Is the world on the cusp of a new nuclear arms race that will add several new nuclear powers to the international landscape? This is the gloomy projection of many analysts in the wake of the projected deal expected to be signed in the coming days or weeks between Iran and the P5+1 world powers regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Irrespective of one’s opinion of the Obama Administration’s handling of the negotiations, even supporters of the prospective deal admit that Iran may still ultimately build nuclear weapons, with the mere specter of this possibility enticing countries like Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia to pursue their own nuclear programs. This alarming projection of a post-proliferation world calls for a review of Jewish legal and ethical perspectives on nuclear warfare and deterrence.
Jews have had an ambivalent relationship to the nuclear bomb, largely drawing from the experience of WWII and the Holocaust. Several Jewish scientists, including prominent European refugees, were active in nuclear research and advancing the Manhattan Project. They saw this weaponry as a necessary tool for stopping Germany and further believed that it was essential to develop this weapon before the Nazis did. Some, like Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, later came to regret their role and strongly opposed nuclear armament. Others remained lifelong advocates of nuclear supremacy, including the primary architect of the H-bomb, Edward Teller, who strongly supported President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (“Star Wars”) to defend against a Soviet nuclear attack and further provided support toward Israel’s nuclear ambitions.
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