David Ben-Gurion wrote in 1948, “What Einstein, Oppenheimer and Teller, the three of them Jews, made for the United States could also be done by scientists in Israel for their own people.”[1] He met with all three of the physicists who worked on the Manhattan project at various times to discuss nuclear matters. Edward Teller would tell the Israeli scientist Yuval Ne’eman in 1967, speaking of Israel’s completion of the bomb, “I think that you are not idiots, and I am impressed by your high level, and I think that you have already finished, and the thing is now behind you. I do not think that the cat and mouse game with the Americans is healthy, and it will cause problems in the future, so I am going to tell the CIA of my impressions, and I’ll explain that it is justified on the background of the Six-Day War.”[2]
Ernst David Bergmann was the father of the Israeli bomb, whose scientific knowledge earned him the respect of many. Shimon Perez became administrator of the nuclear program by 1955, and he spoke of his success at the project: “Ben Gurion trusted me. Professor Bergmann worked with me with no reservations. In time, I was able to win the trust and confidence of the other scientists, engineers and senior personnel engaged in the project.”[3] Bergmann stressed that procuring an Israeli bomb would guarantee “that we shall never again be led as lambs to the slaughter.”[4]
Andre Finkelstein, who served as the director general of the French Atomic Energy Commission, said that in 1958,
[w]hen de Gaulle came back to power he wasn’t so much against Israel but he wanted to make peace in Algeria so he had to make something to appease the Arabs and he said we have to stop that project [Dimona] immediately. The orders came from Paris, you have to get rid of all the personnel in your company…. The same day the Israelis started another company and took back all the same people to finish the project. Even under de Gaulle it could be done![5]