- Two weeks after Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear
whistle blower, was jailed for 36 hours on alleged parole violations he
tells why he feels 'unfairly targeted' as well as telling why his freedom
of speech and association rights are being disregarded. Even though he
already spent 18 years in jail, it looks like authorities are looking 'for
any little thing' to put him behind bars.
-
- By Greg Szymanski
- 11-29-5
-
- Two weeks after Mordechai Vanunu was jailed for 36 hours,
he claims Israeli authorities are still harassing him for talking with
the foreign press and wanting to leave Israel.
-
- He claims Mossad, CIA and MI6 intelligence agents are
"watching him closely" and "looking for any little thing"
to put him back behind bars.
-
-
- He added agents are searching with "a fine
tooth comb" for parole violations, prohibiting him from talking to
journalists or leaving Israel in what he calls unfair restrictions on his
free speech and association rights.
-
- Vanunu, 51, talked with the Arctic Beacon the day after
his release two weeks ago from a cold and dank Israeli jail, saying the
experience was a terrible reminder of his 18 year jail term, 11 years in
solitary confinement, for telling the world about Israel's secret nuclear
stockpile, estimated at more than 200 weapons in 1986.
-
- This week he released a longer statement, reflecting
on his situation and claiming he still feels abandoned by worldwide human
right's groups, who have been pressured by Israel and the U.S. to ignore
his case.
-
- "I had served the full extent of the harsh 18 year
sentence after being unfairly convicted for crimes I didn't commit,"
said Vanunu in a telephone conversation from Israel, technically also violating
his parole even though he has openly talked to the press repeatedly since
day one of his release on charges of treason and spying.
-
- Vanunu was released from an Israeli prison near Tel Aviv
in 2004 for divulging what au information regarding Israel's nuclear weapons
program and its nuclear reactor in Dimona, where he worked for nine years
as a technician/scientist.
-
- The Sunday Times of London published a full account of
Vanunu's story, calling the attention to the world in 1986 that Israel
has already constructed 200 nuclear atomic bombs. He verified his claim
with photographs of the Dimona site, verified by experts who eventually
confirmed that Israel had nuclear weapons.
-
- Vanunu was arrested in Rome as the article was being
published by a combination Mossad and CIA undercover kidnapping. Once back
in Israel ,Vanunu claimed he was not given a fair trial and quickly sentenced
to a maximum term for treason as well as being termed a foreign spy.
-
- Four days prior to his recent detention near a checkpoint
near Jerusalem while traveling on a bus, Vanunu made a rare American radio
appearance on Greg Szymanski's Investigative Journal on the Republic Broadcast
Network at www.rbnlive.com where a audio clip of the one hour interview
is archived.
-
-
- On that show was openly critical of Israel's stringent
parole requirements, adding Israel's nuclear stockpile has grown to more
than 400 weapons.
-
- "If President Bush wants to find nuclear weapons
in the Middle East, all he has to do is come to Israel. I am not going
to let Israel keep me from exercising my freedom of speech," said
Vanunu during the radio interview. "I am waiting for my January hearing
where the Israeli judge will determine if I go back to jail for talking
to the foreign press.
-
-
- "But I will not stop talking as what else can they
do to me after spending 18 years in jail, 11 years in solitary confinement,
for doing nothing wrong. All I ever wanted to do was alert the world to
the terrible nuclear threat Israel presented to the whole Middle East and
the world."
-
- After Vanunu reflected on his recent trouble with authorities,
he said he felt the United States and Britain were collaborating with
the Israeli's to keep him "locked within Israel's borders" unable
to communicate with the world. This week he made his reflections on the
arrest and his future known to the Arctic Beacon in this following statement,
a statement he wanted Americans to hear:
-
- "Two weeks ago again the Israel authorities use
their power to arrest me, but this time they put me back in prison for
2 days, causing me back to remember all the cruelty and hard life of 18
years in isolation.
-
- "The reason this time was because I came very
close to the checkpoint near the wall in Aram, a small Palestinian neighborhood
in east Jerusalem where they have not yet decided where the apartheid wall
is going to continue.
-
- "I took a bus from the bus station in east
Jerusalem and traveled to the Aram village without being checked, but when
the bus returned to Jerusalem, they inspected it at the Aram check
point.
-
- "At the check point, they took my ID card
and the soldiers received orders to arrest me. They confiscated
my camera and my mobile, and took me to the nearest police station, where
I waited for the special police unit to come from Tel Aviv and take me
to there to be questioned.
-
- "Meanwhile, the police themselves invited the Israel
media TV to come and let them take as many photos as they wanted and to
report my arrest in their main news, as a man who is going to the occupied
territories where the "enemies," "fighting" them. They
did this because they want the Israeli public to regard me as being equal
to terrorist.
-
- "I said to the media "they arrested me
when I went to see the Aram check point, to see the Apartheid wall, the
Palestinians ghettos."
-
- "In Tel Aviv they questioned me about why I was
"Interring" to the Palestine occupied territories. They wanted
to know what I was doing there and why I was not following the general
Army's orders. I said Aram is still part of Palestine east Jerusalem, I
am not interested to see the occupied territories, I just want to see the
apartheid wall, to see this village, and it is not yet clear where the
borders of Jerusalem are. They wanted to know with whom I
was traveling, their names, why I was with foreigners, and he wanted to
see my camera photos.
-
- "The police decided to arrest me because they wanted
to release me under court orders. However, there is no court on the
Jewish Sabbath day, so they had to wait until Saturday night. They
imprisoned me in Tel Aviv, in a cell without any thing but a mattress and
a blanket.
-
- "Saturday morning my lawyer Feldman and Sfard, came
to see me, to hear what happened, and to represent me in court.
In the evening the police took me back to the court, and the woman judge
heard my case at 20:30. Feldman did not agree to the police terms of my
release. They wanted 2 of week's house arrest, and 50.000 shekels. Feldman
convinced the judge and even the police that this arrest was a big mistake
because I did not violate the terms of my release, since it is not yet
clear where Israel wants to put its apartheid wall. But, before the
judge made her decision the police capitulated and agreed for immediate
release without any condition, just my signature.
-
- "This was a small victory for Feldman in defending
me, and my friend Gideon took me back to Jerusalem, St George, where we
had a glass of Beer.
-
- "But the police and the Israeli spies couldn't go
without something. They demanded that I give them my Camera and my
mobile so they could check them. Now I don't have my mobile and no phone
connection until receiving them back.
-
- "So that was another incident of harassment in this
new series of cruelty since my release. They will not give
up and let me go -- leave Israel. If they could put me back in prison they
would.
-
- "My conclusion: the world continues to ignore my
situation and is not doing anything to help me gain my freedom in the same
way it did during the 18 years of my imprisonment.
-
- Nobody will intervene to demand my release. The world
stands by and allows Israel to do as it pleases. The world will let
them commit more crimes such as kidnapping, injustice and cruelty."
-
- This last brush with Israeli authorities hasn't been
the first time Vanunu has been detained since being released from prison
in April 2004. Last November 11, Israeli police entered St. George's Cathedral,
arresting Vanunu. He was questioned about his interviews with foreign
press, which he conducted in open defiance of the restrictions, believing
they were in violation of his freedom of speech.
-
- Vanunu was also detained last Christmas Eve, as he attempted
to enter the off-limits West Bank city of Bethlehem for worship at the
Church of the Nativity. He was released several hours later being given
five days of house arrest.
- Vanunu's case was then reviewed by the Israeli court
last April where the charges were dropped but then immediately prosecutors
filed new charges under a different law prohibiting contact with the media
concerning matters of national security.
-
- Prior to his Friday arrest, Vanunu was scheduled to appear
for a January hearing where he faces a possible six months in prison if
convicted on other alleged parole violations, charges specifically concerning
his alleged disregard for the Israeli order not to talk to the foreign
press.
-
- For more informative articles, go to www.arcticbeacon.com
|
