A report published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz shed light on secret funding for the Israeli nuclear project, indicating that West Germany may have financially contributed to the construction of the Dimona reactor during the 1960s and 1970s.
Since the exposure of the Dimona reactor in the Negev desert in December 1960, the Israeli nuclear programme has been the subject of numerous studies, books, and investigative reports.
Major works have examined the origins and development of the programme and the secrecy surrounding it. These include Avner Cohen’s book Israel and the Bomb, as well as studies by Seymour Hersh, Zaki Shalom, and Adam Raz. The 2024 documentary series The Atom and Me by journalist Shani Haziza also added a personal and social dimension to the story.
However, the report notes that two key questions remained unanswered for decades: how much the nuclear project actually cost and who financed its construction.
According to Haaretz, the government in Bonn transferred between 140 million and 160 million German marks annually to Israel between 1961 and 1973 through a secret loan mechanism.
The total funding is estimated at about two billion German marks, equivalent to roughly five billion euros or more than 5.7 billion US dollars in today’s value. A later repayment agreement signed in 1989 effectively converted the loan into a grant.
If the information proves accurate, the report indicates that a large portion of Israel’s nuclear project was not financed by Israeli taxpayers or private donors but by German public funds.
According to the report, the origins of the story date back to 1957 when relations between the occupying state and France were close following the Suez War of 1956. During that period, France secretly agreed to assist the occupying state in obtaining a nuclear reactor through agreements between the atomic energy authorities of both countries.
The newspaper noted that the Israeli prime minister at the time, David Ben Gurion, was not comfortable relying solely on French support. He feared a long term existential threat to the occupation and was concerned about the rise of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and Arab nationalism.
In that context, Ben Gurion began searching for what he described as an “umbrella for a rainy day”, considering West Germany a potentially suitable partner. West Germany was viewed as a rising European power opposed to Abdel Nasser, while its political leadership, led by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, believed Germany had a moral responsibility toward Israel following the Holocaust.
A secret meeting held on 3 July 1957 in Bonn between Shimon Peres, then director general of the Israeli Ministry of Defence, and West German defence minister Franz Josef Strauss marked one of the early moments in the development of cooperation between the two sides.
Ben Gurion feared that public relations with Germany could trigger a domestic crisis within the occupation, while Bonn was concerned that visible cooperation with the occupation might harm its relations with the Arab world and strengthen the diplomatic position of East Germany.
According to the report, West Germany viewed supporting the occupying state as both a moral commitment and a strategic investment, while the Israeli government sought military and political support.
During those discussions, Peres suggested that relations between the two countries should go beyond the reparations agreement signed in 1952.
Strauss responded positively, including to an Israeli request related to submarines. Although the Israeli military did not then consider submarines an urgent necessity, the request helped open the door to broader defence cooperation.
Eventually, submarines were purchased from Britain with German financing, while West Germany also bought military equipment from Israel worth approximately 30 million dollars, helping support the development of Israel’s defence industry.
The report states that the most significant turning point came on 14 March 1960 when Ben Gurion met Chancellor Adenauer at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York.
Although the meeting was public, the content of the discussions remained secret for years, and no official minutes exist. Nevertheless, it is widely regarded as an important milestone in the history of security relations between the two countries.
During the meeting, Ben Gurion directly linked the security of the occupation to the Holocaust, arguing that the destruction of European Jewry had significantly weakened the Zionist project. He presented German support as compensation for the crimes of the past and as a contribution to ensuring the future survival of the occupation.
While German military assistance received greater public attention, the report suggests that the most important element was a secret financial arrangement known as the “Negev Development” assistance.
Adenauer’s office gave the programme the codename Aktion Geschäftsfreund, meaning “Operation Business Friend”. Under the arrangement, Israel was to receive 50 million dollars annually for ten years at an interest rate of 3.6 percent.
Although Bonn initially planned to begin the programme after reparations payments ended in 1965, Israel pushed for the implementation to start earlier. The first payment was transferred in December 1961.
Due to the sensitivity of the matter, no formal treaty was signed.
Instead, Felix Shinnar, the representative of the Israeli government at the time, and Adenauer’s adviser Hermann Abs designed a mechanism to transfer the funds as commercially structured loans through a state owned development bank in Frankfurt.
To conceal the real purpose of the payments, the transfers were described in official documents as financial arrangements linked to bilateral agreements with unnamed developing countries. Germany’s ministers of economy and finance approved the mechanism, while the foreign minister, according to the report, was kept outside the circle of knowledge.
The situation became even more sensitive in May 1960 when Ben Gurion announced the capture of the Nazi official Adolf Eichmann and plans to try him in Jerusalem.
Officials in West Germany feared the trial could draw attention to prominent figures in Adenauer’s government who had served during the Nazi era. Among them was Hans Globke, the head of the chancellor’s office, who had helped draft the Nuremberg Laws and was aware of the emerging relationship with Israel.
Hermann Abs, who played a central role in the secret financing mechanism, had also been a prominent banker during the Nazi period.
The newspaper concluded that the Dimona project was built not only on French technological support but also on secret financial backing from West Germany. If these arrangements are fully confirmed, they may represent one of the most significant yet least publicly acknowledged aspects in the history of Israel’s nuclear programme.
