---
category: Private Organization
location: Israel
start: 1961
summary: The Committee for the Denuclearization of the Middle East was a group of
  prominent Israeli scholars and scientists, including two former members of Ernst
  David Bergmann's Atomic Energy Commission, who privately banded together in late
  1961.
tags:
- Organization
- Activism
- Israel
---

The Committee for the Denuclearization of the Middle East was a group of prominent Israeli scholars and scientists, including two former members of [Ernst David Bergmann](/people/ernst-david-bergmann/)'s [Atomic Energy Commission](/organizations/atomic-energy-commission/), who privately banded together in late 1961. Their agenda was to stop [Israel](/places/israel/)'s search for the nuclear option and to defuse the secrecy surrounding the activities at [Dimona](/places/dimona/). In April 1962, the committee went public, stating that the development of nuclear weapons constituted a danger to [Israel](/places/israel/) and to peace in the Middle East, and urged [United Nations](/organizations/united-nations/) intervention to prevent military nuclear production.[^1]

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 8.