
In a Senate speech on June 23, 1965, Robert Kennedy warned of how near Israel was to acquiring nuclear weapons:
Five nations now have the capacity to explode nuclear bombs. This capacity was developed at great cost, over a period of a generation. But at least a dozen, perhaps a score, of other nations are now in a position to develop nuclear weapons within 3 years. Two of these nations—Israel and India—already possess weapons-grade fissionable material, and could fabricate an atomic device within a few months….
Israel and Egypt each have been deeply suspicious of the other for many years, and further Israeli progress would certainly impel the Egyptians to intensify their present efforts.[1]
He made it clear that he would follow in his brother’s footsteps in pursuing nonproliferation:
[T]he proliferation of nuclear weapons immensely increases the chances that the world might stumble into catastrophe. President Kennedy saw this clearly. He said, in 1963: “I ask you to stop and think what it would mean to have nuclear weapons in so many hands, in the hands of countries large and small, stable and unstable, responsible and irresponsible, scattered throughout the world. There would be no rest for anyone then, no stability, no real security, and no chance of effective disarmament.” There could be no stability anywhere in the world-when nuclear weapons might be used…between Arabs and Israelis over the Gaza strip. But if nuclear weapons spread, it is dangerously likely that they will be so used—for these are matters of the deepest national interest to the countries involved….
It is clear, in short, that the United States—and the entire world-have the most vital interest in preventing the scattering of nuclear weapons.[2]
However, even if he wasn’t killed and went on to become president, his efforts would have been for naught. By 1968 Israel had already acquired nuclear weapons, a result of Lyndon Johnson’s leniency when it came to inspections of Dimona.[3]
[1] Congressional Record—Senate, June 1965, 14566, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1965-pt11/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1965-pt11-2-2.pdf.
[2] Ibid.
[3] “Israeli Nuclear Program,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, August 15, 2018,
https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/israeli-nuclear-program.