Samson Option

The Samson Option (Hebrew: ברירת שמשון, romanized: b'rerat shimshon) is a deterrence strategy of massive retaliation with nuclear weapons as a "last resort" against any country whose military has invaded and/or destroyed much of Israel. The term was popularized by Seymour Hersh's 1991 book, The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy. Commentators also have employed the term to refer to situations where non-nuclear, non-Israeli actors have threatened conventional weapons retaliation.

The name is a reference to the biblical Israelite judge Samson who pushed apart the pillars of a Philistine temple, bringing down the roof and killing himself and thousands of Philistines who had captured him.

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