amigocabal

....IS ISRAEL GOING TO KILL HIM TO KEEP HIM FROM SPEAKING OUT?

Muzzling a Whistle-Blower
Mordechai Vanunu is scheduled to be freed soon. But will he be?By Dan Ephron
Newsweek InternationalJan. 12 issue - Sometime last year Mordechai Vanunu
received a visitor at his prison cell in the southern Israeli town of
Ashkelon. The guest was an Israeli security official, and the proposal he
was carrying would have made Vanunu-a former nuclear technician jailed since
1986 for revealing Israel's atomic secrets-a free man. But not entirely.
Vanunu, who had another year left on his sentence, would have had to sign a
pledge to never again talk publicly about Israeli nukes or about Dimona, the
nuclear plant where he worked and where Israel is said to have built at
least 200 atomic bombs. Though Vanunu had suffered from dreadful prison
conditions since his arrest the offer held little appeal. "He said he won't
do it," recounts Mary Eoloff, a retired American schoolteacher who, along
with her husband, legally adopted Vanunu a few years ago, in a failed
attempt to win him U.S. citizenship. "He believes in freedom of speech."

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Vanunu, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, is due to exit Ashkelon prison on April
21 and wants to emigrate immediately to the United States. But in the waning
months of his 18-year sentence, Israeli officials are quietly considering
meting out more punishment for the whistle-blower. According to a report
confirmed by security sources, some people in the defense establishment want
to invoke an arcane regulation to prevent Vanunu from ever leaving the
country. Other government officials believe Vanunu's imprisonment should be
extended by "administrative detention"-a measure usually reserved for
Palestinians suspected of terrorism. Both groups warn that Vanunu, once able
to travel and speak freely, will become a powerful agitator for the
dismantling of Israel's nuclear weapons. "Having Vanunu running around the
U.S. and Europe talking about the bombs Israel has, could be a serious
irritant from the Israeli government's perspective," says Avner Cohen, an
academic who writes about Israel's nuclear policy.

Especially these days. In the last year alone, two of Israel's most volatile
foes-Iraq and Libya-have been defanged. And now Iran is under pressure to
come clean about its nuclear program. Syria could be next. But if disarming
the entire Middle East is the goal, Arabs and Muslims keep asking, what
about Israel? The answer has as much to do with politics as it does with
strategic considerations. Certainly, the United States has less angst about
a nuclear-armed Israel than it does about an Arab state. But no less
significant is the way Israel has leveraged a quiet don't-ask-don't-tell
arrangement with the United States: as long as the Jewish state doesn't
admit having nukes, Washington won't press to eliminate them.

That's why Vanunu's revelation to The Times of London in 1986 so infuriated
Israeli policymakers. The midlevel technician gave the newspaper not only a
tell-all interview about Dimona, he provided photographs from inside the
plant taken furtively in the final months of his employment. The revelations
destroyed Israel's policy of ambiguity. The government initially tried to
discredit him, then lured Vanunu from London to Rome in a Mossad honey trap
and whisked him off to Tel Aviv for trial. At least six times in recent
years, Israel has denied his request for parole. When asked about the
possibility of further sanctions against Vanunu, the Justice Ministry said
tersely: "Various issues are being weighed in advance of Mordechai Vanunu's
scheduled release. Beyond that, we cannot go into detail."

If allowed out, Vanunu wants to live in the United States and teach history.
On the way, he hopes to stop in London where supporters are planning a big
bash. "He'd like to get married and lead a quiet life at first, and that's
smart," says Eoloff, who last visited Vanunu six weeks ago. "If he speaks
out, and it won't be right away, it would be against nuclear threats all
around the world."

Vanunu, who converted to Christianity before his arrest, is also visited
regularly by an Anglican clergyman. The last time he was there, Dean Michael
Sellors remarked to Vanunu that his release coincides with the Queen of
England's birthday. "He said that in that case, he better get a ticket and
greet her himself," Sellors says. Vanunu might be famous enough in Britain
to meet the queen. But first, he needs Israel's permission to leave.

© 2003 Newsweek, Inc.