EXCLUSIVE: Beyond the Nuclear Mordechai Vanunu: Part One in a Series

"If you shut up the truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way." - Emile Zola

Mordechai Vanunu Courtesy: citygf.com

(CLERMONT, Fla. ) - In June 2005, and just a few days before my first of seven journeys to Israel Palestine, a Palestinian American friend warned me, “Don’t visit Mordechai Vanunu, if you see him; don’t speak to him. He’s not allowed to speak to foreigners and you could cause him trouble.”

I responded, “OK, I won’t track him down, but Jerusalem is a small town and if our paths cross, I will speak to him. What kind of government is that, that will tell a human being who they can and cannot talk with?”

It was not until I began researching for my first book, KEEP HOPE ALIVE [an historical fact filled fiction based on the memories of a 1948 Palestinian Muslim refugee from the Galilee] that I stumbled upon the name and incredible story of the whistle blower of Israel's WMD program, Mordechai Vanunu and wrote him into the chapter “Thanksgiving Eve, 1987.”

Dr. Jake Hunter expressed all I knew about Vanunu - until I met him a few months after, and began a series of interviews with him:

“I have yet to read or hear a word from the American press about Vanunu, who had worked in a very compartmentalized position in the secret underground Dimona nuclear research center in the Negev. The nuclear plant had a sign outside claiming it was a Textile factory and it seems that when Vanunu finally realized he was involved in the horrific work of manufacturing weapons of mass destruction, he shot two rolls of film inside of the restricted areas. Seems security was very lax and this low level tech was able to obtain the keys in the shower room that opened the doors to what Israel has not admitted to.

“Vanunu quit the job and left Israel and carried around the undeveloped film for nearly a year as he traveled throughout Europe. He ended up in Sydney, Australia and converted to Christianity. A few weeks later, he shared his story with a British reporter, and Vanunu and the reporter returned to London. While the London Sunday Times was verifying his story, Vanunu mysteriously disappeared. The photos proved the fact that Israel had become a major nuclear power, but not a word has been heard from my government or press!

“The Sunday Times reports this incredible news that Israel’s underground plutonium plant has material for two hundred nuclear warheads of advanced design, but not a word have I read about it or heard from the US media! It makes me wonder about all the iron curtains the media and government have raised as a shield from the truth.”

Because of a serendipitous crossing of paths with Vanunu on the first evening of summer in 2005, I did meet him and learned about his childhood and why he rejected his families Orthodox Jewish faith and became an atheist until he stumbled into Christianity just days before losing total control over his life, on 30 September 1986, when the Mossad tracked, trapped and kidnapped him from Rome.

In 1963, when Vanunu was nine years old, the Zionists came to his home town of Marrakech, Morocco and convinced his Orthodox father to abandon his general store and pack up the first seven of his eleven children for the land of milk and honey. Instead, the Vanunu's were banished to the desert of Beesheva.

A few months after that, Shimon Peres, then Israel's Deputy Minister of Defense, met with President John Kennedy inside the White House.

Kennedy told Peres, "You know that we follow very closely the discovery of any nuclear development in the region. This could create a very dangerous situation. For this reason we monitor your nuclear efforts. What could you tell me about this?"

Peres replied, "I can tell you most clearly that we will not introduce nuclear weapons to the region, and certainly we will not be the first."

By September of 1986, Peres was convulsing over Vanunu, who had been employed as a lowly tech in his progeny; Israel’s clandestine underground nuclear weapons centre in the Negev called the Dimona.

Peres ordered the Mossad, to "Bring the son of a bitch back here."

Peres ordered Vanunu's kidnapping, which included a clubbing, drugging and being flung upon an Israeli cargo boat back to Israel for a closed-door trial.

In 1985, before quitting the Dimona, Vanunu shot 56 photos of the top-secret labs and production processes that proved Israel had become a major nuclear power by stockpiling between 100 and 200 atomic bombs within the seven underground levels where plutonium production, and secret nuclear weapons were assembled without any knowledge, debate or authorization from its own citizens.

Israel has yet to allow International Inspectors into the aged Dimona plant, which is leaking and endangering the health of its own citizens.

In April 2005, two months before my first of seven trips to Israel/Palestine, I turned the TV on - it had last been tuned to the History channel. At that moment, they were broadcasting a show called, "Sexpionage" all about Russian female spies and one from the Mossad.

The very first clip that ran before my eyes was of Vanunu being transported to his closed-door trial. It was the few famous seconds I had never witnessed, of Vanunu’s inspired move to write upon his palm: "HIJACKED" and the Rome flight number he had been on. That moment in history soon led investigative journalist Peter Hounam to the Mossad agent; Cindy/Cheryl.

On the show, that clip was followed by one of Shimon Perez in 1986, resurrecting the spirit of Machiavelli as he mendaciously claimed that Israel would never be the first in the Mid-East to possess nuclear weapons.

As we live Orwell’s nightmare, Peres was the one awarded for playing a part in achieving the Oslo Declaration of Principles. According to the preamble of the DOP, this peace was supposed to be based on mutual respect and reconciliation. Ever since receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in achieving the Oslo agreement, Peres has been most instrumental in helping to destroy the agreement. Alfred Nobel’s intention was to reward people with a moral backbone. Nobel had hoped to create icons and examples to humankind.

Vanunu has been nominated over twenty times for the Nobel Peace Prize, but not until the announcement of a record 205 nominations for 2009’s Nobel Peace Prize, did he begin to decline the honor in a letter to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo:

“I am asking the committee to remove my name from the nominations…I cannot be part of a list of laureates that includes Simon Peres… Peres established and developed the atomic weapon program in Dimona in Israel… Peres was the man who ordered [my] kidnapping… he continues to oppose my freedom and release… WHAT I WANT IS FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM…. FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM I NEED NOW.”

Although Vanunu was ‘freed’ from prison on 21 April 2004, he has been denied the right to leave the state and speak to foreigners under the Emergency Defense Regulations, which were implemented by Britain against Palestinians and Jews after World War II.

Attorney Yaccov Shapiro, who later became Israel's Minister Of Justice, described the Emergency Defense Regulations as "unparalleled in any civilized country: there were no such laws in Nazi Germany."

Israel kidnapped Vanunu in 1986, but Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention", including abduction of a person by agents of one state to another state.

Vanunu was charged with and convicted of treason and espionage.

In section 99 of the Israeli Penal Code, treason is defined as "an act calculated to assist (an enemy) in time of war... delivering information with the intention that it fall into the hands of the enemy."

Section 113 defines aggravated espionage as "deliver(ing) any secret information without being authorized to do so and with intent to impair the security of the state" and a sub-clause provides for a penalty of seven years for the unauthorized collection, preparation, recording or holding of secret information; if this is done with intent to impair the security of the state and then, the penalty is increased to 15 years.

On May 11, 2010, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that Mordechai Vanunu, will “serve a three-month jail sentence handed to him by Jerusalem District Court and not community service.” ^[1]

Vanunu is scheduled to return to jail on May 23, 2010, because the ‘justices’ refused his offer to do community service in occupied east Jerusalem, as they do not view that side of town to be a part of their community.

On May 12, 2010, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL urged the Israeli government not to re-imprison Mordechai Vanunu.

“If Mordechai Vanunu is imprisoned again, Amnesty International will declare him to be a prisoner of conscience and call for his immediate and unconditional release,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Luther continued, “The ongoing restrictions placed on Mordechai Vanunu have meant that he has been unable to move to the USA to live with his adopted family, placing a huge strain on his mental and physical health. They are not parole restrictions, since he served his full 18-year term. They arbitrarily limit his rights to freedom of movement, expression and association and are therefore in breach of international law.” ^[2]

On April 30, 2007, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, convicted Vanunu on 14 [out of 21] counts of violating a court order prohibiting him from speaking to foreign journalists in 2004. Vanunu was also convicted for traveling the four miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem when he hoped to attend Christmas Eve mass at the Church of the Nativity, his first Christmas after being released from 18 years in jail [most of it in solitary] on April 21, 2004.

On July 2, 2007, Israel sentenced Vanunu to six more months in jail for speaking to foreign media in 2004.

On September 23, 2008, the Jerusalem District Court reduced Mordechai Vanunu’s six-month jail sentence for speaking with foreign media in 2004, to three months, "In light of (Vanunu’s) ailing health and the absence of claims that his actions put the country’s security in jeopardy." ^[3]

On December 21, 2009, Uzi Eilam, a former head of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission told PRESS TV that Vanunu, "served the regime because his revelations helped Tel Aviv intimidate others... I've always believed he should be let go. I don't think he has significant knowledge to reveal (about Dimona) now."

On May 10, 2010, Uzi Even, an Israeli scientist, Tel Aviv University chemistry professor, former worker at Israel's Dimona reactor and a former member of Israeli parliament spoke on Israeli army radio: "The policy of nuclear ambiguity, by which we fool only ourselves and nobody else, is not good for us any more. It was good, effective and successful for close to 40 years, but over 40 years many things changed and now I am telling you clearly, this policy is no longer in our interest." ^[4]

During my interviews with Vanunu, he informed me that, "All the secrets I had were published in 1989 in an important book, by Frank Barnaby, "The Invisible Bomb: Nuclear Arms Race in the Middle East."

Nuclear Physicist Frank Barnaby was hired by the London Sunday Times to interrogate Vanunu in 1986, and testified at his closed-door trial, "I very vigorously cross-examined Vanunu, relentlessly asking the same questions in a number of different ways and at different times... I found Vanunu very straightforward about his motives for violating Israel's secrecy laws; he explained to me that he believed that both the Israeli and the world public had the right to know about the information he passed on. He seemed to me to be acting ideologically."

But, Vanunu was rendered defenseless during that closed-door trial when the court ruled that his motivations were not ideological and they refused to allow Vanunu's own statements regarding his intentions to even be considered in his defense.

On November 24th, 2006 Vanunu wrote:

"My lawyer succeeded to reveal a few very important facts: This General of the Army also was not allowed to see all the secrets that he is required to protect by these restrictions that they claim I know. So, he gave orders of restrictions without knowing what he is protecting, or that he is also following orders blindly, and Mossad Sheen Bet is using its authority for just punishing me. He testified that it is not a crime for me to talk with foreigners in general anywhere. He testified that I can speak freely to any Israeli citizens about anything; it is not his concern what I am saying to them. These Israelis can give this information to any foreigners. It was difficult for the Judge to understand why this dichotomy exits between foreigners and Israelis. It means that it is not about secrecy but about something else."

A total of 1,200 pages of transcript of Vanunu's 1986-87, closed-door trial have been released. Vanunu told the court: "I wanted to confirm what everyone knew, I didn't want Israel to go on denying that it had nuclear weapons, and Shimon Peres to go on lying to (then US president) Ronald Reagan, saying that we didn't have a nuclear arsenal. I also wanted controls to be placed on these weapons." ^[5]

Defense witness and the Sunday Times journalist who broke Vanunu's story, Peter Hounam, stated, "It is clear that, as far as Vanunu's accusers are concerned, the trial is not only about whether this decision to reveal the secrets of Israel's atom bomb amounted to treason and espionage, it is also about whether his decision to become a Christian was at the root of his alleged treachery".

Hounam also testified that "We did not pay him money, but only covered his expenses... Money did not motivate him." ^[6]

Sunday Times journalist Wendy Robbins wrote, "Mordechai never asked for nor received a single penny for his information... he blurted out the whole tale without first setting out any financial preconditions. Mordechai got nothing out of the whole episode. He never `sold' Israel's secrets - he told them."

In 2005, Vanunu told me, "President Kennedy tried to stop Israel from building atomic weapons. In 1963, he forced Prime Minister Ben Gurion to admit the Dimona was not a textile plant, as the sign outside proclaimed, but a nuclear plant. The Prime Minister said, ‘The nuclear reactor is only for peace.’

"Kennedy insisted on an open internal inspection. He wrote letters demanding that Ben Gurion open up the Dimona for inspection. The French were responsible for the actual building of the Dimona. The Germans gave the money; they were feeling guilty for the Holocaust, and tried to pay their way out. Everything inside was written in French, when I was there, almost twenty years ago.

"Back then, the Dimona descended seven floors underground. In 1955, Perez and Gurion met with the French to agree they would get a nuclear reactor if they fought against Egypt to control the Sinai and Suez Canal. That was the war of 1956. Eisenhower demanded that Israel leave the Sinai, but the reactor plant deal continued on.

"When Johnson became president, he made an agreement with Israel that two senators would come every year to inspect. Before the senators would visit, the Israelis would build a wall to block the underground elevators and stairways. From 1963 to ’69, the senators came, but they never knew about the wall that hid the rest of the Dimona from them.

"Nixon stopped the inspections and agreed to ignore the situation. As a result, Israel increased production. In 1986, there were over two hundred bombs. Today, they may have enough plutonium for ten bombs a year."

^[1] Vanunu refuses community service in west J'lem, sent to jail - ynetnews.com/

^[2] Israeli government urged not to jail nuclear whistleblower again - Amnesty International

^[3] What The WORLD Needs to know about Vanunu - wearewideawake.org

^[4] Israeli scientist calls for nuclear disclosure - By Steve Weizman (AFP)

^[5] Paper publishes Vanunu trial extracts - converge.org.nz

^[6] Paper publishes Vanunu trial extracts - toysatellite.org

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Eileen Fleming is the Producer of "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu" Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org, Eileen is a Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com, Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory" and the soon to be released "BEYOND NUCLEAR: Some of my Experiences of Mordechai Vanunu and the Holy Land: 2005-2010" youtube.com/user/eileenfleming. Eileen is a unique leader in her state and she intends to run for a Florida Congressional seat in the future, to help speed the process of change that is so demanded today. Like many who walk in similar steps, Eileen, like other writers at Salem-News.com, is an outspoken advocate for humanity and she has no tolerance for the oppressive forces of the world.