He was officially a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces during his work as a nuclear scientist, and eventually reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

In 1968 he abandoned his job at the reactor and joined Lekem, an Israeli intelligence agency responsible for collecting scientific and technical information from abroad.

Peres subsequently wrote a letter of protest to Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and the operation was delayed for a month.

His testimony led to Yitzhak Rabin's government changing the law and regulations to allow homosexuals to serve in the army in any position, including one requiring a high security clearance.

This might lead the way for straight couples to bypass the religious establishment as well, which - in Israel - holds monopoly on marriage and divorce affairs.