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Robert Fisk: The Man Who Knew Too Much<br><br>
<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/fisk03262004.html" eudora="autourl">http://www.counterpunch.org/fisk03262004.html</a>
<br>
March 26, 2004<br><br>
The Man Who Knew Too Much: The Ordeal of Mordechai Vanunu<br>
The Independent(London) By ROBERT FISK<br><br>
<br><br>
Any Israeli who bought the 16 February edition of the daily<br>
newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth would have believed that a truly<br>
wicked man was about to be released from Ashkelon prison. Each<br>
time a suicide bomber blew himself up, the prisoner would<br>
celebrate. Worse still, said the paper, the inmate--once a keeper<br>
of Israel's nuclear secrets--wants to endanger his country<br>
further after his release. "He told me," a former prisoner was<br>
quoted as saying, "that he has additional material and that he<br>
will reveal secrets..." Should it be a surprise, then, that the<br>
very same prisoner, supposedly celebrating the slaughter of<br>
innocents while preparing to betray his country yet again, holds<br>
a clutch of awards from European peace groups, the Sean McBride<br>
Peace prize and an honorary doctorate from the University of<br>
Tromso? In 2000, the Church of Humanism told him: "You are<br>
honest, courageous and morally highly motivated, and may the<br>
great sacrifice you have made serve to protect not only those<br>
living in Israel but all the peoples of the Middle East and<br>
perhaps the world." The same man has also been put forward as a<br>
nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.<br><br>
Mordechai Vanunu, it seems, can only be loved or loathed.<br>
Indifference to the former Israeli nuclear technician is<br>
impossible. For he is the man who, in 1986, took evidence to The<br>
Sunday Times of the full story behind Israel's secret nuclear<br>
weapons plant at Dimona in the Negev desert, complete with the<br>
total number of advanced fission bombs there--200 at the<br>
time--and, even more disturbingly, complete with pictures. He<br>
said that Israel had mastered a thermonuclear design and appeared<br>
to have a number of thermonuclear bombs ready for use. He was<br>
subsequently lured by a girl from London to Rome and then<br>
kidnapped, drugged and freighted back to Israel by Israeli secret<br>
policemen. But in just six weeks' time, after 18 years of<br>
imprisonment--12 of them in solitary confinement--the world's<br>
most famous whistleblower is scheduled for release. Israel--not<br>
to mention the world--is holding its breath.Will he divulge<br>
further secrets of Dimona--always supposing he has any after 18<br>
years of incarceration--or curse the country of which he is a<br>
citizen, albeit a citizen who converted to Christianity before<br>
his arrest and who wants to emigrate to the United States? Will<br>
he emerge a cowed man, anxious only to apologise for the terrible<br>
betrayal he inflicted upon his country? Or will he, as his<br>
friends and supporters and his adopted American parents hope,<br>
become an apostle of peace, one of the greatest of this<br>
generation's prisoners of conscience, the man who tried to rid<br>
the world of the threat of nuclear annihilation?<br><br>
The Israeli government is still uncertain how to confront<br>
Vanunu's release on 21 April. They are known to be considering --<br>
perhaps have already decided upon -- "certain supervisory means"<br>
and "appropriate measures" to shut Vanunu up. In the second half<br>
of January, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon<br>
met with Menachem Mazuz, Israel's attorney general, and the<br>
defence minister, Shaul Mofaz, and discussed whether Vanunu<br>
should be refused a passport. Vanunu would be free to sunbathe on<br>
the beaches of Tel Aviv but could not tour the world advertising<br>
Israel's nuclear power. It's a sign of how fearful the Israeli<br>
administration has become at the prospect of this one man's<br>
release that Sharon also summoned to this conference Yehiel<br>
Horev's so-called "Defence Ministry Security Unit", the country's<br>
internal and external intelligence services--Shin Beth and the<br>
equally overestimated Mossad--and a representative of the Israeli<br>
Atomic Energy Committee. Horev, it is now known, wanted to go<br>
much further than Sharon. He proposed clapping an administrative<br>
detention order on Vanunu -- Israel's usual way of dealing with<br>
Palestinians whom they regard as "terrorists"--although the<br>
meeting apparently came to the conclusion that this would only<br>
enhance Vanunu's reputation as a martyr for world peace. There's<br>
another way of shutting Vanunu up, of course. He can be publicly<br>
freed and then--the moment he starts talking about his work as a<br>
nuclear technician--he can be tried again and thrown back into<br>
Ashkelon jail--or Shikma prison, as the Israelis call it now.<br><br>
But the real problem that Vanunu represents is that he will<br>
remind the world at a critically important moment in the history<br>
of the Middle East that Israel is a nuclear power and that its<br>
warheads stand ready to be fired from the Negev desert. He will<br>
also remind the world that the Americans, despite battering their<br>
way into Iraq to destroy Saddam Hussein's nonexistent weapons of<br>
mass destruction, continue to give their political, moral and<br>
economic support to a country that has secretly amassed a<br>
treasure trove of weapons of mass destruction.<br><br>
How can President Bush remain silent on Israel's nuclear power<br>
when he has not only illegally invaded an Arab state for<br>
allegedly harbouring nuclear weapons and condemned Iran for the<br>
same ambitions, but also praised--along with Tony Blair's<br>
government--Colonel Gaddafi of Libya for abandoning his nuclear<br>
pretensions? If the Arab states are being "defanged"--always<br>
supposing they had any real fangs in the first place--why should<br>
Israel not be "de-nuclearised"? Why can't the United States apply<br>
the same standards to Israel as it does to the Arabs? Or why, for<br>
that matter, can't Israel apply the same standards to itself that<br>
it demands of its Arab enemies?<br><br>
This is the debate that the Israeli and the American governments<br>
wish to stifle. In the United States, where any discussion of the<br>
Israeli-American relationship that deviates from the benign is<br>
routinely condemned as subversive or "anti-Semitic", discussion<br>
of Israel's nuclear power is not something that Washington will<br>
want to hear on the Sunday talk shows. Vanunu, it should be said<br>
at once, is well aware of all this, of his own<br>
importance--infinitely greater than it was when he was a mere<br>
minor technician at Dimona--and of the role that tens of<br>
thousands of anti- nuclear campaigners expect him to play in the<br>
world. Many times, through friends and through his own brothers,<br>
Vanunu has said that he has no new nuclear secrets but has the<br>
right to oppose nuclear weapons in Israel or anywhere else. "All<br>
I want to do is to go to America, get married and start a new<br>
life," he says.<br><br>
No one can doubt Vanunu's conviction. Born in 1954 to a religious<br>
Jewish family in Morocco, he immigrated to Israel at the age of<br>
nine, performed his military service in the mid-Seventies and<br>
began work at Dimona in November 1976 while completing a graduate<br>
course in philosophy and geography. Perhaps it was during his<br>
travels in Thailand, Burma, Nepal and Australia in early 1986<br>
that he decided he had a moral duty to talk about Israel's<br>
nuclear weaponst an Anglican church i n Sydney. Vanunu had<br>
clearly become deeply distressed at Israel's growing nuclear<br>
power when he walked into British newspaper offices in September<br>
of 1986 in the hope of telling the world the truth about Dimona.<br>
He had dropped by Robert Maxwell's Daily Mirror at first, handed<br>
over his photographs of the nuclear plant and waited for a reply.<br>
Unknown to Vanu cell, but he is restricted within the prison. I<br>
myself, as a working prisoner, painted a red line that he is<br>
forbidden to cross. I was ordered to do that, and afterwards our<br>
relationship cooled off." Vanunu has been regularly visited by an<br>
Anglican clergyman, Dean Michael Sellors. It was Sellors who<br>
pointed out to him that his release date coincided with the<br>
Queen's birthday. "He said that in that case, he'd better get a<br>
ticket and greet her himself."<br><br>
Vanunu has also taken heart in the actions of the Association for<br>
Civil Rights in Israel, a normally conservative organisation,<br>
which has stated that, "any sanctions against Mordechai after<br>
release would be illegal and immoral." A chatline on the Hebrew<br>
website of the Israeli daily Maariv<br>
shows that a number of young Israelis regard Vanunu as a hero<br>
rather than a threat. Mary Eoloff, a retired American school<br>
teacher who, with her husband, adopted Vanunu in the hope that he<br>
could be given US citizenship and released, was the first to<br>
reveal that when Israeli security men offered to release him a<br>
year before the expiry of his 18 years in jail, Vanunu turned<br>
them down. "He believes in freedom of speech," she said.It<br>
remains to be seen if Israel will allow Vanunu the free speech he<br>
loves. Horev, the defence ministry security official who attended<br>
Sharon's meeting, has spoken of the threat that he believes the<br>
nuclear technician represents, which seems to be about ambiguity<br>
rather than state secrets.<br>
Horev compares this ambiguity to water in a glass. "My job is to<br>
ensure that the water doesn't spill over the glass," he said<br>
recently. "Up until the Vanunu affair, the water was at a very<br>
low level. The affair caused the water level to rise<br>
significantly and caused Israel great damage, but the water still<br>
didn't overflow. If we let certain people act in the matter, the<br>
water will spill."<br><br>
The Israeli journalist Raanan Shaked was a good deal more cynical<br>
when he spoke on the subject on Israel's Channel 10 TV. "Who is<br>
the main threat to Israel?" he asked. "Of course, Mordechai<br>
Vanunu! He is the big danger. Israeli democracy simply cannot<br>
withstand the impact of this one man<br>
saying what every child knows: we have nuclear weapons." On 21<br>
April, when Vanunu is released, we shall find out if the water is<br>
going to overflow--and whether Vanunu will cross the red line<br>
painted so ominously on the floor at the instruction of the<br>
authorities.<br><br>
<br>
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