The Vela Incident (Part Two: ... Or Nothing)

"I have never been able to get rid of the thought that [the 22nd September event] was some sort of joint operation between Israel and South Africa."

At 00:53 Coordinated Universal Time on September 22nd, 1979, an aging American satellite called Vela 6911 recorded a double flash of light somewhere over the southern Indian Ocean. That same night, President Jimmy Carter wrote in his diary that there was an indication of a nuclear explosion near South Africa, and that it was either South Africa, Israel using a ship at sea, or nothing.

The two leading suspects had every reason to be suspects. South Africa had been caught preparing a nuclear test in the Kalahari Desert two years earlier. Israel had an undeclared arsenal, a long-standing policy of never confirming it, and a secret military relationship with South Africa that, according to South African documents published decades later, had included discussion of nuclear-capable missiles. Yet the search for evidence was coming up empty...

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