Now facing a genuinely unprecedented configuration of existential threats, Israel's leaders must decide whether to continue their deliberate nuclear ambiguity policy (the "bomb in the basement") as they consider such urgent and overlapping survival issues as regional nuclear proliferation, Jihadist terror-group intersections with enemy states, rationality or irrationality of state and sub-state adversaries, assassination or "targeted killing," preemption, and the probable effects of a "Cold War II" between Russia and the United States. Israel must develop a strategic posture that will involve a suitably coherent and refined nuclear strategy. This book critically examines Israel's rapidly evolving nuclear strategy in light of these issues and explains how it underscores the overarching complexity of strategic interactions in the Middle East.

By Louis René Beres

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Core Requirement of Nuclear Weapons
Chapter 2: Refining Strategic Choices
Chapter 3: Deciphering Enemy Intentions and Capabilities
Chapter 4: Preserving a Sensible Samson Option
Chapter 5: Convergences of Law and Strategy
Chapter 6: Conclusion
Index
About the Author