[[Seymour Hersh]] is an [[USA|American]] investigative journalist and author. His book, *The [[Samson Option]]: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*, published in 1991, details how [[Israel]] secretly became a nuclear power and how this secret was largely ignored or sanctioned by top U.S. officials since the [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] years.[^1][^2] Hersh conducted extensive research for *The Samson Option*, interviewing many senior American officials, most of whom spoke for the first time about their knowledge of [[Israel]]'s nuclear arsenal. He chose not to conduct research in [[Israel]] due to the country's censorship laws, which require journalists to submit all material to military censors who can make changes or deletions if they perceive a threat to national security.[^2] Hersh's book, along with [[Gary Sick|Gary Sick's]] *October Surprise*, quoted [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] as a prominent source. This led to an intense and prolonged barrage of media attacks seeking to discredit [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]].[^1] [[Robert Maxwell|Maxwell]] and the [[Mirror Newspaper Group]] sued [[Seymour Hersh|Hersh]] and his publishers over the allegations in *The [[Samson Option]]*. However, some of the critical denials in the *Mirror* articles were shown to be false, and [[Seymour Hersh|Hersh]] and his publishers filed a countersuit against [[Robert Maxwell|Maxwell]], [[Nicholas Davies]], and the [[Mirror Newspaper Group]].[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War") [^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991.