Date:11/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/11/stories/2006031103751400.htm

International

U.K. helped Israel get nuclear bomb

Hasan Suroor

Records obtained under Information Act

LONDON: It has been called Britain's "dirty secret'' — and now it is out, much to the embarrassment of Prime Minister Tony Blair as he leads the U.S.-orchestrated campaign against Iran over its nuclear programme.

According to classified documents obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act, Britain helped Israel with its secret nuclear programme in the 1960s by supplying it small but significant quantities of plutonium despite intelligence warnings that it was likely to make a "material contribution to an Israeli weapons programme''.

The disclosure, coupled with previous revelations that Britain sold Israel heavy water — a key substance in building a bomb — has prompted accusations that it tried to "cover up'' its role in facilitating Israel's nuclear programme.

The latest revelation is particularly embarrassing for the Blair administration because it relates to the period when Labour was in power with Harold Wilson as Prime Minister. Ironically, the Ministry of Technology, which did the secret deal with Israel despite opposition from the Defence Ministry and the Foreign Office, was then headed by Tony Benn, a leading Left-wing figure and an indefatigable champion of nuclear disarmament.

An angry Mr Benn has denied any knowledge saying that neither he nor his predecessor was ever told about the deal, which according to documents, was pushed through by a senior Jewish civil servant Michael Michaels.

"I'm not only surprised. I'm shocked. It never occurred to me that they would authorise something so totally against the policy of the Government. Michaels lied to me. I learned by bitter experience that the nuclear industry lied to me again and again,'' Mr Benn told the BBC's Newsnight programme on Thursday.