Final_Judgment

[46] Final Judgment 107
would never really be resolved until the day JFK died in Dallas. It was not
an auspicious start for the New Frontier.
KENNEDY 'NOT AMUSED' AND DE GAULLE 'ANNOYED'
According to Stephen Green: "The next year-1961—was to be an
important one in the process of the nuclearization of the Middle East. In
January, [Israeli Prime Minister] David Ben-Gurion informed the Israeli
Knesset and the rest of the world that the Dimona reactor was in fact not a
textile plant or a pumping station, but 'a scientific institute for research in
problems of arid zones and desert flora and fauna.' A new American
president, John Kennedy, was not amused." 103
In Paris, Charles DeGaulle's reaction mirrored that of Kennedy's. His
government had been providing nuclear technology assistance to Israel, but
with the assurance from Ben-Gurion that the nuclear development was
peaceful in nature.
According to Israeli historians Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman: "There
was also pressure from President DeGaulle in Paris. The French attitude
toward the Middle East began to change just after he took office in 1958 . . .
He suspected that the Dimona reactor was destined for military uses and this
greatly annoyed the French president." 104 (DeGaulle's later decision to grant
Algerian independence, already described, simply exacerbated his own already
growing tensions with Israel.)
In Washington, JFK was determined to settle the matter once and for
all. Stephen Green described Kennedy's next step: "In May Kennedy and
Ben-Gurion met in New York at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Kennedy had
already written to Ben-Gurion expressing his extreme concern about the
Dimona project, and suggesting regular inspections by the International
Atomic Energy Agency. In New York, Ben-Gurion agreed to a
compromise—(approximately) annual inspections by U.S. scientists at
times and on terms to be determined by the Israeli Defense Ministry.
"Later, Myer Feldman, Kennedy's aide for Middle East matters, would
reveal that in return for the periodic U.S. inspections, Ben-Gurion had
exacted a promise of provision of advanced Hawk ground-to-air missiles.
"There is no reason to doubt Kennedy's seriousness in wanting to track
Israeli nuclear research and forestall weapons development, but whether
annual inspections under the terms indicated achieved this result [was, as
events unfolded] open to question." 105
So it was that John F. Kennedy unintentionally found himself already
at loggerheads with Israel behind the scenes.
THE SECRET WAR
Kennedy's friendly overtures to the Arab states were only a public
aspect of what ultimately developed into an all-out 'secret war' between
Kennedy and Israel.