Decades after Hitler's campaign of extermination of the Jews, of all the countries in the world, the Jewish state of Israel is the only one constantly subject to calls for its annihilation. Since Israel's declaration to become a Jewish state in 1948 until today, the country has faced numerous unrest and struggles for its existence from its Arab neighbors who seek to take full control of it. It is a widely held belief among arms control experts that Israel began its nuclear program in the mid-1950s, primarily as a deterrent, due to military imbalances between it and its neighbors. However, the main reason for the development of Israel's nuclear capabilities, according to Israeli leaders, arose from the belief that the Holocaust justified all measures taken by Israel to ensure its survival. Nonetheless, Iran's more recent attempts to enrich uranium, combined with the president's calls to wipe Israel off the map, provide an excellent justification for Israel's nuclear program. This essay will be divided into three sections; the first will raise issues related to Israel's independence in 1948, which may justify Israel's attempts to create weapons of mass destruction for the purposes of survival, such as the outcome of the 1948 war and the implications of geographical position of Israel which threatens its existence. The second section will discuss Iran's most recent nuclear capabilities and its intentions towards Israel, as well as how Israel has approached and dealt with the issue of weapons of mass destruction in the region. The final section will examine the Israeli approach to nuclear deterrence, discussing the role that Israeli nuclear capabilities have played in deterring the Arab countries surrounding it. This essay will conclude... middle of paper ...... construction, and then it failed, since Israel's nuclear proliferation only encouraged Arab states to develop their own nuclear capabilities. Furthermore, Evron believes that for a nuclear deterrent to be effective, the state using it must have an official doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons, which Israel does not have. In the absence of doctrine, the nuclear threat will seem unreliable. Whether or not Arab leaders feel deterred by Israeli nuclear capabilities, causing an imbalance between Israel and Arab states, remains unclear. Indeed, Arab leaders and political figures have limited freedom of expression and are very limited in what they can say when it comes to admitting such a strategic imbalance, especially when this imbalance is in the hands of of Israel and the West. who are considered his opponents.