For 12 years, via completely secret channels, the German chancellor funneled the equivalent of 20 billion shekels to Israel. The goal: to fund its Dimona nuclear reactor and secure the country’s future

Since December 1960, when the existence of a nuclear reactor in the Negev city of Dimona was no longer a secret, countless books and articles have been published regarding this sensitive project – which Israel, with impressive obstinacy, still clouds with ambiguity.

The most important of these works, Avner Cohen’s 1998 book, “Israel and the Bomb,” laid the groundwork, upon which other important researchers – such as Seymour Hersh, Zaki Shalom and Adam Raz – based their extensive works. In 2024, investigative journalist Shany Haziza created an excellent documentary series, “The Atom and Me,” which put a human face on the project.