[E-rundbrief] Info 203 - Israel's Space-weapons, Vanunu's critic

So Feb 6 14:45:17 CET 2005

E-Rundbrief - Info 203 - Barbara Opall-Rome: Israeli Official Urges 
Space-Based Weapons; Vanunu criticizes Israel's military buildup.

Bad Ischl, 6.2.2005

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Israeli Official Urges Space-Based Weapons

Barbara Opall-Rome

HERZLIYA, Israel - Israel's top lawmaker for defense and security affairs 
has called for the development and deployment of space-based weapons as 
part of an integrated sea, air and space force designed to deliver decisive 
victory in future full-fledged conventional wars.

In a rare public discussion on Israel's military use of space, Yuval 
Steinitz, chairman of the Israel's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, 
said the nation must compensate for its lack of strategic depth on land by 
expanding use of sea- and space-based attacks.

Specifically, Steinitz urged defense and industry officials to consider 
future developments of anti-satellite missiles, satellite-attacking lasers 
and ship-based missiles "that can strike the skies."

"In Israel, our strategic Achilles' heel is our miniscule geographical 
size," Steinitz told a Dec. 22 symposium sponsored by the Israeli Space 
Society and the Fisher Institute for Strategic Air and Space Studies. "This 
lack of ground territory - and our obligation to defend the homeland from 
attack - drives the need to develop a strategic envelope of air, sea and 
space forces not only for defense, but for attack."

In his lecture, "Space and Israel's National Security," Steinitz outlined 
four worldwide trends in the militarization of space:

Use of satellites for intelligence and communications.

Satellite-guided weaponry.

Anti-satellite and satellite defense systems.

Space-to-ground means of attack.

"We can draw many lessons from the evolution of air warfare," Steinitz said 
in an interview. "Just as the airplane evolved from an intelligence 
gathering platform to a self-protected precision attack system, so should 
the satellite - in the years ahead - be maximized for all kinds of missions."

Citing proposed space-based weaponry programs in the United States and 
elsewhere, Steinitz said Israel must not ignore trends and technologies 
that can extend the battlefield beyond the atmosphere.

Tal Inbar, vice president of the Israeli Space Society and research fellow 
at Israel's Fisher Institute of Strategic Air and Space Studies, said, 
"This is the first time an Israeli official publicly talked about the need 
for Israel to develop its own space warfare capabilities such as ASAT 
[anti-satellite], radiation weapons and so on."

And while Steinitz conceded that his exhortations for a militarized, 
tightly integrated sea, air and space force was merely "my personal vision, 
at this point," he said he would use his influential committee chairmanship 
to push for greater space-related funding. "What we're seeing today is just 
the beginning spark of a new kind of warfare that warrants a new kind of 
defense doctrine and organizational structure," Steinitz said.

"In the long term, it should be possible to consider segregating the 
[Israel Defense Forces] into two arms: the Ground Forces arm and the 
Envelope Forces, which I envision as a combined sea, air and space arm that 
ensures strategic depth for deterrence and defense," Steinitz said.

Israel's technological advantage over regional adversaries will allow it to 
determine where and how the next major war will be fought, he said.

"The other side faces a military handicap when compared to Israel, but it 
can use its borders to try - through primitive means like Scud missiles, 
long-range artillery and guerrilla tactics - to threaten Israeli territory. 
Israel cannot allow itself to forsake its ground forces, but it also cannot 
permit itself to be dragged into a land war. Therefore, it is beneficial to 
push the war into the air, sea and space."

In the event that Israeli air bases and critical military facilities come 
under enemy attack, Steinitz said Israel would have to rely on assets 
deployed at sea and in space.

"Sea and space assets don't require physical contact with the homeland, and 
so they are more efficient and survivable in the event of conventional war."

The committee chairman disparaged conventional wisdom that Israel no longer 
faces the threat of large conventional wars involving massive ground attacks.

Some Reservations

While Steinitz's call for Israel's exploitation of space resonated among 
many of the officials at the event, his belief that sea- and space-based 
assets would contribute as much or even more than airborne capabilities 
rang hollow among the air-power enthusiasts.

"I have serious reservations about the doctrine mapped out tonight," David 
Ivry, former commander of the Israel Air Force, said in response to 
Steinitz' presentation.

Ivry, a former director-general of Israel's MoD who administered a 
significant portion of Israel's military space program in the 1980s and 
1990s, warned against over-reliance on satellites, given Israel's spotty 
track record in successfully inserting spacecraft into orbit.

Alluding for the first time that Israel suffered more than the two publicly 
known launch failures - one involving the Ofeq-4 in 1998 and the other last 
September with the failed Ofeq-6 launch - Ivry said, "We've had more 
satellites on the ground than in space. . The failures of satellites over 
time were too frequent, and it will be very difficult to build support for 
reliance on space."

More than 150 nations, including Russia, China, Canada and members of the 
European Union, are pressing for a permanent ban on weapons in space that 
goes well beyond the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which first codified "the 
peaceful use of outer space" and outlawed military bases or weapons of mass 
destruction in orbit. Annual attempts to update the treaty to include ASAT 
and other space-based weapons remain unsuccessful, largely due to 
opposition from the United States.

"Israel is one of the very few nations of the world that routinely abstains 
from voting for a resolution to ban weapons in space," noted Theresa 
Hitchens, vice president of the Washington-based Center for Defense 
Information, a public policy think tank.

"The assumption has always been that Israel did so to demonstrate political 
support for Washington ... But this news that serious people in Israel are 
seriously pushing for weaponizing space is highly disturbing, and shows 
that thinking in the United States is starting to corrupt the policies and 
doctrine of other space-faring nations," she said.

E-mail: bopallrome at defensenews.com.

www.DefenseNews.com, 11 January 2005

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Vanunu criticizes Israel's military buildup

The U.S. plans to sell Israel $ 319 million worth of air-launched bombs, 
including 500 "bunker busters" able to penetrate Iran's underground 
facilities. Many fear that Israel, with U.S. space satellite support, will 
soon preemptively attack Iran, setting off a chain reaction of further 
instability in the region.

According to one Israeli security source, "This is not the sort of ordnance 
needed for the Palestinian front. Bunker busters could serve Israel against 
Iran, or possibly Syria."

Shortly before George Tenet retired as director of the CIA, he alleged, 
"Israel was spying on the U.S." The scandal over a suspected Israeli mole 
in the Pentagon who could have been passing highly classified documents on 
Iran to Israel has reignited suspicions of espionage long held by the FBI.

It has long been known that Israel's intelligence organizations have been 
spying on the U.S. and running clandestine operations since Israel was 
established as a nation. These operations range from stealing an estimated 
200 pounds of weapons-grade uranium from the U.S. for its secret nuclear 
weapons program in the 1960's to widespread industrial espionage.
....
On August 27, 2004 a member of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear 
Power in Space was visiting the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Vanunu agreed 
to speak with the member, defying his court order, and gave permission to 
distribute his interview on the Internet.

In the interview Vanunu spoke out against plans for weapons in space and 
also criticized Israel's joint "missile defense" program with the U.S. 
called the Arrow system. Vanunu also criticized Israeli military spending 
saying it stole needed funds from human needs programs. He stated that, 
"Israel is not the democracy that is presented to the U.S. media.... The 
people behind the very large defense budgets are the new modern secret 
power. We should fight it by reducing the defense budget in every 
country....The human race has learned that they do not want to kill each 
other. They want to compete, develop."

Vanunu is now trying to get permission to leave Israel and settle in 
another country where he would be free to publicly campaign against the 
nuclear arms race.

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
globalnet at mindspring.com
http://www.space4peace.org

Quelle: Space Alert, Jan. 2005

Zu "Space-Based Weapons" (Rüstung im Weltraum) siehe auch: Info 197, 198, 200.

Orginal texts in English on: http://www.space4peace.org.

Zu "Mordechai Vanunu" siehe auch: Info 97, 104, 105, 160, 191

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