While the Hamas-Israeli conflict is in a tenuous ceasefire for the time being, I wanted to remind readers that Israel is steadily becoming a major nuclear power with its own “triad” of nuclear deterrence and retaliation. In any all-out war between Israel and its Islamic neighbors, Israel’s nuclear arsenal would guarantee a decisive and permanent victory for Israel. Make no mistake about it, despite the saber-rattling of Iran and the self-delusional declarations of Hezbollah and Hamas to obliterate the Jewish state, the Israeli nation will survive throughout the latter days and into the Millennium/Messianic Age. Zechariah 12 and 14 assures us of this Divinely-declared fact.
 
In Zephaniah 2, God declared that “Judah” (the Jews) would have an independent state in the old Promised Land in the latter days. This prophecy was fulfilled in 1948. In verse 8, God also states that he has heard the revilings of those nations around the Israelis who “magnify themselves against their [the Israeli] borders.” This prophecy has come true as the surrounding Islamic states and ones as far away as Iran regularly declare they will obliterate the Jewish nation and seize its territory. The Bible foretells that God will not allow this to happen. Indeed, God prophesies in Genesis 49:8-10, that in the latter days (see verse 1), the Jews/Israelis (“Judah”) will be a lion-like small nation (a lion’s cub or whelp) which has its “hand in the neck of its enemies,” achieving military victories.
 
This prophecy has been fulfilled in various Israeli-Arab wars since 1948, but few really appreciate how powerful the Israeli military is becoming in the event a new Mideast war occurs. The first link details the delivery this year of a new, advanced class of Dolphin subs that Germany is building for the Israelis. There are two more of these advanced subs on order from Germany already. I have posted about the Dolphin subs before, but I want new readers to be aware of the power that the Israeli military really possesses. The new Dolphin-class sub has a “new propulsion system that makes it almost impossible to detect.” Though diesel-powered, it is apparently considerably quieter than the nuclear-powered subs of other nations. The new sub’s missiles have an estimated range of 940 miles and the first link openly acknowledges that some of the cruise missiles carried by these subs will have nuclear warheads. Previous reports have been somewhat coy on this subject, but now there appears to be no more reluctance to acknowledge this capability. A Wikipedia description of the Dolphin subs is included in the second link and a montage of photos of the Dolphin subs is in the third link.
 
Israel already has three other Dolphin-class subs with lesser capabilities, but they have long been assumed to carry both conventional and nuclear warheads on their cruise missiles. Combined with nukes that can be delivered by Israeli warplanes and the nuclear-equipped Jericho missiles, the Israelis have a triad of nuclear deterrence that is very real and potent. Nations surrounding them would be most foolish to start an all-out war with the Israelis. In an all-out war, would the Israelis use their nukes to ensure their survival? I have no doubt they would. I’ve visited the Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the “Never Again” message permeates that memorial to the Holocaust.
 
While the new Israeli Dolphin subs will apparently be all but undetectable by any noise that they will generate, submarines can also be detected by Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) systems which can detect a passing sub by the disturbance it creates when its metallic body passes through the earth’s normal magnetic field. The Israelis surely know this, so I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the new Israeli subs have a stealth mode that will defeat MAD detection systems. MAD detection systems can be airborne, shipborne or satellite-generated. A powerful MAD detector system on a military satellite could theoretically make the oceans “transparent” so all submarines of all nations could be located and tracked. The new Israeli Dolphin sub may be able to defeat even that detection system.
 
More warlike preparations are being made in the Mideast, but those news items will be included in a new post in the near future.