Mordechai Vanunu

(מרדכי ואנונו) (born October 13, 1954), also known by his baptismal name John Crossman, is an Israeli former nuclear technician who revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986. He was subsequently lured to Rome by an Israeli Mossad agent, abducted and smuggled to Israel, where he was tried behind closed doors and convicted of treason.

After 18 years in prison, more than 11 years of which were served in solitary confinement, Vanunu was released from prison in 2004, subject to a broad array of restrictions on his speech and movement. Since then he has been briefly arrested several times for multiple violations of those restrictions, including giving various interviews to foreign journalists and attempting to leave Israel. In March 2005 he was charged with 21 counts of "contravening a lawful direction", with a maximum of two years' imprisonment per count, and then released to await trial, under the same rights restrictions as before.

Vanunu was seen by some human rights groups as a prisoner of conscience. In their press release of April 19 2005, Amnesty International said 'If Mordechai Vanunu were to be imprisoned for breaching the restrictions imposed on him, Amnesty International would consider him to be a prisoner of conscience' ^*. The Israeli government still considers him a traitor, and Vanunu continues to be highly critical of Israel's actions, even rejecting the need for a Jewish state.

Early life

Vanunu was born in Marrakech, Morocco to a Jewish family; his father was a rabbi. He emigrated under the Law of Return with his parents and his 11 brothers and sisters to Israel in 1963. Vanunu completed his three years of military service in the sapper unit of the Israeli Defense Forces, with the rank of sergeant. After being honorably discharged, Vanunu became a philosophy student at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where he became critical of many policies of the Israeli government, forming a group called "Campus" with four other Jewish students and five Arab students. Vanunu also admired his professor, Evron Pollakov, a left-wing professor at Ben-Gurion University who had refused to serve with the IDF in Lebanon and had been jailed because of it. Vanunu also was affiliated with a group called "Movement for the Advancement of Peace".

Between 1976 and 1985, Vanunu was employed as a nuclear technician at the Negev Nuclear Research Center, an Israeli facility which, according to the majority of defense experts, is used for manufacturing nuclear weapons; it is located in the Negev desert south of Dimona. Most worldwide intelligence agencies estimate that Israel developed nuclear weapons as early as the 1960s, but the country has purposely maintained a "policy of deliberate ambiguity", neither acknowledging nor denying that it possesses the weapons. It was during his employment there that one of the left-wing groups in which Vanunu held membership, protested against Israel's 1981 destruction of Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor, which was believed to be part of the Iraqi nuclear weapons development program. The Jerusalem Post stated that he took part in these protests ^*, arguing that this showed that Vanunu was motivated by antipathy to Israel in his later actions. Vanunu has not responded to these claims.

At Dimona, it is believed that Vanunu became increasingly troubled about the widely believed Israeli nuclear weapons program on which he worked. In 1985, he was laid off from Dimona and left Israel. He arrived at Nepal, and considered a conversion to Buddhism, later traveling to Burma and Thailand. In 1986, he traveled to Sydney, Australia. While there, Vanunu lived in a hostel in Kings Cross and worked in odd jobs, first as a hotel dishwasher and later as a taxi driver.

Vanunu began to attend the local church, St. John's. There he met the Reverend John McKnight, who worked with the homeless and drug addicts. Vanunu converted to Christianity and was baptized as John Crossman into the Anglican Church. This estranged him from his family. While in Sydney, he met Peter Hounam, a journalist from The Sunday Times in London.

Disclosure, abduction, and publication

In early September 1986, Vanunu flew to London with Hounam, and in violation of his non-disclosure agreement, revealed to The Sunday Times his knowledge of the Israeli nuclear program, including photographs he had secretly taken at the Dimona site. Anxious to avoid being duped by another Hitler Diaries-sized hoax, The Sunday Times spent extensive time verifying Vanunu’s story with leading experts.^* Apparently frustrated by the delay while Hounam was completing his research, Vanunu approached a rival newspaper, the tabloid Sunday Mirror, whose owner was Robert Maxwell. In 1991, a self-described former Mossad officer called Ari Ben-Menashe alleged that Maxwell had tipped off the Mossad about Vanunu. It is also possible that they were alerted by enquiries made to the Israeli Embassy in London by Sunday Mirror journalists.

The Israeli government had a good relationship with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, so to avoid embarrassment it was important to get Vanunu out of UK territory under his own volition. The territorial integrity of Italy did not receive the same respect. On September 30, an Israeli Mossad agent, Cheryl Bentov, operating under the name of "Cindy" and masquerading as an American tourist, began an affair with Vanunu, eventually persuading him to fly to Rome with her on a holiday. Once in Rome, Mossad agents drugged him and smuggled him to Israel on a freighter, beginning what was to be more than a decade of solitary confinement in Israeli prisons.

On October 5, the Sunday Times published the information he had revealed, and estimated that Israel had produced more than 100 nuclear warheads.

Imprisonment

Vanunu was put on trial in Israel on charges of treason and espionage. The trial, held in camera, took place at the District Court in Jerusalem before Chief Justice Eliahu Noam and judges Zvi Tal and Shalom Brener. He was not permitted contact with the media but he wrote the details of his capture (or "hijacking" as he put it) on the palm of his hand, and while being transported he held his hand against the van's window so that waiting journalists could get the information (photo). This act caused Israel's standard procedures for transporting prisoners to be changed.

On February 27, 1988, the court sentenced him to 18 years' imprisonment from the date of his capture. The Israeli government refused to release the transcript of the court case until, after the threat of legal action, it agreed to let censored extracts be published in Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper, in late 1999.

The death penalty in Israel is restricted to special circumstances. In 2004, former Mossad director Shabtai Shavit told Reuters that the option of extrajudicial execution was considered in 1986, but rejected because "Jews don't do that to other Jews" (see ^*).

The Israeli government kept him in near total isolation for more than 11 years, allegedly out of concern that he might reveal more Israeli nuclear secrets and because he was still bound by the contract that swore him to secrecy on the subject. However, many critics argue that Vanunu had no additional information that would pose a real security threat to Israel, and that the Israeli government's real motivation is a desire to avoid political embarrassment for itself and allies such as the United States. Ray Kidder, then a senior American nuclear scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has said:

"On the basis of this research and my own professional experience, I am ready to challenge any official assertion that Mr. Vanunu possesses any technical nuclear information not already made public." (^*.)

His last appeal against his conviction, to the Supreme Court of Israel in 1990, failed.

While in prison, Vanunu says, he took part in small acts of rebellion, such as refusing to talk with the guards, reading only English-language newspapers, and watching only BBC TV. He even refused to eat food when it was served to him so as to maintain a small portion of his life not under Israeli control. "He is the most stubborn, principled, and tough person I have ever met", said his lawyer, Avigdor Feldman.

Release

In 2004, shortly before his scheduled release, Vanunu remained defiant under interrogation by the security service Shin Bet. In recordings of the interview made public after his release, he is heard saying "I am neither a traitor nor a spy, I only wanted the world to know what was happening." He also said, "We don't need a Jewish state. There needs to be a Palestinian state. Jews can, and have lived anywhere, so a Jewish State is not necessary." ^*^*

Vanunu was released from prison on April 21, 2004. He indicated a desire to completely dissociate himself from Israel, refusing to speak in Hebrew, and planning to move to Europe or the US (^*) as soon as the Israeli government would permit him to do so.

A number of restrictions were placed upon Vanunu by Israeli authorities, who stated their reason was fear of him spreading further state secrets and that he is still bound by his non-disclosure agreement. These stipulate that he:

has to register to live in an Israeli city of his choice.
has to give notice to the authorities if he wishes to travel to another city.
is not allowed to leave Israel. This restriction has since been extended to April 2006 ^*, and yet again to April 2007. While a court found in 2005 that he should be free to go to Gaza and the West Bank, the 2006 restrictions explicitly forbade him to visit the West Bank or Gaza, so reversing the court's decision.
is not allowed to contact foreigners either by phone or in person or by e-mail.
is not allowed to enter or approach any embassy, visit any port of entry, or come within 500 metres of any international border crossing.

Vanunu says that his knowledge is now all outdated, and that he has nothing more he could possibly reveal that is not already widely known. Despite the stated restrictions, since his release Vanunu has freely given interviews to the foreign press, including a live phone interview to BBC Radio Scotland.

On April 22, 2004, Vanunu asked the Norwegian government for a Norwegian passport and asylum in Norway for "humanitarian reasons", according to Norwegian news agencies. He also sent applications to other countries, and stated that he would accept asylum in any country because he fears for his life. Former conservative Norwegian Prime Minister Kåre Willoch has asked the conservative government to give Vanunu asylum, and the University of Tromsø has offered him a job. This application, as well as an application for asylum in Sweden has been rejected, since neither country accepts absentee asylum applications. He has also asked for asylum in Ireland but without success as he would first have to be allowed to leave Israel and Israel will not give him a passport.

Since his release, Vanunu has appeared in Isreali courts on numerous occasions on charges of having broken the sanction. He was arrested and detained for attempting to go to midnight Mass in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, on one occasion his room in St. George's Cathedral was raided by 30 armed policemen and his belongings were confiscated.

All international calls for his freedom of movement and freedom of speech have been either ignored or rejected by Israel.

Arrests

2004

On Thursday, November 11, 2004, Vanunu was arrested by the International Investigations Unit of the Israeli police at around 9am while eating breakfast. The arrest stemmed from an ongoing probe examining suspicions of leaking national secrets and violating legal rulings since his release from prison. About 20 police officers wearing bulletproof vests and carrying machine guns entered into the walled compound of St. George's Anglican Church in East Jerusalem, where Vanunu had been renting a room since his release. Police removed papers and a computer from his room. After a few hours' detention, Vanunu was put under house arrest, which was to last seven days (see ^*).
On December 24, 2004, in a vehicle marked as belonging to foreign press, Vanunu was apprehended by Israeli Police while he was attempting to exit Israel. In violation of his release restrictions (see above), he was entering the West Bank, allegedly to attend mass at the Church of the Nativity. After posting bail of 50,000 NIS, he was released into five-day house arrest (^*) as reported by the BBC.

2005

On January 26, 2005, BBC reported that its Jerusalem deputy bureau chief, Simon Wilson, was banned from Israel after BBC refused to submit interview material made with Vanunu to Israeli censors. Wilson was allowed to return to Israel on March 12 after signing an apology letter acknowledging that he defied the law ^*.

On March 17, 2005 Vanunu was charged with 21 counts of "contravening a lawful direction" (maximum penalty two years' imprisonment per count) and one count of "attempting to contravene a lawful direction".

On November 18, 2005 Vanunu was arrested at the al-Ram checkpoint north of Jerusalem as he was returning by bus from the West Bank. The Israeli authorities say Vanunu's travel ban includes visits to the Palestinian territories. ^*.

Support

The European Parliament has condemned Israel's treatment of Vanunu, and referred to his detention by Mossad agents as a gross violation of Italian sovereignty and international law. Amnesty International described his treatment as constituting "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment ^* such as is prohibited by international law".

Vanunu received the Right Livelihood Award in 1987, and was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Tromsø in 2001. He has been nominated by Joseph Rotblat for the Nobel Peace Prize every year from 1988 to 2004. In 2005 he received the Peace Prize of the Norwegian People (Folkets fredspris). Previous recipients of this prize includes Vytautas Landsbergis (1991), Alva Myrdal (1982), Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams. Myrdal, Corrigan and Williams also received the Nobel Peace Prize.

In December 2004, as a statement of solidarity, he was elected by the students of the University of Glasgow to serve for three years as Rector On Friday April 22 2005 he was formally installed in the post [http://www.gla.ac.uk:443/newsdesk/events/details.cfm?Event_Number=2146, but cannot carry out any of its functions as he is still confined to Israel. Since then the Glasgow Herald has launched a campaign for his release.

References

Black, Ian. Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services, Grove Press, 1992, ISBN 0802132863
Cohen, Avner. Israel and the Bomb, New York: Columbia University Press (1999), ISBN 0231104839
Cohen, Yoel. The Whistleblower of Dimona: Israel, Dimona & the Bomb. ISBN 084191432X
Gaffney, Mark. Dimona: The Third Temple? The Story Behind the Vanunu Revelation. ISBN 0915597772
Gilling, Tom and John McKnight. Trial and Error — Mordechai Vanunu and Israel's Nuclear Bomb. 1991 Monarch Publications. ISBN 185424129X
Hounam, Peter. The Woman from Mossad: The Torment of Mordechai Vanunu. ISBN 1583940057 paperback edition title: The Woman from Mossad: The Story of Mordechai Vanunu & the Israeli Nuclear Program
Toscano, Louis. Triple Cross. 1990 Birch Lane Press ISBN 155972028X
Spiro, Gideon. Vanunu and the Israeli Bomb.

External links

Source documents and interviews

Sunday Times articles from 1986
Vanunu receives honorary doctorate
Mordechai Vanunu Risks Jail To Speak to Democracy Now! in First Nat'l U.S. Interview
Vanunu 'held' by Israeli police
Enav, Peter. "Israeli nuclear whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu arrested for passing on classified documents." The Associated Press. November 11, 2004. ^*
Kayw, Taakov, and Arieh O'Sullivan. "A-G orders Vanunu arrested." The Jerusalem Post. November 11, 2004. ^*
"Israeli police detain nuke whistleblower Vanunu." Reuters. November 11, 2004. ^*
Biographical interview with Mordechai Vanunu published in a Hebrew newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, 1999
Our Son, The Rebel interview with his adoptive parents, 2002.
Ari Ben-Menashe on the Capture of Mordechai Vanunu
Metro Interview (UK free paper given out in cities)
"Vanunu held after West Bank visit" The BBC. November 18, 2005
27 February 2006 Independent Catholic News - Josephine Siedlecka

Israeli government statements

Memorandum Regarding Mordechai Vanunu on the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website

Human rights bodies

Current affairs coverage

Excerpts from Vanunu's statement upon release from prison
BBC Correspondent — Israel's Secret Weapon, broadcast on March 17, 2003, gave an update of Vanunu's situation. There is also a transcript available.
Better World Links on Mordechai Vanunu and Israel's Atomic Weapons
A Mossad perspective on the capture of Mordechai Vanunu in Haaretz.
Left-wing commentary article reflecting on Vanunu, the state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the general political situation (late 2004).

Public statements by Mordechai Vanunu

Personal homepage of Mordechai Vanunu
Letters from Solitary — book of letters from Mordechai Vanunu to Rev. David B. Smith of Sydney, Australia, through whom Vanunu converted to Christianity. PDF copy: Light version, the full version, with reproductions of each letter, is available from Father David's web site.
Mordechai Vanunu: “Having the atomic bomb is what has allowed Israel to fearlessly carry out its apartheid policy” Voltaire Network, October 2005

Advocacy websites

http://www.vanunu.org/
The 1987 Right Livelihood Award for Mordechai Vanunu
Free Prisoner of Conscience, Mordechai Vanunu, With No Restrictions! (Report by The Israeli Committee for Mordechai Vanunu and for a Middle East Free of Atomic, Biological and Chemical Weapons)
Sydney link to Israeli prisoner of conscience from The National Council of Churches in Australia.
Information on Vanunu's candidature for Glasgow University Rector.
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign with information about his rectorship
The Peace People, Belfast with various reports
Liberdade para Mordechai Vanunu (Amnesty Group 19, Portugal)

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