, George N.; Gronlund, Lisbeth (28 January 1993). "Why were Casualties so low?" (PDF). Nature. London: Nature Publishing Group. 361 (6410): 293–296. doi:10.1038/361293a0.
  9. ↑ "The Gulf War (1991)". Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  10. ↑ Fetter, Steve; Lewis, George N.; Gronlund, Lisbeth (28 January 1993). "Why were Casualties so low?" (PDF). Nature. London. 361 (6410): 293–296. doi:10.1038/361293a0.
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