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<font face="arial" size=2>Ex-Mossad chief: option of killing Vanunu was
on our minds <br><br>
By Reuters via Ha'aretz Feb 5, 2004<br><br>
<a href="http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/391180.html" eudora="autourl">http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/391180.html</a><br><br>
JERUSALEM - Israel's spy agency considered killing nuclear whistleblower
Mordechai Vanunu in 1986 before deciding to abduct him for trial on
treason charges, a former Mossad director said on Thursday. <br><br>
Shabtai Shavit, who masterminded a "honey trap" for Vanunu
after he told a British newspaper about his work at Israel's main atomic
reactor, said he feared the ex-technician intends to spill more secrets
upon his release from prison this April.<br><br>
"I would be lying if I said that thought (assassination) did not go
through many of our minds," Shavit said, recalling Mossad debates
after the Sunday Times interview that blew away Israel's policy of
ambiguity over its nuclear capabilities.<br><br>
"But Jews do not do that to other Jews. He was a traitor, so in
accordance with Jewish morality and Jewish law he paid for it with
imprisonment," Shavit told Reuters.<br><br>
Vanunu, 49, embraced Christianity and anti-nuclear activism after being
fired from the Dimona reactor. He spoke to the newspaper on the promise
of undisclosed payment. </font><font face="arial" size=2 color="#0000FF">
<b>It is my understanding that Vanunu did not ask for payment nor did he
receive any in return for the information he provided to the British
newspaper. - ew </b> <b> </b>
</font><font face="arial" size=2>In jailhouse letters he has vowed to
keep campaigning to expose Israel's non-conventional
capabilities.<br><br>
Vanunu's revelations, and 60 accompanying photographs, led independent
experts to conclude Israel had between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads -
making it a military superpower.<br><br>
Israel has adopted a policy of nuclear "ambiguity," not denying
or confirming whether it has nuclear weapons.<br><br>
Absent from the interview were the names of Vanunu's former colleagues at
Dimona and details on security precautions at the site. Fearing these
could also become public knowledge when Vanunu winds up his 18-year jail
term on April 21, Shavit has been calling for Vanunu to be legally
silenced.<br><br>
"I propose gagging this man," said Shavit, who retired from
Mossad in 1996 and now chairs the International Policy Institute for
Counter-Terrorism at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center. "The
main consideration should be his intent to go on causing damage to
Israel. And who will guarantee that he will only speak the truth? What is
to stop him imagining things?"<br><br>
According to security sources, the Justice Ministry might confiscate
Vanunu's passport to prevent him leaving the country, subjecting any
press interviews he gives to military censors. Attempts by him to discuss
state secrets could mean a new trial.<br><br>
<br>
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