Samson Option
Israel's deterrence strategy of massive retaliation with nuclear weapons / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For the 1991 book, see The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy.
The Samson Option (Hebrew: ברירת שמשון, 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, such as Yasser Arafat.[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]