Hersh, Seymour M. The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy. New York: Random House, 1991. 354 pages.

Ever since Truman's support of the birth of Israel in 1948, U.S. relations have favored its aggressive policies, even at the expense of U.S. interests in the region. Much of this was encouraged in the name of a secure Jewish homeland -- something which few U.S. politicians dared to criticize -- but behind the public facade there existed a world where the CIA became dependent on Mossad for intelligence, Israel's economy became dependent on profits from arms transfers, and policy itself was exercised through proxy wars.

The title of Hersh's book comes from Israel's notion that once they have the Bomb, they are in a position to bring it all down on everyone if ever they feel cornered. It's the ultimate in Israeli security as a nation- state, if not for the security of humankind. Israel used nuclear blackmail to force Kissinger and Nixon to airlift supplies during the 1973 Yom Kippur war, and they passed U.S. secrets collected by Jonathan Pollard to the USSR when it served their interests. The Bomb has been a hidden factor in U.S.- Israeli relations ever since the Eisenhower administration, but this is the first book to deal with Israeli relations from this perspective.
ISBN 0-394-57006-5

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