Website exposes Israeli 'nuke secrets'
Tal Rabinovsky, YNet

Leftist Israeli website claims to expose nuclear secrets published by
foreign sources

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3566189,00.html

July 10, 2008

Are Israel's nuke secrets available online? The Armageddon website
claims to sport vast amounts of information about Israel's nuclear
program and its manufacturing and storage facilities, as published by
various foreign sources.

The site is the brainchild of a large group of Israeli intellectuals,
journalists and philosophers affiliated with an Israeli group
advocating a Middle East free of atomic, biological, and chemical
weapons; the organization says Knesset Member Dov Khenin (Hadash) is
among its supporters.

According to the website's owners, the site is registered on an
Israeli domain and is hosted on Australian-based servers.
Armageddon's owners claim to be the proprietors of a second domain –
armagedonz.org – which they can use in case the Military Censor tries
to take it of the air. The details of the second domain's owner are
kept confidential – unlike those of the Israeli domain owner.

The group behind the website, backed by several organizations that
oppose the distribution of weapons of mass destruction, decided that
the topic of WMDs is not given its appropriate place in public debate
and that its increasingly growing urgency in the Middle East calls
for something to be done.

Website's homepage

'Website not illegal'
According to the website, the venture is sponsored by British group
CND – the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and found its Australian
host with the assistance of Enzyme – a New-Zealand group that
supports various progressive groups.

Gideon Spiro, a journalist and one of the site's contributing
editors, told Ynet that "none of the information on the site is
confidential, so we're not breaking the law. We simply think that
when it comes to the nuclear program, the public was brainwashed by
the government and doesn't have any credible information."

MK Dov Khenin, rumored to be one of the site's supporters, denied
Wednesday ever being approached by the site's editors: "I don't know
the site so I can't relate to it… I'm an outspoken advocate for
holding a debate on the nuclear (program) in both the political and
public arenas. I believe that the longer these things get put off,
the more difficult situation Israel may find itself in. I welcome any
debate on the subject."

Israel, he added, has an honest interest in disarming the Middle East
of any nuclear weapons. "One of our main needs is to demilitarize the
region, Iran included… I think this should be one of the pivotal
points in Israel's defense and foreign policy."

Spiro, on the other hand, is adamant about the fact the Khenin was
indeed approached: "I spoke with him and got his consent to put his
name on the site. Ideologically speaking, he opposes nuclear weapons,
as does any environmentalist. The Hadash platform has a clause
objecting to Israel having nuclear weapons. He must be committed to
the idea."

Armageddon is not the only website detailing information about
Israel's supposed nuclear capabilities: Surfing the internet for such
information results in numerous websites that offer information about
top secret units, tactical weapons and strategic measures held by
Israel. The majority of information, however, is not available in
Hebrew.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit offered the following response: "The
Military Censor is familiar with the website and is in the process of
studying its content; it will make its decision in due time,
regardless of the authenticity of the material posted on the website."

Niv Lillian contributed to this report

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