Original Proposal

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The Original Proposal was first posted in Sec. 3 (Possible Topics for Future Meetings) on 10/15/2023 for the stated purpose of studying how history is repeating itself –

During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israel’s 7 nuclear missiles enabled Israel to avoid becoming the answer to a trivia question (What WAS Israel?) and now it looks like the world is headed to a nuclear holocaust between Iran and Israel with the only question being “How Soon?”!!!

Three comments are in order.

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Our focus book (The Samson Option by Seymour Hersh – Random House 1991) about, inter alia, Israel’s 7 nuclear missiles at the time of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, reports the only reason why Israel survived was due to its policy that if it ever reached the point of fewer than 24 hours to go to complete annihilation, before “turning out the lights” it would fire its 7 nuclear missiles at Russia’s 7 largest cities.

HOWEVER, the 10/15/2023 Original Proposal did NOT contain Random House’s book description and author bio from the book’s dust jacket because (1) Amazon.com which usually parrots that info, was no longer doing so, and (2) Yours Truly’s copy was buried in “perma-frost.”

[Most of our members have heard more times than they care to remember that I was married 1967-2000 to the co-author of the nation’s best-selling High School World History textbook (McGraw Hill with National Geographic illustrations) as a result of which my “real job” (vs. my “day job” as an attorney) was to read 12-15 thick historical tomes/bios PER YEAR to unearth overlooked nuggets for possible inclusion in the next edition, of which there were 6 during the 33 years of marriage. And “since old dogs do NOT learn new tricks,” the total of tomes/bios is now well over 1,500.]

Unfortunately, my original 1991 copy of The Samson Option is contained in one of the zillions of storage boxes dating from my 1967-2000 marriage – the exploration and cataloguing of whose contents have always been too painful.

Luckily (or perhaps due to self-discipline), I have always been blessed with a photographic memory for anything that seemed important and/or interesting.

The Samson Option qualified in both categories.

Accordingly, the two dozen references to it on our bulletin board going back to 2008, the earliest of which was featured prominently in the 10/15/2023 Original Proposal, were like the proverbial “falling off a log.”

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On 11/15/2023, another copy of The Samson Option was obtained from Amazon.

Accordingly, in addition to the 10/15/2023 Original Proposal based solely on memory, there is posted in this section Random House’s book description and author bio from the book’s dust jacket which Amazon has ceased publicizing but which typically comprise the bulk of our Original Proposals.

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The recently-mushrooming price of “The Samson Option” –

The 10/15/2023 Original Proposal quoted Amazon’s price as “$19.00 Hard Copy ($23.43 Paperback) + shipping or $7.99 Kindle.”

Today (11/16/2023), Amazon’s price is -- $67.53 Hard Copy ($139.00 Paperback) + shipping or $12.99 Kindle.

I would like to think this recently-mushrooming price on Amazon is due solely to my actions –

(1) Introducing “The Samson Option” into the weekly Zoom Chats since 10/7/2023 of my Harvard Law School Class of 1967.

(2) Introducing “The Samson Option” into the recent Salt Lake Committee on Foreign Relations meeting on “The Gaza War: How did we get here?” featuring a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

and, perhaps, most importantly –

(3) Posting the Original Proposal 10/15/2023 on our website which gets quite a bit of traffic, particularly from academics and members of the media.
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johnkarls
Posts: 2095
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Original Proposal

Post by johnkarls »

Originally posted by johnkarls » Sun Oct 15, 2023 10:33 am – 244 views in Sec. 3 (Possible Topics for Future Meetings) before being transplanted here.


I propose that we read The Samson Option: Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy by Pulitzer Prize Winner Seymour Hersh (Random House 10/27/1991 – 354 pages - $19.00 Hard Copy ($23.43 Paperback) + shipping or $7.99 Kindle from Amazon.com)

The current War in Israel demonstrates IMHO that history is repeating itself.

The 1973 War featured Syrian tanks rolling through Israel because Israel was rationing its ammunition because Henry Kissinger had refused to re-supply Israel following the 1967 War.

Israel, at that time, had only 7 nuclear missiles but they were the reason why Israel did NOT become the answer to a trivia question – what WAS Israel!!!

Our group has never read The Samson Option even though we have invoked it some two dozen times since 4/27/2008.

One of the most recent was this past January when our focus book was “Bibi: My Story” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and our two “Short Quizzes” were entitled –

(1) The Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA), and

(2) The Abraham Accords and Realpolitik.

[They and their Suggested Answers are available at viewforum.php?f=723&sid=6cc7af5c17f509e ... 946b70284c.]

FOR A PEEK AT “THE SAMSON OPTION” SINCE AMAZON NO LONGER PROVIDES A SUMMARY, THERE FOLLOWS BELOW TWO “TEASER QUESTIONS” AT THE END OF THE FIRST SHORT QUIZ COMPRISING A PREVIEW OF THE SECOND SHORT QUIZ.

BTW, for America’s Mainstream Media to ponder – it has always been recognized that Global Warming (aka Climate Change) can be solved by occasional small nuclear wars since they throw up significant debris into the earth’s atmosphere which takes a long time to settle.

[My apology to the victims of the impending Israel/Iran Nuclear Holocaust for the seeming insensitivity of this observation but something needs to be done to awaken the American Mainstream Media!!!]


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TEASER QUESTIONS FOR THE SECOND SHORT-QUIZ (on the Abraham Accords)

1. Is it any wonder that the “Gulf State Six” (aka “Gulf Cooperation Council” -- Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates) should turn for a protective “nuclear umbrella” to Israel which shares the same existential threat from Iran?

2. Has Israel been a nuclear power since before the 1973 Arab-Israeli War?

Hint re Q-2 –

ENTER IN THE PRIMITIVE SEARCH BOX IN THE UPPER-RIGHT-HAND CORNER OF EVERY FRAME OF THIS BULLETIN BOARD – “Samson” w/o the quotation marks – and 24 items dating back to 4/27/2008 are listed for ready access.

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THE FOLLOWING IS QUOTED FROM THE LAST ITEM DATED 4/27/2008 -

Pulitzer-Prize winner Seymour Hersh's “The Samson Option: Israel’s Nuclear Option and American Foreign Policy” (Random House 10/27/1991) described

(a) Israel’s nuclear-weapons program,

(b) how prior to the 1973 attack by Egypt, Israel had a policy that if it ever had fewer than 24 hours to go until annihilation it would fire its nuclear missiles which incidentally were AIMED AT RUSSIAN CITIES RATHER THAN ARAB CAPITALS,

(c) how the Israeli cabinet believed they were within 24 hours of annihilation by Syria during the 1973 war because Israel had been rationing its ammunition vis-à-vis which Henry Kissinger had been refusing to re-supply Israel for 12 months, and

(d) how the Israeli cabinet decided to fire their nuclear missiles AFTER firing a telex to Kissinger giving him a “heads up” on what would be “going down” within a matter of minutes.

Kissinger, according to Seymour Hersh, responded immediately that the Israelis should begin firing their conventional ammunition “as if there were no tomorrow” and that American re-supply planes would take off at dawn. The Israelis did, the Syrian lines stabilized, and Israel did not become the answer to a trivia question (What WAS Israel???).

So if Israel followed the philosophy of General/President Charles de Gaulle when he withdrew France from NATO and developed his own nuclear weapons that America’s nuclear umbrella is NOT credible and only French nuclear weapons would stop Russian tanks from rolling to the Atlantic, what makes Hillary*** think that the “Gulf State Six” will be more gullible than the French and the Israelis???

**********End of 4/27/2008 Quotation**********


[*** During Hillary Clinton’s 2008 Presidential Campaign, she had advocated placing Israel and the Gulf State Six under America’s “Nuclear Umbrella.”]

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