Seymour Hersh

Seymour Hersh is an 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 Eisenhower years.¹²

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'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 Ben-Menashe.¹

Maxwell and the Mirror Newspaper Group sued 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 Hersh and his publishers filed a countersuit against Maxwell, Nicholas Davies, and the Mirror Newspaper Group.¹