Nuclear Samson
By Tom Gilbreath
What would happen if a Western leader openly suggested using nuclear weapons against Israel? Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, recently made a stunning remark: “Spain, as you know, does not have nuclear bombs… We alone cannot stop the Israeli offensive.”
He is effectively saying that if Spain had nukes, he would use them. It is obvious to the point of sounding trite, to say that nuclear weapons are dangerous, and that the more nations that have them, the more dangerous the world becomes. But apparently some among us need reminding of that fact. The Prime Minister of Spain implies that he would obliterate Israel in order to save — not the people of Iran — but the terrorist regime that subjugates them.
By all accounts, Israel has a nuclear arsenal, but it maintains a policy of “nuclear ambiguity.” That means it neither confirms nor denies possessing such weapons. Through the years, Israel has been criticized for something else that it neither confirms nor denies — something called the “Samson Option.” That means if the nation ever faced total destruction, it would launch an all-out nuclear assault on its enemies. You can see why Israel would want its enemies to believe that if it faced annihilation, it would do exactly that.
Remember that in a final act, Samson destroyed the Philistine temple of Dagon by bringing it down on his own head. Judges 16:29-30 says, “Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. Then Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.”
The Samson Option is expressed by the words, “Let me die with the Philistines!”
You can see why people have criticized Israel for the Samson Option, even though Israel has never publicly acknowledged it. It sounds kind of reckless. In fact, it sounds a lot like MAD — “Mutual Assured Destruction,” the nuclear deterrent policy of the United States and other nuclear powers. MAD works when nations make survival their priority.
Nuclear powers leave open the option of using these weapons, not only to deter atomic war, but any kind of war that might cause their destruction. Of the world’s nine nuclear powers, only two — China and India — have committed to a “No First Use” policy. But India’s “No First Use” pledge is provisional, and China’s actions show that it does consider first use a viable option. The others, including the United States, refuse to rule out first use.
Carl Sagan likened the world’s nuclear situation to people collecting matches in “a room awash in gasoline.” In the late 1940s, countless experts on global politics would have been stunned to learn that by the end of the first quarter of the 21st century there would have been no other atomic wars. Humanity has avoided such destruction largely because MAD works. People and nations usually prefer life and civilization over death and chaos.
But what if a death cult controlled a nation? And what if that nation acquired nuclear weapons? What if religious zealots controlling the nation believed that the messianic figure in their religion, the Mahdi, does not bless peacemakers, but instead urges them to create maximum chaos and destruction? What if they believe turmoil will hasten the Mahdi’s coming? Mutual Assured Destruction would not stop such a nation.
That nation is Iran. And that is why the United States and Israel are determined to keep Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons.
