Moshe Dayan, Israel鈥檚 most celebrated general, famously outlined the strategy he believed would keep Israel鈥檚 enemies at bay: 鈥淚srael must be a like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.鈥
Until now, most observers assumed Dayan was referring to Israeli military or possibly nuclear strategy, an expression in his typically blunt fashion of the country鈥檚 familiar doctrine of deterrence.
Nazareth
Israel faces unprecedented pressure to abandon its official policy of 鈥渁mbiguity鈥 regarding its possession of nuclear weapons.
Israel鈥檚 equivocal stance on its atomic status was shattered by reports on May 24 that it offered to sell nuclear-armed Jericho missiles to South Africa's apartheid regime in 1975.
The revelations are deeply embarrassing to Israel given its long-standing opposition to signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has argued instead that it is a 鈥渞esponsible power鈥 that would never misuse nuclear weapons technologies if it acquired them.