Vanunu in Danger

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Thursday June 10, 2004 15:02

by Justin Morahan - Peace People

Whistleblower wants to leave Israel

Mordechai Vanunu's life is in danger while he stays in Israel., a virtual prisoner still in the Church of St George in Jerusalem where he has been given much needed sanctuary.
He wants to leave Israel and his opponents want him out but the Israeli government won't allow it.
His case has now been taken to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile inspections of the Dimona palnt where he worked are planned for the coming months.

VANUNU IN DANGER

Since his release from an Israeli prison on April 19 last, Mordechai Vanunu has been living in St George's Anglican Church in Jerusalem, courtesy of the bishop.
At least three incidents have been reported that show his life is in real danger while he remains in Israel.
On June 1, the Jerusalem Post reported that when he appeared in court to request that the restrictions being placed on his liberty be lifted, he was attacked by supporters of a right-wing Kach group who shouted "Traitor, Collaborator, leave the country". He was forced to seek refuge in a nearby pharmacy.
In another incident, reported in the Sunday Times, Vanunu was with a woman friend near the hostel of St George's Cathedral when a group of supporters of Kahane, a banned right-wing group, began to follow him shouting "Traitor" and "We will eliminate you".
A third incident occurred when he visited the Jerusalem offices of Acri (the Association for Civil Rights in Israel). While walking outside the building two men began to follow him shouting death threats.
Vanunu left jail in April after serving almost eighteen years for having leaked details of Israel's nuclear weapons programme to The Sunday Times. Although "free", Israeli authorities have placed a whole series of restricitions on his liberty. He is barred from visiting many places in Israel and Palestine, he cannot change his address without giving 48 hours' notice, or go within 500 metres of Israel's border crossings. He is also banned from airports and ports, from entering any foreign diplomatic mission, establishing contact with foreigners or participating in internet chat sites.
Acri have now submitted a petition to Israel's Supreme Court demanding that the restrictions be abolished.
The irony is that while angry opponents within Israel want him out of the country, it is the Israeli authorities who are keeping him there against his will.
It's also ironic that his case for freedom to leave Israel may not been helped by the fact that the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is at present planning to have international inspections of the Dimona nuclear facility. The IAEA are under pressure from the EU and Arab countries who want a "nuclear-free Middle East" but, it appears, Israel also believes that the spate of media coverage about Dimona following Mordechai's release have upped the ante.
Mordecahi Vanunu's vision is wider than the middle East - he wants a nuclear-fee World.
While there is promise, eighteen years later, that inspections of Dimona will take place, Mordechai Vanunu, the whistle-blower, is still made to sacrifice
freedom for this limited and tardy action by the International community.