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ABSTRACT
During the 1967 crisis, Yitzhak Ya’akov (nicknamed Ya’tza) was the senior Israeli Defense Force (IDF) staff officer in charge of weapons development, and as such acted as the chief liaison between the IDF and all civilian defense industries, including the nuclear project. This edited transcript documents one of a series of conversations that Avner Cohen had with Ya’tza, in Hebrew, in the summer of 1999 at Ya’tza’s residence in New York City. A longer version, slightly redacted due to security and privacy considerations, was posted on the website of the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project (NPIHP) in 2017.
Notes
1 See “Interview with Yitzhak ‘Ya’tza’ Ya’akov by Avner Cohen,” 1999, History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, from the personal collection of Avner Cohen, <digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/145093>.
2 In May 1967, Maj. Gen. Ezer Weizman (1924–2005) was the chief of the IDF General Staff Operations Directorate, the number two officer in the IDF, and Ya’tza’s boss. Later, he served as Israel’s minister of defense (1977–80) and Israel’s president (1993–2000).
3 The pit (in Hebrew, bor) is a reference to the IDF’s underground command center at its Tel Aviv Headquarters, the Kirya.
4 “Gandhi” was the nickname of Maj. Gen. Rehavam Ze’evi (1926–2001), who, in 1967, was Ezer Weizman’s deputy and Ya'tza’s superior.
5 Lt. Col. Moshe Shachar was one of Ya’tza’s subordinates, the head of the section that dealt directly with unconventional weaponry issues. He served effectively as the military liaison with the nuclear project.
6 On May 23, 1967, after his meeting with former Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin had a mental breakdown and rushed to rest at his home. For a period of about two days, Ezer Weizman served as the acting chief of staff. Senior officials were told at the time that Rabin had a “nicotine attack.” More than a decade later, Weizman publicly disclosed the episode in his autobiography.
7 Professor Israel Dostrovsky (1918–2010) wore two hats in 1967: the director-general of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) and, in parallel, the first head of the newly created Scientific Administration, known as the Minhal Madaii, a secret administrative entity in charge of Israel’s nuclear-weapons-related activity, established in 1966. Dostrovsky was among the first Israeli natives (sabras) to become scientists. He studied physical chemistry at University College in London in the early 1940s, receiving his doctorate in 1943. He taught and researched for five years in the United Kingdom, becoming an authority on isotope research. He returned to Palestine in 1948 and founded the Department of Isotope Research at the Weizmann Institute. As a major in the IDF Science Corps, he created Hemed Gimmel, the forerunner of the IAEC, founded in 1952. In 1966, Dostrovsky was appointed the head of the nuclear agency, with his two hats, under Prime Minister Levi Eshkol as the chairman of the IAEC.
8 Professor Yuval Ne’eman (1925–2006) was an Israeli theoretical physicist, senior military intelligence officer, and politician. He was deeply involved in the Israeli nuclear project and in the early 1960s served as the scientific director of the Soreq Nuclear Research Center. Subsequently, he was minister of science and development in the 1980s and early 1990s.
9 Dr. Avraham Hermoni, a chemist by training, was a technical manager at RAFAEL—the Ministry of Defense's research and development division—in charge of the nuclear program. See: “Interview with Avraham Hermoni,” NPIHP, <www.wilsoncenter.org/avraham-hermoni>.
10 AMLACH is the Hebrew acronym representing the Weapons Systems division of the IDF General Staff Operations directorate, which Ya’tza led in 1967.
11 Col. Yevgeni (Jenka) Ratner (1909–79), an engineer with an artist’s touch who was legendary for his knowledge of explosives, oversaw some aspects of the nuclear project underway at RAFAEL from the late 1950s.
12 Sayeret Matkal was an elite IDF special operations unit, primarily responsible for intelligence collection. Dovik was Brig. Gen. Dov Tamari (b. 1936), then the newly appointed commander of Sayeret Matkal.
13 The question refers to Rabin’s breakdown on May 23. See footnote 6.
14 Brig. Gen. Israel Lior (1921–81) served as the senior military aide to both Prime Minister Eshkol and Prime Minister Golda Meir during 1966–74. He was a major participant in devising the early command-and-control system that covered the nuclear issue.
15 Maj. Gen. Dan Tolkowsky (b. 1921), a former commander of the Israeli Air Force (1953–58), was a member of some of the key committees that supervised the nuclear project. He was a de facto trustee of the nuclear project for decades.
16 “Chera” is the nickname of former Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Zvi Zur. Chera served as the de facto top official when Moshe Dayan was appointed as minister of defense on June 1, 1967. Practically, Chera inherited all the authorities of the deputy minister of defense, Zvi Dinstein, whom Dayan fired upon being appointed.
17 Dado is the nickname of Lt. Gen. David Elazar (1925–76), the ninth chief of the IDF General Staff, serving in that capacity from 1972 to 1974. Elazar was forced to resign in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. It is likely that Ya’tza was referring to the period from 1970 to 1971, when Elazar served as director of operations.