September 22: The Double Flash

On this date in 1979, an American Vela satellite reported a double flash resembling a nuclear detonation in the Indian Ocean. President Jimmy Carter initiated an intelligence investigation that concluded that the explosion was, indeed, nuclear, and had taken place near the Prince Edward Islands, under the jurisdiction of apartheid South Africa. Other investigative panels, however, offered alternative explanations for the double flash involving meteors, lightning and satellite equipment failure. According to Richard Rhodes, the Carter Administration covered up the reality of a nuclear test to avoid complicating relations with South Africa, which had an arms embargo imposed on it by the United Nations in 1977; according to Seymour Hersh, the “Vela explosion” was the third nuclear test conducted by Israel with the cooperation of South Africa. Israel’s relationship with the apartheid state had warmed up after most African nations broke relations with Israel after the 1973 Yom Kippur War. This relationship grew increasingly collaborative in the late 1970s, prompted in part by the presence of 110,000 Jews in South Africa, including some 15,000 Israeli citizens.

“Nothing in the documents suggests there was an actual offer by Israel to sell nuclear weapons to the regime in Pretoria.” —Avner Cohen, Israel and the Bomb