Did J. Robert Oppenheimer Help Israel Build the Bomb?

An article published on Ynet News early in 2025 pairs J. Robert Oppenheimer to nuclear developments in Israel. The article describes how the growing energy needs of technology data centers may push Israel to develop nuclear power plants. However, it is also a tacit reminder of Israel’s nuclear weapons capability.

According to Emad Moussa, Oppenheimer was involved in the development of Israel’s nuclear weapons. Moussa points out that the recent movie “Oppenheimer” portrays the “father of the atomic bomb” as having had misgivings about the creation of the bomb. He certainly advocated against the further development of nuclear weapons. Yet, Moussa notes, this moral dilemma did not stop him from helping Israel develop nuclear weapons.

Was Oppenheimer involved in the development of Israel’s nuclear arsenal? After all, the movie, as well as two comprehensive biographies about him, “American Prometheus” and “Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center,” make it clear that Oppenheimer was, at best, indifferent to his Jewish heritage. (To be fair, both biographies mention that he donated to charities supporting German-Jewish refugee scientists fleeing the Nazis, and both mention that Oppenheimer helped relatives get out of Germany.)

Not mentioned in the movie or books is that Oppenheimer had an Israeli connection, one that began in November 1947 when he and Albert Einstein met with scientist and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton, New Jersey to discuss the possible development of a nuclear reactor in pre-state Israel.

We also know that Oppenheimer made at least two trips to Israel: one in 1958 to participate in the inauguration of a nuclear physics program at the Weizmann Institute, and another, seven years later, to participate in a meeting of the Board of Governors of the Institute.

Oppenheimer made two speeches in relation to the Weizmann Institute, the first one in May 1958, at the inauguration, and a second in December 1958 at a dinner for Weizmann supporters at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. From these it is clear that Oppenheimer empathized and supported the the Zionist enterprise.

Yet supporting the establishment of the State of Israel and supporting the creation of an academic program in nuclear physics are not the same as providing help for the development of an atomic bomb. The key point in Moussa’s article is his statement that in 1952, Oppenheimer and Edward Teller, Oppenheimer’s colleague at the Manhattan Project, met in Tel Aviv with David Ben-Gurion, then Prime Minister of Israel, to explore how to manage Israel’s plutonium reserves.

Moussa probably read the 2006 Michael Karpin book “The Bomb in the Basement.”  Karpin mentions that Oppenheimer and Teller had a meeting in Tel Aviv with Ben-Gurion in 1952 to discuss plutonium production. While Karpin’s book is a clearly written, documented description of how Israel acquired the bomb (mostly a collaborative effort involving France), there is no source for the statement about the meeting between Oppenheimer, Teller and Ben Gurion.

(The entry for J. Robert Oppenheimer on the Jewish Virtual Library website also mentions the early 1950s meeting between Ben Gurion, Teller and Oppenheimer to discuss plutonium reserves, but I suspect that the source is the Karpin book.)

Teller does not mention such a meeting in his lengthy 2001 autobiography. He does refer to several visits to Israel, but he mentions that his first visit took place in 1965. In fact, Karpin himself implies a few pages later in his book that Teller’s 1965 visit was his first to Israel.

Moreover, an article based on declassified Israeli state archives, states that the 1958 meeting between Oppenheimer and Ben-Gurion was their first. Later, meeting with his cabinet, Ben-Gurion said that he detected a Jewish spark in the man (Oppenheimer). It’s true that Ben-Gurion also said that Oppenheimer was encouraging about pursuing a nuclear option. But we only have Ben-Gurion’s word on this, the word of a Prime Minister trying to influence his government. By 1958, Israeli scientists were already at work with the French, a development kept from Oppenheimer.

It’s true that Ben-Gurion also said that Oppenheimer was encouraging about pursuing a nuclear option.

Perhaps Ben-Gurion was right when he said he detected a Jewish spark in Oppenheimer. In Yiddish, the expression is a “pintele yid.” It refers to a core Jewish essence, even in assimilated Jews. It can make its presence felt at the most unexpected and unpredictable moments.

A final consideration: In 1952, Oppenheimer was under scrutiny by the FBI because of earlier communist sympathies. This was after all the McCarthy era. He was also was deeply embroiled in controversy over his opposition to the development of the hydrogen bomb (“the Super”). It is difficult to believe that he would participate in a meeting with Teller, his nemesis, especially since Teller was the primary proponent for the development of such a bomb.

Jacob Sivak, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, is a retired professor, University of Waterloo.