Financial Times August 16, 2002
Israel prepares civil defenses in case of war
Harvey Morris in Jerusalem
<snip>
Anthony Cordesman of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, in an assessment presented to the Senate foreign relations committee last month, said that Israel would feel obliged to support a US assault on Iraq.
"Israel has also concluded that the creditbility of its deterrent would be undermined if it rode out another series of such attacks, as it did during the Gulf war."
Professor Cordesman said that, in the worst case, Israel could face "a cumulative existential threat to key urban areas, like Tel Aviv and Haifa. Under these conditions," he said, "it might openly declare its nuclear deterrent and threaten nuclear retaliation against Iraqi cities and military forces." If Iraq then succeeded in delivering lethal biological agents against an Israeli city, "Israel would probably massively retaliate with nuclear ground bursts against every Iraqi city not already occupied by US-led coalition forces."
[rest of article at ft.com, but it's down at the moment]