Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Tag: Vanunu

  • Time to Let Vanunu Go Now

    In l986 a young Israeli man, called Mordechai Vanunu, followed his conscience and told the World that Israel had a nuclear weapons program. He was convicted of espionage and treason and given an 18-year sentence. After serving this (12 of which were in solitary confinement) Mordechai Vanunu was released. In April 2004 about 80 people from around the world went to welcome him out of prison. Unbelievably, upon his release Mordechai was served with severe restrictions, which forbade him many basic civil liberties including his right to leave Israel, to speak to foreigners and foreign media and his travel within Israel restricted.

    Each year around the 2lst April, he receives a letter from the Prime Minister renewing restrictions, and Mordechai starts, yet again, the process of appealing these restrictions through the Israeli court. Most recently he has been charged with breaking the restrictions, by talking to foreign media, and given a 6 months prison sentence, which when he appealed, was set as community service. On 8th July, 2008, he will appear before an Israeli court regarding this service and his case.

    Four years since leaving Ashkelon prison, (and 22 years since he told about Israeli nuclear weapons) Mordechai Vanunu lives in modest accommodation in East Jerusalem, confined within a few miles radius, unable to earn a living, unaware of what to do to gain his freedom, unable to leave Israel, his life in danger, and left wondering if the Israeli Security will ever agree to let him leave the country. They say he is a threat to National Security, but everyone know that it is 22 years since Mordechai worked in Dimona Nuclear Plant, and the Nuclear industry has moved on. A well-known Israeli Nuclear scientist has testified that Mordechai can know nothing after such a long period, yet Israeli Security insists he is a risk to National Security, and Israeli Court and Government, refuse to let him go thereby compounding an injustice, and breaking international laws.

    Governments around the world have let Mordechai Vanunu down. They remain silent when they should be demanding the Israeli government uphold its obligations under UNDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights), and allow Vanunu to leave. (Everyone has the right to leave any country including their own and to return to their country – Article 13 – 2 UNDHR).

    So will Mordechai remain in Israel until he dies, or can anything be done to gain his freedom? I believe now Mordechai Vanunu’s freedom rests in the hands of the Israeli people themselves. Some years ago I asked a young Israeli friend why she thought Israel was holding Mordechai. She replied simply, “Because our Government does not trust its own people.” She added, “If the Israeli people would demand his release, it might be possible that he would be free to leave Israel and get on with his life.” I don’t know if she is right or wrong, I don’t know the Israeli mind or politics well enough to guess, but what I do know is that in the Jewish faith and tradition, there is a great deal of emphasis put on justice and doing what is right. I can now only hope and pray that on 8th July, 2008, that some Israeli voices will be raised to call for justice for Mordechai Vanunu, who has paid the high price of 22 years of his life for following his conscious, and whether you hate or love Mordechai Vanunu, to be fair you have got to admit that he has suffered enough and it’s time to let him go NOW.

    Mairead Maguire is a Nobel Peace Laureate and is Honorary President of the Peace People (www.peacepeople.com). She is also a member of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Advisory Council.

  • Vanunu Should Get Nobel Peace Prize

    UNITED NATIONS — U.S. whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg says Mordechai Vanunu should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for revealing Israel’s nuclear arsenal and be allowed to travel the world to promote the abolition of nuclear weapons.

    Ellsberg, whose disclosure of secret Pentagon documents about the Vietnam war helped crystallize anti-war sentiment in the United States in the early 1970s, urged delegates from 188 countries attending a conference to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to strongly protest Israel’s restrictions on Vanunu’s speech and travel and his likely return to prison.

    Vanunu, a former technician at Israel’s nuclear plant in the southern town of Dimona, served 18 years in prison for divulging information about Israel’s secretive atomic program to a British newspaper in 1986. He has been barred from leaving the country until at least April 2006 and went on trial last month for allegedly violating a condition of his 2004 release that banned contacts with foreigners.

    Ellsberg, who said he recently spent five days with Vanunu in Israel, dismissed the government’s claim that Vanunu still has secrets that could endanger national security as “absurd.”

    “It’s clearly an attempt to prolong his sentence indefinitely, sending him back to prison for years,” Ellsberg told reporters Wednesday before addressing the review conference.

    “The message this sends to potential Vanunus in other states is very clear, and the question at this conference is whether the nations of the world should encourage or strongly protest that message,” he said. “The fact is more Vanunus are urgently needed in this world.”

    Ellsberg said that if, for instance, an Indian technician had revealed the country’s plan for a nuclear test, international pressure might have prevented it — and “how much better India, Pakistan and the world would be.”

    In the early 1960s, Ellsberg said he was working in the Pentagon on command and control of nuclear weapons and nuclear war plans and should have done what Vanunu did and “tell my country and the world the insanity and moral obscenity of our war planning, which remains the same today.”

    “I regret profoundly that I did not reveal that fact publicly, with documents,” he said.

    Ellsberg, who spoke on behalf of the non-profit Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, which promotes the abolition of nuclear weapons, said Israel today is probably the third or fourth-largest nuclear state — behind the United States and Russia, and possibly France.

    He said Vanunu is reported to have revealed in 1986 that Israel had about 200 nuclear weapons. Vanunu has estimated that at the same rate of production Israel had when he left Dimona in 1985, the country should have close to 400 weapons today, Ellsberg said.

    That’s more than Britain, China, India and Pakistan, and probably more than France, he said.

    Israel neither acknowledges nor denies having a nuclear weapons program, following a policy of nuclear ambiguity.

    Ellsberg said British nuclear scientist Joseph Rotblat, who won the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize for his work against nuclear weapons with the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, has repeatedly nominated Vanunu for the award.

    “He should get the Nobel Peace Prize as Joseph Rotblat has frequently recommended,” he said.

  • Update on Mordechai Vanunu

    Mordechai Vanunu, a former nuclear technician, is serving an 18-year sentence at Ashkelon Prison for informing the public about Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program. After revealing information about Israel’s nuclear weapons program to a British newspaper, Vanunu was lured from the UK to Rome, where Israeli agents apprehended him. Vanunu was kept in solitary confinement for more than 11 years, from September 30, 1986 until March 12, 1998. Vanunu’s story published on October 5, 1986, confirmed to the world for the first time that Israel had become a nuclear weapons state and had enough fissile material for as many as 200 advanced nuclear warheads.

    The following is the most recent letter* written by Mordechai Vanunu to David Krieger. The letter was written on December 4th, 2000 and received on June 14th, 2001 by air mail. Portions of the letter were literally cut out to censor Vanunu’s words relating to Israel’s nuclear policies which exemplifies the country’s resolve to continue its “secret” nuclear weapons program without being subjected to international accountability. The censored portions of this letter are marked with brackets [ ].

    Vanunu needs your support. You can write to him at Ashkelon Prison to encourage him. Mail from supporters sustains his hope.

    Mordechai Vanunu Ashkelon Prison Ashkelon, Israel December 4th, 2000

    Dear Mr. David Krieger,

    Thank you very much for your letter of November 13th. I am very glad to know that you are ready to do more for my release and for the abolition of all nuclear weapons [censored] – I’ll continue to write to you as I am writing to others. As you requested in your letter, I will respond on the issue of the nuclear weapons threat to the entire world. As to the names of people, you can ask Sam Day. He knows all the names. I am writing to Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Hans Bethe and others to request they send copies of their letters of support to Sam Day.

    In regards to nuclear weapons, although we are seeing reductions in nuclear weapons by the states who produce and possess them, the vision of abolishing nuclear weapons has not become a reality despite the many large campaigns, ranging from all societies and including retired Admirals and Generals. On the other hand, all those who are supporting nuclear weapons have suffered a huge setback since the end of the Cold War when nuclear weapons lost their justification. For nuclear weapons, lost enemies, lost conflicts and not future justification will happen. Those who are against nuclear weapons must continue to put pressure toward a total ban, abolishing all nuclear weapons in all states which possess them. Economically, nuclear weapons are redundant and states will spend more to continue maintaining them even though they have no future use. That we are moving in the path of abolishing all nuclear weapons is a positive optimist view.

    The second problem is how to deal with small states that have nuclear weapons [censored] which superpowers like the US are now using as a reason to keep nuclear weapons and even justify the development of missile defenses. My example was the best way to deal with [censored] nuclear weapons secrets by revealing to the media world-wide. But it was not enough. As we have witnessed, Israel yet continues to deny and ignore this information and continues to lie in public. This is why the superpowers are not ready to use that information to demand that Israel end its nuclear weapons program. In my view, all anti-nuclear campaigners should use that information to fight Israel’s secret policies, force Israel to open Dimona reactor and sign the NPT with all the consequences [censored] then other small states who also engage in nuclear weapons secrets will follow [censored] and sign the NPT. This is the way to deal wth this phenomena of an unbalanced world of states who have nuclear weapons and states who do not have nuclear weapons. The world would be in a more balanced reality; that is all small states should be free from nuclear weapons. Then all small states, which would be the world’s majority, will put pressure on the superpowers to abolish nuclear weapons. This step is not currently succeeding because of one small state, Israel, is breaking the unity among the world majority to force the superpowers to abolish all nuclear weapons.

    The next interesting point is that all anti-nuclear weapons campaigners do not understand the “Israel effect” on nuclear weapons abolition. Another interesting point is the connection between nuclear weapons and the economy. The post-Cold War era has been an age of economic growth and development. More and more states are realizing the deficit in possessing nuclear weapons and that nuclear weapons do not promote economic development in most of the undeveloped states. These countries are ready to back and support any initiative that will bring the end of nuclear weapons in the entire world. They know that the abolition of nuclear weapons in Europe, the US and the entire world will only bring help and encouragement to global economic activities, including globalization. So anti-nuclear activists should work in this new field to use economic reasons and alliances to defeat nuclear weapons. This could be done especially at economic summits like the G-8 and WTO meetings where decisions or declarations could be issued to abolish nuclear weapons. Rather than fighting the WTO like anarchist environmentalists, we can recreate the WTO and G-8 to begin working toward zero nuclear weapons.

    As to my release, no date for parole or release has been set. My official date of release is April 2004. I support any initiative you and others can do for my release.

    Hope to be free and to meet you and others in Santa Barbara. Thank you.

    Yours Sincerely,

    [signed] Mordechai Vanunu

    *This letter was edited for publishing.