After the Apartheid government of South Africa collapsed, the new government declassified a series of documents signed by Shimon Peres of Israel and P.W. Botha of Apartheid South Africa that showed that Israel agreed to provide nuclear warheads “in three sizes” to Apartheid South Africa. The first picture is one of the contracting documents, and more of those documents can be found at this link. A flash over the Indian Ocean detected by an American satellite in September 1979 was suspected of being a nuclear test, possibly conducted by either Israel or South Africa, alone or in combination. In March 1993, President de Klerk declared that South Africa had previously developed a limited nuclear capability, which had been dismantled and destroyed before South Africa acceded to the NPT. The second picture is to remind people what apartheid was.
Four questions, among many, that color the background of the nuclear tension between Iran and Israel, and will not go away, are:
1. Do you trust Israel knowing that it contracted to proliferate nuclear weapons to an apartheid country?
2. Even if you accept that it was not a problem for Israel to contract with Apartheid South Africa for delivery of nuclear weapons and technology, can you accept that other people of the world find what Israel did to be problematic?
3. Is it acceptable for Israel to continue to avoid scrutiny of its nuclear program by refusing to confirm or deny the existence of its nuclear program?
4. Do you agree that other nations may take counter-measures in making military defense policy because of Israel’s history of contracting to sell nuclear warheads to Apartheid South Africa, and UN inaction on that issue?
More information on South Africa’s nuclear program and sources.
