Mordechai Vanunu, Nuclear Whistle-Blower
Limits on Vanunu Eased Ahead of Release
YOSSI MELMAN & RELLY SA'AR / Haaretz (Israel) 20apr04
[Several other articles below]
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The defense establishment yesterday decided to ease some of the restrictions on nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu, who goes free tomorrow after serving an 18-year sentence.
The move came after defense officials realized that some of the restrictions were legally untenable. Thus, the ban on discussing his abduction was lifted. The ban on going near embassies was also altered; Vanunu was told that he could go near them, but not enter them.
Interior Minister Avraham Poraz signed an injunction yesterday prohibiting Vanunu from leaving Israel for one year. Other restrictions imposed on him by the defense establishment will remain in effect for six months. Defense sources said the main reason for preventing Vanunu from leaving the country and not issuing him a passport was that he still knows state secrets that may jeopardize state security.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), which represents Vanunu, intends to petition the High Court of Justice against the restrictions, after Vanunu's request to revoke them were rejected.
Vanunu, who was convicted for revealing details of Israel's previously covert nuclear
facility in Dimona to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper in October 1986, will take up residence in Jaffa's luxurious Andromeda Hill apartment complex, security sources said yesterday.
While some restrictions were eased, Vanunu was warned not to give interviews to the media about his work and to report to the police if anyone approaches him for this purpose.
Vanunu may not give anyone any classified information obtained while he was working in the Dimona nuclear facility or discuss issues related to his former workplace, even if he has released that information before (to the Sunday Times).
Vanunu must notify the authorities of his address in the Dan region and advise the police 24 hours in advance if he wants to sleep at another address. He must not be within 500 meters of border crossings, or partake in Internet chats unless permitted.
Officials from the Shin Bet security service and the Defense Ministry yesterday gave Vanunu official papers outlining the restrictions he faces.
source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/417230.html 20apr04
Vanunu Says Israel's Atom Reactor Should Be Destroyed
JAMES BENNET / NY Times 20apr04
JERUSALEM, April 19 — Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear technician imprisoned for 18 years for revealing Israel's nuclear capacity, told security officials in a recent interview that Israel's nuclear reactor should be destroyed, according to remarks published and televised Monday.
Mr. Vanunu, who is to be released under tight travel restrictions on Wednesday, also said he had no more secrets to reveal.
Israeli officials have expressed fears that Mr. Vanunu, who is 49, would disclose new details of Israel's nuclear program, or at least draw embarrassing attention to it.
His release from prison comes as Libya has moved under international pressure to dismantle its nuclear program, and after the United States went to war to eliminate prohibited weapons in Iraq. Under its policy of "nuclear ambiguity," Israel does not confirm or deny its nuclear capacity.
Mr. Vanunu lifted the curtain on that capacity in 1986, when he provided photographs and details of Israel's reactor, near the desert town of Dimona, to The Sunday Times of London.
Agents of the Israeli spy agency Mossad kidnapped Mr. Vanunu from Italy that year, and he has been kept largely out of sight ever since. Sentenced for treason, he was held in solitary confinement for more than 11 years, and his mental health suffered, his brother Meir has said. While in prison, he was adopted by an American couple, Nick and Mary Eoloff.
Photographs published Monday in Israeli newspapers showed Mr. Vanunu, now white-haired and balding, walking in a prison yard in jeans and a brown shirt, with a newspaper in his hand. A convert to Christianity, he wore a gold cross on a chain around his neck.
While widely reviled in Israel, he remains a subject of fascination, and Israelis still debate his motives and impact on the nation.
Supporters of Mr. Vanunu, who is being held in Ashkelon, in southern Israel, expressed outrage over the release of his statements.
They said he had told the Eoloffs when they visited him on Monday that he had not given permission for the release of the tape of his questioning, which they say was conducted several weeks ago. He told the Eoloffs that he had been informed only that such questioning was routine for prisoners nearing release, they said.
"He was coerced," said Rayna Moss, a member of a group advocating Mr. Vanunu's release. "He was interviewed by people who have absolute power over him."
She objected to any publication of the quotations as "immoral."
An Israeli official said the interview, by agents of the Shin Bet security service, had not been intended for publication but had been leaked to the Israeli news media by a senior Israeli official hoping to improve his relations with the press.
Asked if she thought Mr. Vanunu's statements represented his actual views, Ms. Moss said, "I think that if he had the chance to interact with people other than prison guards over the last 18 years, we would not hear these very hurtful and bitter statements from this man."
Mr. Vanunu was quoted in the Israeli press as saying there was no need for a Jewish state. "People who want to be Jews can live anywhere, in Israel, too, but there shouldn't be a Jewish state," he reportedly said.
He defended his actions, saying, "I acted in a way that was honest with myself." He said he believed that he was seen as a hero outside Israel.
He argued that all his information about Israel's nuclear program was now out of date. "Technology has taken giant steps forward," he said.
He said he rejected Israeli censorship and wanted only "to repeat the things I already said and that were published." He expressed disappointment that Israel had not come under greater international pressure to do away with its nuclear program.
Regarding the nuclear reactor, he said, "I want them to destroy the reactor, as they destroyed the reactor in Iraq." Israel bombed Iraq's reactor, destroying it, in 1981.
Mr. Vanunu said his goal was to leave Israel. He said he would like his family to live in the country of his birth, Morocco.
But after his release, he will be barred from leaving Israel for at least six months, a restriction that will then be reviewed and could be extended. He will be forbidden to have contact with foreigners or discuss his work at the Dimona reactor.
source: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?tntget=2004/04/20/international/middleeast/20VANU.html&tntemail0=&pagewanted=print&position= 20apr04
Shimon Peres, Founder of Israel's Nuclear Program, Says Restrictions on Vanunu are Justified
PETER ENAV / AP 20apr04
ASHKELON, Israel—Mordechai Vanunu, who is to be released Wednesday after serving an 18-year term for treason, betrayed his country by spilling its nuclear secrets and restrictions to be imposed on him are justified, Shimon Peres said Tuesday.
The comments from Peres, the founder of Israel's nuclear program, came amid growing criticism of the restrictions by human rights groups. Anti-nuclear activists from around the world also headed to the prison in the Israeli coastal town of Ashkelon to rally in support of Vanunu, whom they consider a hero.
Vanunu, 50, a former nuclear technician, will not be able to travel abroad for at least a year, speak with foreigners or approach Israeli ports or borders. He also will be barred from discussing his work at Israel's Dimona reactor.
"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 the future," Amnesty International said in a statement.
Vanunu was given a map of Israel marking the areas off-limits to him, the Defense Ministry said.
Israel's Prisons Authority announced that Vanunu would be released from Shikma Prison at 11 a.m. (4 a.m. EDT) Wednesday.
He will live in a luxury apartment complex in Jaffa, an old seaport and today part of Tel Aviv. Jaffa has both Arab and Jewish residents, and Vanunu's apartment will be near several churches. Vanunu, who was raised as an ultra-Orthodox Jew, converted to Christianity in the mid-1980s.
The Andromeda Hill complex has 170 apartments, and tenants include both wealthy foreigners and local residents. Some tenants said they were unhappy about Vanunu moving in. "I think he did something wrong," 50-year-old Sherilyn Larkin said.
Vanunu might have trouble complying with the restrictions, including the ban on him talking to foreigners, she said. "This complex is full of diplomats from all over the world, so I don't know how that's going to work out," she said.
In 1986, Vanunu leaked details and pictures of Israel's alleged nuclear weapons program to The Sunday Times of London and was abducted to Israel by the Mossad secret service. He was convicted of espionage and treason in a closed-door trial in Jerusalem. Much of his 18-year sentence was spent in solitary confinement.
As part of its policy of nuclear ambiguity, Israel neither confirms nor denies it has nuclear weapons.
Vanunu has told the Shin Bet security service that he has no more secrets to reveal. However, Israeli officials allege that Vanunu still poses a danger.
Vanunu's brother Meir said the family is appealing the government measures in an Israeli court.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told Israel Army Radio that Vanunu "was convicted of aiding the enemy and in effect betraying his country and it is Israel's duty as a democratic state to take precautionary steps regarding its security."
Peres, who in the 1950s and 1960s took the lead in establishing Israel's nuclear program, also defended the restrictions. "Vanunu violated norms and betrayed his country," Peres, the Israeli opposition leader and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, told Army Radio. "This is justice."
Vanunu has been embraced by the anti-nuclear movement. He repeatedly has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and was legally adopted by an American couple who mistakenly thought that would gain him U.S. citizenship.
Activists, including British playwright Harold Pinter and actress Julie Christie, sent messages to coincide with Vanunu's impending release.
"Mordechai Vanunu is the pre-eminent hero and whistleblower of the nuclear era," wrote Daniel Ellsberg, whose disclosure of secret Pentagon documents about the Vietnam war helped crystallize anti-war sentiment in the United States in the early 1970s. "He is the one who consciously risked all he had in life to warn his own country and the world of an existing, ongoing addition to the nuclear dangers of the era."
Excerpts from Vanunu's Session with Shin Bet Interrogators
AP 19apr04
Here are excerpts from a recent meeting in prison between Shin Bet interrogators and nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu. A transcript was published by the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot and translated from Hebrew by The Associated Press.
Shin Bet: What were you?
Vanunu: I was neither a spy nor a traitor.
Shin Bet: Turning over information isn't treason? Why not?
Vanunu: So I argue that I wanted to inform the world about what was happening.
Shin Bet: And that isn't treason?
Vanunu: I will tell you in my words. It's not treason. I wanted the world to know, I acted in opposition to the policies of the government of Israel.
Shin Bet: You don't regret what you did?
Vanunu: There are things that I regret and am sorry about, where I made mistakes, but on this subject, I think I did good.
Shin Bet: You certainly didn't do the world any good.
Vanunu: And why did the world perceive me as a hero or appreciate what I did? Except for Israel? Five billion or six billion people ...
Shin Bet: So maybe there shouldn't be a Jewish state?
Vanunu: We don't need a Jewish state. There needs to be a Palestinian state. Those who want to live as Jews can live anywhere, including in Israel, but we don't need a Jewish state.
Shin Bet: So after your release you'll write what you want?
Vanunu: After my release, what do you expect me to do, send it to the censor?
Shin Bet: You won't do that, but maybe you will break the law.
Vanunu: With what I write?
Shin Bet: Yes.
Vanunu: So what you are saying is that I am not allowed to write letters?
Shin Bet: You're not allowed to talk about certain things.
Vanunu: I'm not allowed to write letters to the outside? Is Vanunu not allowed to write letters?
Shin Bet: No, he's allowed, but not everything.
Shin Bet: Who will give it (information on the nuclear program) to them (the Americans, the Europeans)?
Vanunu: Do I know who will give it to them? They'll look. So I say to you that the Americans and the Europeans are above the Israelis. They don't need Vanunu to tell them. If they want information, they'll get it. But they got what was important ... quantities and ... despite everything that was published, nothing has changed. No one came to Israel and made demands (that it disarm).
Shin Bet: Is that what you wanted to happen?
Vanunu: I want them to take the reactor. More than that, I want them to destroy the reactor. More than that, just like they destroyed the Iraqi reactor, I want them to destroy the Israeli reactor.
Vanunu: Israel's Nuclear Reactor Should be Destroyed
KARIN LAUB / AP 19apr04
JERUSALEM—Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu said he has no more secrets to reveal, but he believes Israel's nuclear reactor near the desert town of Dimona should be destroyed, according to remarks published Monday.
Vanunu is to be released Wednesday, after serving 18 years for treason.
In 1986, the former Dimona technician provided photographs and descriptions of the reactor to The Sunday Times of London. Based on his information, experts at the time said Israel has the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.
Mossad agents kidnapped Vanunu from Italy in 1986, and he has largely been kept out of sight since then, except for occasional court appearances.
On Monday, Israeli newspapers ran rare photographs of Vanunu, provided by Israel's Prisons Authority. The white-haired, balding Vanunu was shown in a prison courtyard, wearing jeans, a brown prison uniform shirt and a blue ski jacket. The convert to Christianity wore a cross on a gold chain around his neck.
The Yediot Ahronot and Maariv newspapers published excerpts from what they said was Vanunu's interrogation by Shin Bet security agents two weeks ago. Vanunu appeared to be rambling at times, sometimes referring to himself in the third person and other times as "we."
Vanunu spent 12 years of his term in solitary confinement, and his mental health suffered during that time, his brother Meir and his attorney have said. Vanunu has improved since getting out of solitary, they said.
Israel is concerned that Vanunu's release will refocus attention on its nuclear program. As part of its policy of nuclear ambiguity, Israel neither confirms nor denies it has nuclear weapons.
After his release, Vanunu will be prevented from traveling abroad for a year, from contacting foreigners and from discussing his work at the nuclear reactor and the circumstances of his capture. Vanunu plans to appeal to the Supreme Court if the restrictions are not rescinded.
In his conversation with the Shin Bet agents, Vanunu said the United States and Europe already know everything they need to know about Israel's nuclear program.
"As for myself, I just want to repeat the things I already said and that were published," Vanunu was quoted as saying. He suggested it would be difficult for the Shin Bet to monitor him, noting that he'll have access to a computer.
Vanunu said he hoped the debate over Israel's nuclear program would be revived, and he expressed disappointment that Israel hasn't come under greater pressure to dismantle Dimona.
"I want them to take the reactor, more than that, I want them to destroy the reactor, as they destroyed the reactor in Iraq," Vanunu said. Israel bombed the Iraqi reactor in 1981, to prevent Baghdad from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Vanunu, who began working at Dimona in 1977, said Israel should not have trusted him with sensitive information. While working at Dimona, Vanunu studied philosophy at Ben Gurion University and joined left-wing groups on campus.
Vanunu said "big shot psychologists" from the Shin Bet and the Mossad should have spotted him as a potential security risk. "You gave information to the wrong man," Maariv quoted him as saying. However, he insisted he was not a spy.
Vanunu said he believes he is considered a hero by much of the world.
Asked about his political beliefs, Vanunu said there is no need for a Jewish state, and that he would prefer for his family he is one of 11 children of Jewish immigrants from Morocco—to live in Morocco or in a Palestinian state.
Vanunu's Release Refocuses
Attention on
Israel's `Bomb in the Basement'
KARIN LAUB / AP 19apr04
JERUSALEM—Eighteen years after he was kidnapped by Mossad agents for exposing Israel's secret nuclear program, Mordechai Vanunu will go free this week—a moment Israel fears will refocus unwelcome attention on its "bomb in the basement."
In remarks broadcast Monday, the 50-year-old Vanunu said he has no more secrets to reveal, but he'd like to see Israel's nuclear reactor destroyed.
The audiotape of a recent conversation in prison between Vanunu and Shin Bet agents marked the first time Israelis heard him explain his actions. Vanunu's brother, Meir, said Monday the prisoner didn't know his remarks would be published.
Anti-nuclear crusaders, including actors, legislators and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, were flying in from Europe and the United States for Wednesday's release, but they won't be able to embrace their hero.
Trying to quash any celebrations, the security services have barred Vanunu from speaking to foreigners, traveling abroad or even approaching foreign embassies for fear he might seek political asylum.
Vanunu's campaign began in 1986, when he gave The Sunday Times of London a description and photographs of Israel's Dimona reactor, where he had worked for nine years. Based on his account, experts said at the time that Israel had the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.
The revelations undercut Israel's policy of "nuclear ambiguity."
That policy was forged in the 1960s when Israel promised the United States it would not declare its nuclear status, test nuclear weapons or use them for political gain, wrote Israeli historian Avner Cohen. In exchange, Washington did not pressure Israel to disarm, he said.
Israel has kept the pledge, neither confirming nor denying it has nuclear capability. Some say that by drawing attention to its nuclear capability, Vanunu actually boosted Israel's deterrence.
Anti-nuclear campaigners were flying to Israel to greet Vanunu outside Shikma Prison in the coastal town of Ashkelon. Among them were Mairead Corrigan Maguire, a 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Northern Ireland, and British actress Susannah York. Others sent messages, including British playwright Harold Pinter who wrote: "You are a remarkable man, a man of principle and integrity."
Vanunu received thousands of letters over the years, and was adopted by an American couple, Nick and Mary Eoloff of St. Paul, Minn.
The prisoner proudly told Shin Bet interrogators the world considers him a hero, according to the audiotape.
However, there is little sympathy for him in Israel, a country where just about everything is debated openly—except nuclear weapons. The phrase "bomb in the basement" has been frequently used to describe Israel's secret nuclear program. It was also the title of a 2001 Israeli documentary, "A Bomb in the Basement—Israel's Nuclear Option."
Israelis believe the weapons are their last line of defense, "the ultimate guarantee that another Holocaust will not happen," said legal commentator Moshe Negbi. The consensus is that too much talk will only harm security.
Still, critics say, Vanunu's punishment was excessive.
Yossi Melman, a journalist who writes about espionage, said the security services were trying to deter others and distract attention from their own blunders. The Shin Bet ignored warning signs that Vanunu had been drawn into left-wing circles while working at the reactor, Melman said.
Vanunu said Israel shouldn't have trusted him with classified material. "You gave information to the wrong man," he told the Shin Bet.
Vanunu was snatched from Rome by the Mossad in 1986 after being lured into a rendezvous by a female agent. He was smuggled to Israel by yacht, tried behind closed doors and sentenced to 18 years for treason.
He spent 12 of those years in solitary confinement, earning him a mention in the 1998 edition of Guinness World Records.
In the first 21/2 years, Vanunu was under 24-hour video surveillance, with fluorescent lights on at all times in his windowless cell, said his brother Meir. He was allowed a one-hour daily walk in a yard shrouded in canvas to prevent him from signaling other prisoners. His only human contact was a guard and a family visit every two weeks.
The crushing isolation harmed Vanunu's mental health, according to his brother, an opinion backed by former Israeli legislator Yossi Katz, who met him in 1998. Vanunu improved after getting out of solitary.
Israeli newspapers ran rare photographs of the white-haired, balding Vanunu on Monday, showing him in jeans, a brown prison uniform shirt and a blue ski jacket. Vanunu, a convert to Christianity, wore a gold cross around his neck.
The prisoner, one of 11 children of working-class Jewish immigrants from Morocco, seems to have been an accidental spy.
He was a loner who rebelled against his ultra-Orthodox Jewish upbringing. He studied at Ben Gurion University in the Negev desert while working at the reactor and earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy.
In 1985, after getting fired from his job in Dimona, Vanunu flew to Thailand, where he stayed at a Buddhist monastery and considered conversion, then moved to Australia. He joined an Anglican congregation in Sydney, changed his name to John Crossman and met a freelance journalist who suggested Vanunu talk to the media about Dimona.
With Vanunu's impending release, Israel's nuclear program has hit the headlines again, reviving demands that Israel disarm. Egypt says Israel's arsenal is spurring Arab and Muslim countries to develop their own bombs.
In an attempt at damage control, Israel is imposing restrictions on Vanunu, with the implicit threat of re-arrest.
"We just want to stop him from spreading state secrets," said Likud Party legislator Yuval Steinitz, chairman of parliament's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee. "We think Vanunu still has information he hasn't revealed."
Israeli Nuclear Whistleblower Appeals Conditions of Release From Prison
AP 18apr04
JERUSALEM—The man who exposed Israel's nuclear weapons program to the world appealed a series of restrictions Israel has said it will impose on him after he is released from prison later this week.
Concerned that Mordechai Vanunu's release after 18 years will refocus unwanted attention on its nuclear capabilities, Israeli security has said it will impose several restrictions on him. He will be prevented from traveling abroad for a year, from contacting foreigners and from discussing his work at the nuclear reactor and the circumstances surrounding his capture.
He also will be required to inform the security services of his whereabouts.
"This is just the continuation of his confinement with different conditions," said Vanunu's lawyer, Oded Seller. "These are the most serious restrictions."
Vanunu asked the Interior Ministry and Israeli army on Sunday to cancel the restrictions, Seller said. If the request is denied, Vanunu will appeal to the Supreme Court, he said.
Vanunu wants to live abroad, Seller said. In addition, he would like to be in contact with his adoptive parents, who are Americans from Minnesota.
Vanunu, 50, told The Sunday Times of London in 1986 what he learned during his nine years of work as a technician at Israel's nuclear reactor. He was to be released Wednesday.
Vanunu has said he has nothing more to reveal about his work at the reactor. Using the information and pictures Vanunu provided, experts estimated Israel had the sixth-largest nuclear arsenal in the world.
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