That Israel helped South Africa develop its nuclear weapons programme back in the seventies has been an open secret for decades, but became news again with the publication of The Unspoken Alliance: Israel’s Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa. In the interview Democracy Now! held with Sasha Polakow-Suransky, its author, the money quote for me comes at the end, when he’s asked to evaluate Israel’s relationship with Apartheid-era South Africa:
AMY GOODMAN: Then we’re going to post the rest of the interview on the website. What about the American—the Anti-Defamation League?
SASHA POLAKOW-SURANSKY: Well, essentially, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Anti-Defamation League employed a man named Roy Bullock, who was also on the payroll of South African intelligence. And this man was acting on behalf of South African intelligence and the ADL to infiltrate anti-apartheid groups in the Bay Area. And FBI files investigating the espionage involved came out later confirming that he was essentially providing the same information to both the ADL and the South African government intelligence services, because they were concerned that the anti-apartheid movement in the US was becoming very strong, and the Israelis and pro-Israel organizations in the US were afraid that this was tarnishing Israel’s international image.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, we only have fifteen seconds, but this history that was going on between Israel and South Africa, this relationship supporting the South African apartheid regime?
SASHA POLAKOW-SURANSKY: Yes, it was vital. And I would argue that it prolonged the life of the apartheid regime in South Africa. It was a vital link.
South Africa gave up its nuclear weapons in the nineties, after the peaceful end of the Apartheid regime. Israel still has them, but is oddly enough not exposed to the same kind of pressure Iran faces for maybe having plans for a nuclear weapons programme.