The Attack's Deeper Meaning

Thus the deeper meaning of the attack was that it amounted to a declaration of war against the Arab world's efforts to enter the atomic age. The attack was Israel's way of declaring that only the Jewish state would be allowed to participate in advanced technology, while the Arabs would be consigned to non-nuclear technology and second-class economies.

Israel was universally condemned. The White House advised Congress that a "substantial" violation of the Arms Export Control Act prohibition against the use of U.S. weapons except in self-defense "may have occurred" in Israel's bombing of Iraq's nuclear facility.4 It was the third time the act had been invoked against Israel, the first two occurring during the Carter administration because of Israeli attacks on Lebanon.5 But, as in the prior cases, Congress declined to take any action.6