Israel’s Secret Weapon

Sunday, June 7, 1981

Six F-15 escorts and eight F-16 fighter bombers roared off the runway from Etzion Air Force Base in southern Israel. The atmosphere was thick with tension. Before takeoff, Lt. General Rafael Eitan briefed the pilots, saying with unusual emotion, "The alternative is our destruction."

Israel’s intelligence had recently confirmed Iraq’s intentions to produce weapons at their Osirak nuclear facility. The atomic bombs that the Iraqi reactor could produce, using enriched uranium or plutonium, could be as devastating as the one dropped on Hiroshima. Faced with this mortal threat to Israel, the government decided to launch a preemptive strike. At 3:55 PM, the fighter jets took off in secret, while the rest of the country continued with its daily routine, unaware.