Did Israel’s Nuclear Policy Deter Egypt?
Several scholars debated how effective Israel’s policy was in deterring its enemies. Zeev Maoz, head of the university’s public policy school, said Israel’s official policy of ambiguity had not prevented Egypt or Syria from attacking Israel in 1973 (see GSN, Jan. 14). Israeli nuclear policy did not contribute to advances in the Israel-Egypt peace process, either, he said, adding that Egypt agreed to negotiate in the hope that Israel would withdraw from Egyptian territory. Zeev Schiff, the military editor for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, disagreed. He said Egyptian generals told him they had limited their military goals, rather than attempted to destroy Israel, because they thought Israel might use nuclear weapons if its existence was threatened (Brilliant, United Press International, Jan. 15). Did Israel’s Nuclear Policy Deter Iraq? Maoz also said Israel’s nuclear capability was not the reason Iraq refrained from using missiles with chemical warheads against Israel during the Gulf Wa
