Samson Option

For the 1991 book, see The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy.

Samson Option
Pushing
Pulling
According to the biblical narrative, Samson died when he grasped two pillars of the Temple of Dagon, and "bowed himself with all his might" (Judges 16:30, KJV). This has been variously interpreted as Samson pushing the pillars apart (top) or pulling them together (bottom).

The Samson Option (Hebrew: ברירת שמשון, romanized: b'rerat shimshon) is Israel's deterrence strategy of massive retaliation with nuclear weapons as a "last resort" against a country whose military has invaded and/or destroyed much of Israel.[1] Commentators also have employed the term to refer to situations where non-nuclear, non-Israeli actors have threatened conventional weapons retaliation.[2]

The name is a reference to the biblical Israelite judge Samson who pushed apart the pillars of a Philistine temple, bringing down the roof and killing himself and thousands of Philistines who had captured him.[3][4]

  1. ^ "Strategic Doctrine". Global Security. April 28, 2005.
  2. ^ Keinon, Herb (January 31, 2002), "Selling the 'Samson option'", The Jerusalem post, archived from the original on June 23, 2004
  3. ^ Hersh 1991, pp. 137.
  4. ^ Beres, Louis René (November 16, 2018). "Israel and the "Samson Option" in an Interconnected World". Modern War Institute. Retrieved July 4, 2023.