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By Ami Dor-on

Scientists worldwide believe that the mission of the Israeli hydrogen bomb is to serve as the ‘ultimate defender’ for securing the continued existence of the State of Israel. Scientific analysis of the results of Soviet experimentation indicates that the use of the greatest nuclear hydrogen bomb in human history and its’ effects are: “the use of such a bomb could wipe out every large city in Europe even destroying whole countries”. The evaluation of world intelligence agencies supports one possible solution in putting a halt to Iran’s plans to attack Israel while eliminating the nuclear threat to it lies in the creation of a hydrogen ‘balance of terror.’ Any response to an attack on Israel would result in the eradication of millions of people in Tehran, and the destruction of Iran’s’ economic, industrial and political capital. Foreign security officials believe that any Iranian leadership, would be unable to ignore this frightening hydrogen threat hanging over its head like a hanging sword, not now or in the future.

For several years the leadership of Israel has engaged in vigorous attempts to find a solution to Iran’s nuclear threat, the same Iran whose fanatical leaders declare unendingly their desire to wipe out the Jewish state. The solution to this existential question is not the exclusive domain of Israel. The Western world, led by President Barack Obama, is trying to find a course of action in which Israel can defend itself. This course of action stems from the knowledge of the death and destruction that the Jewish state would be subjected to, but also concern for the unknown which would be the course of Israel’s response. Would Israel resort to a preemptive action by air, land or sea or would it choose the option of a “second blow”, as many publications around the world claim would take place.

The Israeli- American concern might be in place, but the real danger is not as severe and immediate as some politicians try to describe it. For anyone who knows how to distinguish between ‘chaff and straw’, and can sift through the abundant information scattered all over the Internet network, one can evaluate that in the equation of nuclear balance of terror between Israel and Iran, Israel’s hand is on top. This conclusion can be reached by understanding the information contained in the study of the ‘Proliferation center’” by the U.S. Air Force. The study expressly states that Israel has established an arsenal of hundreds of nuclear bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM – Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles) with which to deliver them. The study also refers to thermonuclear bombs, more commonly referred to as Hydrogen Bombs. These bombs, whose existence is unlikely hidden from the eyes of Iran’s leadership, are considered to be the most terrible weapon whose use was recorded in history. Major Powers no longer use this weapon from fear that its activation may lead to the extinction of the human race from the face of the earth. The recognized fear of this sort of bomb as many experts from around the world believe could create a ‘hydrogen balance of terror’ which tends to favor the Israeli side. This situation could become a distinct possibility in the event Israel is unable to deter an Iranian nuclear or conventional attack.

What is so frightening about the hydrogen bomb? This question has intrigued scientists for years, many of whom who have even dedicated their lives to developing weapons of mass destruction. They ask the following philosophical question: “Is the human race capable of producing a bomb so big and so devastating that it could destroy all life on this planet, including the human race itself?” In most cases the pessimistic answer to this question is answered positively mainly due to man’s predatory way of life. Scientists continue under the sponsorship of power-hungry politicians, to try and find the scientific answers that will enable the realization of an operational hydrogen-nuclear capability.

The first achievement and breakthrough by nuclear scientists was the creation of the atomic bomb that was invented and developed by America’s ‘Manhattan Project’. This demonic bomb was activated for the first time in human history on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and as a result of the terrible multidimensional destruction and killing, brought World War II to an end. But this bomb was not enough for the ‘deadly human’ (Homo Murderous). During the ensuing arms race for power following the war, when the U.S. discovered that Soviet spies in the ‘Manhattan Project’ had passed top-secret information to the Soviet Union helping Communist world leader to get their own bomb U.S. President, Harry Truman decided, to enter the next phase of destructive capacity: the development of a hydrogen bomb. The goal was simple, to regain the strategic advantage over the Soviet Union. The man who led the United States in this hydrogen path was a Jewish-American scientist, Prof. Edward Teller, a friend of Israel, and later known as ‘the father of the hydrogen bomb.’

Resources and efforts invested in U.S. in the development of the hydrogen bomb were also designed to create deceptions. In the end, despite these efforts, the joke was on this great super-power. While the echoes of the first hydrogen experiment by America on March 1, 1954 on the Pacific island of Bikini were still resounding, Soviet spies operating in the U.S. already received accurate information about the nature of the hydrogen project and passed it on to the Soviet Union. A physicist and Professor, named Andrei Sakharov, headed the Soviet hydrogen system in those days. He later became one of the biggest opponents of the communist regime and a fearless fighter for human rights.

Any attempt to draw an analogy between the atom bomb and the hydrogen bomb would be weak. To demonstrate the extent of the error inherent in this type of comparison one should examine two numbers. The bomb type that exploded in the skies over Nagasaki (Fat boy) had an explosive power of 15 kilotons T.N.T. (One kiloton equals one thousand tons of T.N.T.). The terrifying power of the hydrogen bomb, created by activating a nuclear bomb made of plutonium – is measured in megatons (one Mega-ton is equal to one million tons of T.N.T.). These dry numbers illustrate the essential difference. But to point out to the real horror of the hydrogen bomb we should consider the facts behind the largest hydrogen bomb experiment in human history , ‘Tsar Bomba’ of the Soviets, which had a destructive power of 50 Mega-tons and was tested over the archipelago ’Novaya Zemlya’ on October 30, 1961.

The ‘Tsar Bomba’ (2) was a technological monster by any standard. The weight of this ‘Bomba’ was 27 tons, having a length of 8 meters and a diameter of 2 meters. The dimensions were so great, that initially, it could not be loaded onto the largest transport plane that was then available to the USSR, a Tupolev-95 with turbo-prop engines. To solve the problem, aviation engineers had to almost re-build the bomb carrying space inside the giant bomber. In the first of the required actions, the door locks of the bomb bay as well as the extending latch were completely removed. Following the completion of other aerial-technological tasks, the plane was ready to perform trials. In order for the ‘Bomba’ to operate on the basis of the technology of barometric pressure, not falling too quickly, it was equipped with a special braking parachute weighing about 800 Kg.

For the human mind to grasp the full power of this demonically destructive ‘Tsar Bomb’, it is necessary to translate the big numbers to more practically explained numbers. 50 Mega-tons are equal in intensity to more than ten times the amount of the explosives that were used in World War II. To this remarkable figure we need to add another deadly element that is not reflected in World War II operations, radioactive radiation, direct and indirect. Direct radiation results from the explosion itself. Indirect radiation rises with the giant blast flame up to the top of the atmosphere and is then carried by wind, to all corners of the earth where it is absorbed into vegetation and water sources. It then follows the food chain to the human body and causes painful death or cancerous diseases as well as severe genetic defects passed on from generation to generation.

Professor Sakharov who knew all these terrifying figures before the trial, began to fear that the continuing nuclear arms race and hydrogen experiments performed would lead to the clear and real danger of annihilation of the human race. The more he pondered over the dangers of the experiment he had taken part of he became full of fear and horror. The only person possessing the given authority to determine the fate of the experiment at the time, and perhaps the future of humanity, was the first secretary of the Soviet Party, Nikita Khrushchev. Sakharov wanted to talk with Khrushchev and to explain what unexpected problems the world might face. However in the dictatorial world of the Russia in which he lived he was afraid of two things and did not know which he should fear more, performing the nuclear experiments or confronting Khrushchev. At the end of an agonizing dilemma Sakharov decided almost at the last minute to take action. He called Khrushchev a day before the experiment for the ‘Bomba’ and in a brief conversation Sakharov described the dangers of the experiment and its results. “I’m very concerned,” explained Sakharov, “if we carry-out the experiment, radioactive fallout resulting from the air blast will cause the unnecessary death of hundreds of thousands of civilians.”

Khrushchev tried to reassure the worried scientist. “I assure you,” he told Sakharov “we will check carefully what can be done to delay the experiment”.

Sakharov took Khrushchev’s words seriously, almost as a binding promise on behalf of Khrushchev. For this reason he was very surprised to discover that on the very next day, the experiment was carried out as planned in a test site on the island of ‘Novaya Zemlya’ (3). It was the exact date the annual Soviet Communist Party congress was held, and Khrushchev chose it to be able to present the achievement of the Soviet Union, as well as his own to the world.

The experiment’s outcome and results were much more horrible than anticipated by Sakharov. The ‘Bomba’ was detonated over ‘Novaya Zemlya’ at 11:32 am, at 4000 m above sea level, north of the Arctic Circle. The fireball, climbing into the sky following the explosion, reached a height of 60 kilometers, more than the distance between Tel – Aviv to Caesarea for example. The diameter of the blast was around 30-40 kilometers, more than the distance between Tel – Aviv and Netanya. The light of the blast was clearly visible to a range of 1000 km from the center, and the heat of the blast was so intense it could cause a third-degree burn to any person standing within a range of 100 km. The explosion caused seismic noises recorded in all monitoring stations around the world and reached the level of 5.25 on the Richter scale of earthquakes. The thunder of the explosion moved around the Earth three times. Hundreds of kilometers from the blast wooden houses were destroyed and stone houses lost their tiled roofs, doors and windows. All radio transmissions in the area went silent for over an hour.

A witness to the explosion stationed in a most remote location said: “At first I saw a bright light to the degree of blinding whiteness, mute and without sound. Just a few minutes later there was a roar of heavy thunder, inhuman, like the roar of a murderous dragon from hell, as if the earth were dying and screaming the cry of the end of its life”.

A Soviet military team led by General Nikolai Pavlov studied and photographed the bomb’s performance in a monitoring station placed within 1000 km from the explosion. They had concluded the phenomenon with simple words that said it all: “All the mountains on the blast site were just deleted and the land was leveled as if someone wanted to make of the island a smooth skating surface. Everything that was in a range of 25 km from the blast zone, disappeared from the earth as if it just evaporated”.

After the Soviet nuclear scientists had examined the dreadful results of the hydrogen explosion they reached the conclusion that this nuclear option could not be used as a tactical or strategic weapon because it was actually much more than that. This weapon was a device for the destruction of cities and nations. It became clear to all parties concerned, in the Soviet Union as well as in the U.S., that the use of such a hydrogen bomb could wipe out any large European city, including its suburbs and satellite cities. Using such a strong bomb in Europe, for example, would mean the destruction of a whole nation or ‘at best’ a substantial part of it. This effect as well as the radioactive fallout of a bomb of this type, if used on the heart of the UK, would kill millions in the direct explosion and hundreds of thousands more from exposure to radioactive radiation in countries almost reaching to the Russian border.

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As part of Israel’s drive to obtain a ‘nuclear option’, many Israeli scientists have asked questions about this deterrent while taking into consideration all concerns for an enemy attack that could pose a second Holocaust for the Jewish people. These questions have been published in the media around the world perhaps in an attempt to solve the riddles and the mystery regarding the nuclear path. What would these scientists do if they were to arrive at the door of the hydrogen-nuclear world, and then continue to break through it. There are no reliable answers to these questions. A prevailing view within the scientific-intelligence world, including American intelligence studies, is that the answer is yes. Israel has hydrogen bombs for strategic targets and it is likely to play the ‘ultimate protector’ to ensure the continued and secure existence of Israel.

Whether information about the Israeli hydrogen bomb is true or false really doesn’t matter. What matters is the threat contained therein regarding Iran’s continued existence as a state. To understand how deep and scary this threat can be, it is important to know the extent of the hydrogen destruction Israel can cause following a possible attack on an Iranian target such as Tehran, the capital of the ruling Ayatollahs.

Tehran is the political, economic and social center of Iran. More than half of Iran’s industry is based in the city, automobile manufacturing, electrical products, textiles, weapons, sugar and chemicals. This metropolitan area is home to approximately 12 million inhabitants. According to sources a ‘small’ Hydrogen bomb set off over the skies of Tehran’s in response to an Iranian nuclear attack on Tel Aviv, can wipe out millions. Iran, whose fundamentalist leaders are doing everything possible to destroy Israel, would cease to exist. Strategical, security, and political experts worldwide are convinced that the Iranian leadership, whoever they are, and as threatening as they may be, cannot (now or in the future) ignore this frightening hydrogen threat dangling over their heads like a hanging sword on Judgment Day.

(1) The study, titled ‘Holy of Holies’, was prepared by intelligence researchers of the U.S. Air Force. Warner D. Farr. At the end of the study information is provided on the development of Israel’s atomic bomb arsenal and ballistic missiles from 1967 to 1997 under which Israel has 400 launch-able atomic and thermo-nuclear bombs.

(2) The USSR named it ‘Ivan the Terrible’ and the United States gave it the name ‘Tsar Bomba’.

(3) ‘Novaya Zemlya’ – the new land. An Archipelago with mountain peaks of more than 1000 m. The archipelago consists of two large islands in the Arctic Ocean. It has served as a Soviet nuclear testing site for years.

(4) To a layman, it seems that only the ‘insiders’ know the secret mystery of hydrogen bomb production. But today, in the accessible world and detailed information online, any man of means, including terrorists, are capable of forming a hydrogen bomb. Google query spectrum, for example, “how to build a thermo-nuclear bomb” raises a clear answer. For example, on fas.org/nuke/hew/library/teller.html one can find a detailed article about building the hydrogen bomb, according to the Teller-Ulam method, called ‘two-stage bomb’, including all technical and chemical components required.

(5) A Hydrogen bomb can also be considered a ‘small’ bomb of 1-2 Mega-tons which means a blowing power of 1-2 million tons of T.N.T.