In 1948, the year of Israel’s founding, scientists began prospecting for uranium in the Negev Desert. And in 1952, Israel established the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission to over see their nuclear research. The first big boost to Israeli nuclear capability occurred several years later and came from France, but to understand why, we first have to understand the importance of the Suez Canal.

The Suez Canal opened in 1869. It consists of 120 miles of artificial waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. It provides the shortest maritime route between Europe and Asia.

The alternative to using the Suez Canal, is sailing all the way south until you reach Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. This adds an additional 7 to 14 days of travel time. In the 1950s, the Suez Canal handled around 8% of global trade, and 2/3rds of Europe’s oil passed through the canal. Because of this, it was a massive inconvenience to global powers if and when the canal was closed.

The financing for the canal mostly came from private French investors. The Suez Canal Company issued 400,000 shares at 500 francs each (raising 200 million francs). A little over half of those shares were purchased by French citizens (including wealthy investors and banks), and about 44% were purchased by the Egyptian government. Egypt also provided the land, the labor and the resources. In order to acquire this large share of The Suez Canal Company, Egypt was forced to borrow heavily from European banks. This would later lead to bankruptcy and in 1875 Egypt would sell its shares of the Suez Canal to the British government for 4 million pounds (or around 100 million francs).

On July 26, 1956, the new President of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. He wanted to be able to use the revenue from the canal to fund Egyptian development projects, such as the Aswan High Dam, as in this same month the US and Britain withdrew funding for this dam claiming Egypt was developing too close of a relationship with the Soviet Union. Nasser viewed nationalization of the canal as the most prudent way to re-secure the necessary financing for his infrastructure projects. The canal generated around $100 million each year in the 1950s, and this was a significant sum for the Egyptian Government.

The West viewed Egypt’s nationalization of the canal as a defiant step against imperialism. The Suez Canal Company, after all, was largely owned by French and British shareholders. Nasser’s move resonated with anti-colonial sentiment at the time, which still exists today, and this boosted his standing as an international leader amongst the newly independent nations of the Middle East and Africa.

After the nationalization of the Suez Canal, France, Israel and the UK conspired to invade Egypt, with the goal of retaking control over the canal. It was at this time that France began to realize that the newly formed state of Israel could be a valuable ally against Arab interests in the region. France agreed to assist Israel with the construction of the Dimona Nuclear Reactor in the Negev Desert, beginning in late 1957. The project employed around 1,500 Israelis and hundreds of French workers. This deal included a secret reprocessing plant (Machon 2), critical for weapons-grade plutonium. Norway then supplied 20 tons of heavy water to Israel in 1959. This was all done in secret, and Israel hid the existence of their nuclear reactor from the international community, including the United States.

In December of 1960, one month before John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as President, US Intelligence under President Eisenhower determined that the Dimona facility in Israel’s Negev Desert was a nuclear reactor with military applications. This was confirmed by U-2 spy plane flights between 1958 and 1960, as well as reports from the CIA and the State Department. President Kennedy entered office in January 1961, after campaigning on a platform of nuclear de-proliferation. Naturally, Israel’s nuclear weapons program caused him great concern. He thought Israel’s development of nuclear weapons would provoke an arms race between the Arab states and further destabilize the region. In April of 1961, President Kennedy spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Golda Meir to express his concern over the secrecy of Israel’s nuclear ambitions. While Israel claimed it was only going to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, his own intelligence indicated it had military applications. He wanted to verify that the Dimona reactor was only going to be used for peaceful purposes. Golda Meir served under Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, who had lead Israel from its beginning in 1948.

On May 18, 1961, in direct response to President Kennedy’s pressure, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion allowed two American scientists to visit the Dimona reactor. However this inspection was a lie. Israel concealed the underground chemical processing plant with false walls. This underground chemical reprocessing plant, known as Machon 2, was critical for producing weapons-grade plutonium. The inspectors never saw it.

In 1963, Kennedy intensified his efforts to confront the Israeli nuclear weapons program. In May 1963, he sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ben-Gurion threatening to withhold future aid if he did not allow for fair and regular inspections of Israel’s nuclear facilities. On June 16, 1963 Ben-Gurion resigned.

There were several reasons for the resignation of Ben-Gurion, but at the top of the list was the “Lavon Affair.” The Lavon Affair was an unsuccessful false flag conducted in Egypt of 1954 when Israeli agents attempted to place bombs on US and British targets. Fortunately, they were unsuccessful. Of the 13 Israeli agents implicated, 9 were arrested. Of these 9 arrested: 2 were executed, 6 received long prison sentences, and the other died by suicide in custody.

Pinhas Lavon, then Defense Minister of Israel, was blamed for the entire operation. However, when evidence emerged of his potential innocence during the early 1960s, the scandal reignited. This domestic scandal, along with the US pressure for inspections over Israel’s Dimona reactor, as well as additional domestic factors (such as coalition instability and party tension) lead to Ben-Gurion’s resignation.

He was replaced as Israeli Prime Minister by Levi Eshkol. President Kennedy was able to develop a tentative agreement with Eshkol, granting the US a future 1964 inspection, however, on November 22, 1963 JFK was assassinated.

Kennedy’s alleged assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald had declared he was “just a patsy,” when he spoke briefly to the press after his arrest. However, before he could make his case further, Lee Harvey Oswald was assassinated by Jack Ruby, whose real name was Jack Rubenstein. Rubenstein was affiliated with organized crime. Numerous other individuals connected to either John F. Kennedy directly or to the investigation of his assassination would also be “mysteriously killed” in the coming months and years:

Jim Koethe, A Dallas Times Herald reporter who investigated the Kennedy Assassination was karate chopped to death in the throat at his own apartment on September 21, 1964.

Dorothy Killgallen, the only reporter to have interviewed Jack Ruby after he killed Lee Harvey Oswald was ruled to have died of an “accidental overdose” on November 8, 1965, yet she was found sitting in her bed, make up on, with a book by her side.

Warren Reynolds, who had witnessed the escape of the killer (or killers) of Officer J.D. Tippit, was shot in the head two days after he spoke to the FBI.

Hank Killam, a painter who lived in the same rooming house as Lee Harvey Oswald, had his jugular vein cut and bled to death.

William Whaley, a taxi cab driver and associate of Lee Harvey Oswald was killed in a head on collision. He had a clean driving record and this was the first Dallas cabbie to be killed since 1937. When asked for further details of the death, reporters were told to stop asking questions.

Domingo Benavides, an auto mechanic who stated he got a good look at Kennedy’s killer, reported he was threatened by the police to not discuss the matter further. His brother, who looked quite similar to Domingo, was later shot in the back of the head.

There are dozens and dozens more mysterious deaths linked to the Kennedy assassination. Their causes of death include: arsenic poisoning, suicide, stabbing, beating, shooting and drug overdoses with no autopsies performed. There is often a common theme of people being told not to ask further questions to authorities regarding details of the deaths.

After Kennedy’s assassination, the inspection agreed upon before his death ended up taking place under the LBJ administration. This inspection was also a lie. The inspectors were again prohibited from seeing the Machon 2 chemical reprocessing plant and other key facilities. Inspections would continue under President Johnson, but he did not pursue the nuclear investigations as aggressively. Instead, he increased the military aid given to Israel significantly.

When Richard Nixon became President, he viewed the Israeli nuclear program more as a possible deterrent to Soviet-backed Arab aggression, and less of a direct threat to the United States. He oversaw the last nuclear inspection conducted in 1969. This came after an agreement with then Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, in which the United States essentially “gave up” on trying to obtain more information about Israel’s nuclear capabilities, accepting “nuclear ambiguity” in which Israel neither confirms or denies their existence. Because of this Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and all subsequent Presidents have refrained from even requesting inspections of the Dimona nuclear facility.

The exact time that Israel developed its first nuclear weapon is unknown, but it is believed to be between 1966 and 1967. In 1986, a former Dimona technician leaked information to the Sunday Times, which stated Israel’s nuclear arsenal consisted of 100-200 warheads.

The exact number of nuclear weapons that Israel currently possesses is unknown. Israel refused to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and as such refuses inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The only other country to entirely refuse all inspections by the IAEA is North Korea (India and Pakistan allow for only limited IAEA inspections, as they exclude military sites).

The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 allows the President to restrict foreign aid to countries engaged in activities that violate US non-proliferation policies, however this has never been used against the state of Israel.

As of today, Israel is the only state in world history to strive for nuclear weapons from the date of its inception.