Avner Cohen

Avner Cohen
Occupation	Professor and Senior Research Fellow
Nationality	Israeli, American
Alma mater	Tel Aviv University, York University, University of Chicago
Subject	Historical, philosophical, and policy of issues related to the nuclear age
Notable works	Israel and the Bomb, 1998 & The Worst-Kept Secret, 2010
Website
www.nonproliferation.org/experts/avner-cohen/

Avner Cohen (born 1951) is an Israeli-American writer, historian, and professor. He is a prominent figure in the nonproliferation academic community, well known for his works on Israel's nuclear history and global nuclear history. He is currently a professor at the Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies (NPTS) Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, where he also serves as a senior affiliate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Dr. Cohen is a member of the Editorial Board of the Nonproliferation Review, a fellow and contributing editor to many Electronic Briefing Books at the National Security Archive at the George Washington University, and the owner of the "Avner Cohen Collection" at the Digital Archive of the Woodrow Wilson Center. He is also a regular contributor to Israel's daily, Haaretz.

Cohen grew up north of Tel Aviv in Ramat HaSharon. He received a B.A. in philosophy and history from Tel Aviv University in 1975. He then studied at York University where he received an M.A. in philosophy in 1977 and four years later earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in the Committee on History of Culture. After these studies he embarked on an academic career, teaching first at Washington University in St. Louis, then sequentially at Ben-Gurion University, Tel Aviv University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, The George Washington University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Haifa, and the University of Maryland. Since 2011 he has been a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Over the decades of teaching, he has taught classes on nuclear weapons, terrorism, security and WMD in the Middle East, morality and contemporary security, proliferation and intelligence, global politics, nuclear weapons and democracy, Israel and the bomb, and many other classes on philosophy, policy, and ethics.

Cohen previously held research and fellowship positions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM), the National Security Archive, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Jennings Randolph Program for International Peace (USIP), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Cohen has researched various issues with regard to international relations and nuclear weapons, including deterrence, morality, and proliferation. His seminal work, Israel and the Bomb, which chronicled the history of the Israeli nuclear program, was published in 1998 (Columbia University Press). This book led to a decade-long series of encounters with the Israeli military censor, and other security offices in Israel, that ultimately resulted in a substantial and unprecedented criminal investigation against Cohen upon his return to Israel in March 2001 to give a keynote speech at an academic conference.

Cohen has authored and edited seven books: Nuclear Weapons and the Future of Humanity (Edited with Steven Lee, 1986), Humanity in the Shadow of the Bomb (1987, in Hebrew), The Nuclear Age: A Chapter in Moral History (1989, in Hebrew), The Institution of Philosophy: A Discipline in Crisis (with Marcelo Dascal, 1989), Israel and the Bomb (1998), Israel's Last Taboo (2005, in Hebrew), and The Worst-Kept Secret: Israel's Bargain with the Bomb (2010). Some of his books have been translated or re-released in French and Persian (an illegal publication).

Navigating the Israeli Censor

The preliminary work that would eventually become Israel and the Bomb began in the early 1990s, during Cohen’s time at MIT. Traveling back and forth from the United States and Israel to conduct historical interviews, Cohen was eventually confronted by auxiliaries of the Israeli military censor, who were concerned that the contents of his research might jeopardize classified information regarding the Israeli nuclear program. ^[1]

In a lengthy interview with the Atomic Heritage Foundation, Cohen describes the complex process of publishing Israel and the Bomb. He states, “…to do work on the Israeli case was not a simple thing. I had to struggle and to address very powerful forces that did not want the story to be out…some top bureaucrats.” ^[2]

Cohen initially (1993) submitted a short manuscript, the precursory document of Israel and the Bomb, to the Israeli censor. After rounds of back-and-forth disputes about what details could have posed a breach of security, Cohen eventually filed a formal petition (BAGATZ) in 1994 against the Israeli chief military censor (Brig. General Yitzhak Shani) and Israel’s Minister of Defense, Yitzhak Rabin, with the Israeli Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had one closed-door session on the case in September 1994, in which at its end the three justices pleaded both sides to find a compromise.

The two main institutions that were fighting the publishing of Cohen’s work were the Military Censor, known in Israel as the censora, and the Office of Security of the Defense Establishment, also known by its Hebrew acronym, MALMAB. Cohen eventually withdrew his Supreme Court appeal in 1995 as it became evident that no practical compromise was acceptable to the security establishment, concerned that a verdict striking down the manuscript could have set a dangerous legal precedent and may have decreased the likelihood of eventual publishing of the work. Cohen continued working on his research determined to publish it as a book in the United States. The English edition was published in 1998 by Columbia University Press, and soon after Israeli publisher Schocken Publishing House purchased the rights to publish the book in Hebrew in Israel.

Meanwhile in Israel, the security chief of MALMAB, Yechiel Horev, was building a case against Cohen, insisting that he should be arrested and stand trial if he returned to Israel. ^[3] It has been suggested that Horev raised this issue with at least four prime ministers: Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, and Ariel Sharon, claiming that Israel and the Bomb signified a direct affront to the nuclear opacity policy and should be banned.

Weary of traveling back to Israel after several cancelled trips, in early 2001 Cohen was invited by the Israeli Society for History and Philosophy of Science to deliver the keynote speech at its annual meeting in Jerusalem. ^[4] Unsure of what might transpire upon his arrival, Cohen accepted the invitation. ^[5] Despite warning, Cohen was not detained at the airport as had happened on a previous trip but was summoned to a joint criminal investigation, conducted by MALMAB and the Israeli police, on whether the publication of Israel and the Bomb in the United States was a violation of Israel’s national security laws, especially Israeli Espionage act. Only in 2004, years after his publishing, the investigation and case against him were officially closed.

Because the research for the book was based, in part, on hundreds of oral interviews – with Israeli, American, French and Norwegian sources – some of the book’s contents were never in the public domain before; the first of their kind. In his 2020 introduction to the French edition of Israel and the Bomb, Cohen adds that “…the writing of the book was not just the intellectual issue of doing history, but it was also struggling with institutions and forces who were committed to do their best not to let the story come out.” ^[6]

The book’s publishing was notable, perhaps unprecedented, because it was the first time in Israel’s history when a product of legitimate academic research was banned in its entirety by an administrative ruling of the Israeli military censor. ^[7] It was also the first time in Israel’s history that a criminal investigation was initiated for espionage charges against a legitimate academic researcher who had never been a government employee. Cohen attributes the extreme conduct to Israel’s interest in preserving its biggest national taboo-- its nuclear program. The Israeli security authorities saw this book as a direct threat against the country’s untouched policy of nuclear opacity which relies heavily on that national taboo. ^[8]

Comprehensive accountings of the struggle against the censor are available in the French edition of Israel and the Bomb, in a C-SPAN interview, and the aforementioned Atomic Heritage Foundation interview. ^[9]

Views

Cohen has been critical of what he considers Benjamin Netanyahu's deployment of the Holocaust for political ends. ^[10] His various op-eds reveal a cautionary outlook on the state of democracy in Israel under the Netanyahu administration, citing a hubristic mishandling of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (Iran nuclear deal) and a refusal to take responsibility for what Cohen calls “the recklessness that led to Hamas’ massacre” on October 7th, 2023. ^[11] Cohen actively publishes op-eds regarding the conflict and its implications.

Appearances in Media

Cohen is often regarded as one of the world’s leading historians on the Israeli nuclear program, and as such he has often contributed in media as a content advisor. He has appeared in documentaries such as BBC’s “Israel, Vanunu, and the Bomb”, PBS’s “A Nuclear Requiem”, and various other historical productions by academic institutions. ^[12] Many of his interviews are archived and are accessible on the Wilson Center digital archive, and some of his CNS interview and discussion panels are available on the CNS website and on YouTube. ^[13] Recently Cohen has become a regular contributor on the largest Indian English TV network, WION.

Awards

Cohen received the MacArthur Foundation research and writing award twice, first in 1990 then in 2004. ^[14]

Publications

Cohen has been published in global media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Jerusalem Post, The Washington Times, Haaretz, The Jerusalem Report, and Yedioth Ahronoth. He has conducted many notable historical interviews with people such as Bertrand Goldschmidt, Yitzhak “Ya’tza” Yaakov, Arnan “Sini” Azaryahu, Avraham Hermoni, Edwin Kintner, Elie Geisler, Myer Feldman, and Walt Rostow. Those interviews are now part of the “Avner Cohen’s Collection,” which is part of the Digital Archive of the Woodrow Wilson Center. In addition to his books, Cohen has written hundreds of journal articles, book chapters, op-eds, and magazine articles over his career.

Works

• Doubt, anxiety, and salvation. 1981. (Ph.D. thesis)
• Nuclear weapons and the future of humanity : the fundamental questions . Totowa, N.J: Rowman & Allanheld. 1986. ISBN   978-0-8476-7258-5. (with Steven Lee)
• The Institution of philosophy: a discipline in crisis?. La Salle, Ill: Open Court. 1989. ISBN   9780812690934. (with Marcelo Dascal) (reprint ISBN   978-0-8126-9094-1)
• The Nuclear Age: A Chapter in Moral History (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defense. 1989.
• Nuclear shadows in the Middle East : prospects for arms control in the wake of the Gulf Crisis. Cambridge, Mass: Defense and Arms Control Studies Program, Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1990. (with Marvin Miller)
• Israel and the bomb . New York: Columbia University Press. 1998. ISBN   0-231-10482-0.
• Israel’s Last Taboo (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir Publishing House. 2005.
• The Worst-Kept Secret: Israel's Bargain with the Bomb. New York: Columbia University Press. 2010. ISBN   978-0-231-13698-3.
• Israël et la bombe: L'histoire du nucléaire israélien. Paris: Editions Demi Lune. 2020. ISBN   9782917112489.

Books and Special Edition Academic Journals:

• Nuclear Weapons and the Future of Humanity: The Fundamental Questions (Co-edited with Steven Lee. Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Allanheld. 1986.
• Humanity Under the Shadow of the Bomb (in Hebrew). Tev Aviv: Hakibbutz Ha-meuchad Publishing House. 1987.
• The Institution of Philosophy (Co-edited with Marcelo Dascal). La Salle: Open Court. 1989. ISBN   0812690931.
• Nuclear Norms in Global Governance: A Progressive Research Agenda. Contemporary Security Policy. 2018.
• Nuclear Dimensions of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The Nonproliferation Review. 2018.

References

1. Gudbergsdottir, Eva. "A Conversation with Avner Cohen". Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
2. Levy, Alexandra. "Avner Cohen's Interview". Atomic Heritage Foundation.
3. Benn, Aluf. "Censoring the Past". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
4. Avner, Cohen. "Letter from Avner Cohen". Federation of American Scientists. Federation of American Scientists.
5. Avner, Cohen. "Letter to Elyakim Rubinstein". Federation of American Scientists. Federation of American Scientists.
6. Cohen, Avner (2020). Israël et la Bombe- L'histoire du Nucléaire Israélien. Éditions Demi-Lune. p. 649. ISBN   9782917112106.
7. C-SPAN. "Israel and the Bomb". C-SPAN. C-SPAN.
8. Cohen, Avner. "Crossing the Threshold: The Untold Nuclear Dimension of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and Its Contemporary Lessons". Arms Control Association. Arms Control Association.
9. C-SPAN. "Israel and the Bomb". C-SPAN. C-SPAN.
10. Avner Cohen (28 March 2012). "Netanyahu's contempt for the Holocaust". Haaretz. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
11. Cohen, Avner. "Iran's Nukes, October 7 and Netanyahu: A Reckless Legacy". Haaretz. Haaretz.
12. PBS. "The Nuclear Requiem". PBS. PBS.
13. Wilson Center. "The Avner Cohen Collection". Wilson Center. Wilson Cennter.
14. James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. "Avner Cohen". James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

• "Biography: Dr. Avner Cohen". GWU National Security Archive. Archived from the original on 17 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-14.

External links

• The Avner Cohen Collection hosted at the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project
• Interview with Ha'aretz

Selected Op-Eds

“Israeli Talk of Attacking Iran Damages Relationship with US,” September 4, 2012, Israeli Talk of Attacking Iran Damages Relationship with US

“Israel’s Leadership: Messianic and then some,” Ha’artez, May 6, 2012, Israel's Leadership: Messianic and Then Some.

“Netanyahu’s Contempt for the Holocaust,” Ha’artez, March 19, 2012, Netanyahu's Contempt for the Holocaust.

“Israel Fears Losing Nuclear Monopoly, Talks of War with Iran,” Al Monitor, February 14, 2012, .

Selected Citations

“What About Israel’s Nukes?,” The New Yorker, March 5, 2012, by John Cassidy, What About Israel’s Nukes?.

“Preventing a Nuclear Iran, Peacefully,” New York Times, January 15, 2012, Opinion | Preventing a Nuclear Iran, Peacefully.

“The Real Lesson of Iraq,” The New York Times, November 28, 2011, by Malfrid Braut-Hegghammer, Opinion | The Real Lesson of Iraq.