The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy is a 1991 book by Seymour Hersh. It details the history of Israel's nuclear weapons program and its effects on Israel-American relations. The "Samson Option" of the book's title refers to the nuclear strategy whereby Israel would launch a massive nuclear retaliatory strike if the state itself was being overrun, just as the Biblical figure Samson is said to have pushed apart the pillars of a Philistine temple, bringing down the roof and killing himself and thousands of Philistines who
Gaal (biblical figure) Gaal (biblical figure) Gaal (Hebrew:גַּעַל) was a minor 12th century BCE biblical character, introduced in the 9th chapter of Judges in the Hebrew Bible as the son of Ebed or Eved, or the son of a slave. His story is told in . Gaal had occupied Shechem and boasted to Zebul, the ruler of Shechem, that he could defeat Abimelech. Zebul secretly warned Abimelech of Gaal's plans and offered a plan to defeat Gaal. Abimelech defeated Gaal and drove him back to the gates of Shechem. Zebul subsequently drove Gaal and his remaining kinsmen from Shechem altogether. He is not