Strategic Assessment

One of the most significant developments in Israeli society in recent years has been the exposure of many aspects of Israel’s security policy to greater public debate. As part of this trend, the nuclear question has also been subject to increasing–although still limited–public scrutiny. Since the 1991 Gulf War, the context of the debate over Israel’s nuclear policy has been three-fold: changes in Israel’s strategic environment, including both the progress made in the Arab-Israeli peace process and the growing threat of nonconventional weapons; the demands that Israel begin to deal directly with its perceived nuclear capacity at both the regional and global levels; and, finally, the greater willingness that has been demonstrated by the Israeli government to join arms control negotiations and initiatives, both regional and global in scope.