VANUNU SPEAKS
Israeli Nuclear Whistleblower Risks Jail to Talk Exclusively to AFP
By Christopher Bollyn
Mordechai Vanunu, Israel's most famous dissident free after 18 years
in prison, is ready to defy the severe restrictions imposed upon him
by the Israeli military and tell the western media everything he
knows about the Middle East's largest secret arsenal of weapons of
mass destruction. However, because the hidden stockpiles belong to
Israel, no American news outlet is interested in discussing this,
except American Free Press.
"I have sacrificed my freedom and risked my life in order to expose
the danger of nuclear weapons, which threaten this whole region,"
Vanunu said in an exclusive interview with American Free Press on
July 28.
Vanunu spent 18 years in an Israeli prison—11 and a half of them in
solitary confinement—for providing evidence of Israel's nuclear
arsenal to a British newspaper in 1986. "I acted on behalf of all
citizens and all of humanity," said Vanunu.
In October 1986, Vanunu, a nuclear technician who had worked at the
Dimona Nuclear Power Plant in the Negev Desert for 10 years,
traveled to London and gave photographic evidence to The Sunday
Times that Israel was secretly developing nuclear weapons. Two
months earlier he had converted to Christianity while traveling in
Australia.
After having learned about the secret production of plutonium for
nuclear weapons at Dimona, in 1985 Vanunu believed it was his
responsibility to inform the citizens of the world that an arsenal
of nuclear weapons was being created in Israel.
Vanunu provided evidence and described how Israel had built an
arsenal of over 200 nuclear bombs and neutron bombs. Before The
Times's story was even published, however, Vanunu had been lured to
Rome and kidnapped by Israeli secret service agents. A secret trial
followed, and Vanunu was locked in a tiny, windowless cell for more
than a decade.
When Vanunu was released from an Israeli prison on April 21, the
Israeli military authorities imposed severe restrictions on his
freedom. He is banned from leaving the country, confined to an
assigned residence and denied the right to be in contact with
journalists or foreigners.
The human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) protested
the restrictions imposed on Vanunu saying on April 19: "Vanunu must
not be subject to arbitrary restrictions and violations of his
fundamental rights on the basis of pretexts or suspicions about what
he may do in the future."
The restrictions on Vanunu's movement, speech and association
violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
which Israel has ratified and is obliged to uphold, according to AI.
While Israeli officials contend the restrictions are to prevent
Vanunu from divulging information about Israel's nuclear arsenal, AI
sees it differently:
"Israel's determination to curtail Vanunu's freedom and contact with
the outside world seem to be intended to prevent him from revealing
details of his abduction by Israeli secret service agents 18 years
ago in Rome in what was clearly an unlawful act," AI said.
According to Jonathan Cook of The Guardian in Britain, Vanunu's
brother, Meir, who lives with him at St. George's, says there is
another motive for the restrictions and confinement of Israel's most
famous dissident: Vanunu's release brings attention to Israel's
nuclear arsenal at precisely the moment when the justification for
attacking Saddam Hussein's Iraq—his possession of weapons of mass
destruction—is shown to have been hollow.
"If Vanunu were free to talk, he might remind the world that the
greatest threat to Middle East peace comes not from Baghdad but from
Tel Aviv," Cook wrote. "That is a message neither America nor
Britain wants to hear right now."
The same controlled U.S. media networks that sent embedded reporters
into combat in Iraq and published false reports about that nation's
alleged weapons of mass destruction, are seemingly afraid to go to
St. George's Cathedral in East Jerusalem and interview Vanunu,
Israel's most famous dissident and peace activist, for fear of
crossing a line drawn by the Israeli military.
American Free Press, however, and the London-based Arabic language
newspaper Al Hayat have interviewed Vanunu recently from St.
George's, where he has sought asylum in the Anglican church compound
a short distance from the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem.
BEHIND THE JFK ASSASSINATION
Comments made by Vanunu during an interview with Al Hayat's weekly
magazine Al Wassat, published on July 25, made headlines around the
world but were completely ignored in the United States, where they
could have caused immense political damage to Israel. As The
Jerusalem Post's article headline read, "Vanunu: Israel behind JFK
assassination."
Russia's Pravda article of July 27 began: "Israel may be implicated
in the biggest crime of the past century, which took place in Dallas
in 1963."
Iran's Tehran Times, writing from Jerusalem, said: "In a startling
accusation, nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has alleged that
Jerusalem was behind the assassination of U.S. President John F.
Kennedy, who was exerting pressure on the then Israeli head of state
to shed light on the Dimona nuclear plant."
Similar articles appeared in newspapers around the world, but in the
United States this explosive news was only reported by wire services
and in Jewish newspapers.
Vanunu's comments that there are "near-certain indications" that
Israel was involved in the assassination of President John F.
Kennedy support the thesis of Michael Collins Piper, presented in
his book Final Judgment, that Israeli agents played a key role in
the murder.
AFP asked Vanunu to explain his comments about Israeli involvement
in the murder of President Kennedy.
"My view is that Kennedy was assassinated because of his strong
opposition to [Israeli prime minister] Ben Gurion," Vanunu said.
At the time, Ben Gurion was working to create a nuclear arsenal for
Israel.
The group that was involved with Ben Gurion in developing and
protecting Israel's nuclear arsenal "was behind the assassination of
Kennedy," Vanunu said.
As Piper documents in Final Judgment, Kennedy's resistance to Israel
becoming a nuclear-armed state led to increasing hostility between
the two leaders until Ben Gurion resigned in June 1963. Kennedy had
realized that the Israelis were producing illegal nuclear weapons
from the nuclear reactor given to Israel in 1959 under the "Atoms
for Peace" program.
In the Al Wassat interview, Vanunu said: "Israel possesses between
100 and 200 nuclear weapons, including a neutron bomb and hydrogen
bombs, which are tenfold in their effect. If an atomic bomb can kill
100,000 people then the hydrogen bomb can kill a million.
"We do not know which irresponsible Israeli prime minister will take
office and decide to use nuclear weapons in the struggle against
neighboring Arab countries," The Jerusalem Post reported Vanunu
having said. "What has already been exposed about the weapons Israel
is holding [is that they] can destroy the region and kill millions."
A `SECOND CHERNOBYL'
Vanunu also warned of the environmental dangers of nuclear leaks at
Israel's antiquated nuclear facility at Dimona. An earthquake or
nuclear accident at Dimona could result in the "leaking of nuclear
radiation, threatening millions of people in neighboring countries,"
Vanunu said.
Jordan, in particular, was mentioned as being in danger of nuclear
contamination. "Dimona's chimneys do not operate unless the winds
blow in the direction of Jordan," Vanunu said.
A Jordanian government spokesman, Asma Khader, responded promptly to
Vanunu's claim, saying, "The kingdom is free of radiation."
Vanunu also criticized the recent visit to Israel of Mohamed El
Baradei, head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA).
"I am very disappointed by Mr. El Baradei because I expected him to
go and inspect the Dimona reactor," Vanunu said. "The job of Mr.
Baradei is to go and see if what I said . . . if it's true."
Vanunu stressed to AFP his strong desire to speak with the media
despite the restrictions, and provide them with information and his
views on the need for peace—and a nuclear-free Middle East.
Asked if the U.S. media was interested in meeting him, Vanunu
said "not one" American or British newspaper or television network
had visited him at St. George's since his release from prison.
"Why are they in silence?" Vanunu asked AFP about the U.S.
media. "Why is the press not coming to see me? The media should
bring my case to the people and the politicians. This case must be
heard."
Linda Rothstein, editor of the Chicago-based Bulletin of Atomic
Scientists, however, showed little interest in Vanunu's story,
saying that Vanunu has his supporters and that the Bulletin is not
an advocacy group.
Likewise, Kay Seok of Human Rights Watch said that there was nothing
they could do. "Nobody at HRW is working on Israel right now," she
said.
WANTS OUT OF ISRAEL
Vanunu desperately wants to leave Israel, where he is viewed as a
traitor, and seek political asylum in the United States. Nick and
Mary Eoloff of St. Paul, Minnesota, have formally adopted Vanunu and
are ready to provide him sanctuary.
Mrs. Eoloff told AFP that Vanunu's life is in danger in Israel.
"I want to go abroad and start my life as a free man," Vanunu said
after Israel's high court upheld the military's restrictions on his
movement and freedom. "If Israel is a democracy, it should allow me
to do it."
Asked if he had been tortured during his 18 years in prison, Vanunu
said, "Of course."
He said he had been subjected to "mental and psychological torture"
that was "cruel and barbaric."
Because he had converted to Christianity he had received worse
treatment than Jewish prisoners, he said. Vanunu said he had been
treated like a Palestinian and that his captors had tried
to "destroy" him.
"I am a symbol of the will of freedom," he said. "You cannot break
the human spirit."
Asked about his supporters in the United States, Vanunu said: "I
need their support to get me out. Americans should raise their
voices with their congressmen and ask them in a loud voice to visit
me and bring attention to my case.
"My country is not Israel," Vanunu said. "I want to be free and to
leave Israel."
"Israel does not respect my basic human rights," Vanunu said. "I am
denied the freedom of movement and freedom of speech—like all
Palestinians. I want peace and freedom from all nuclear weapons in
the Middle East."
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