A message from Mordechai Vanunu »
Posted by: jovial 2 months, 3 weeks ago106 Comments Report this Story
I am Mordechai Vanunu, the man who told the truth about Israel's Nuclear Weapons. Program in 1986 and paid with 18 years of my life in Israel Prison .
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earthlingerer2 months, 3 weeks ago
He wrote "Israel" and "UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights" together in one sentence as if the two were somehow connected, related, or otherwise in some vague mutual relationship...
Obviously, it was meant as humor.
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CRYMTYPHON2 months, 3 weeks ago
I remember when they blew air-horns at his trial, whenever he seemed about to say something they did not want him to say.
At this point, 20 years after, I don't think he has any secrets. They just want to punish him.
It will be interesting what the next American administration decides to do. Or not to do.
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ETproductions2 months, 3 weeks ago
Israel had a nuclear ally in the USA. They only needed nukes so they could engage in preemptive wars the US wouldn't undertake.
The NeoCons have nearly destroyed America and they have Israel on the edge of all out nuclear destruction. The NeoCon lust for wars they send others to fight will only be satisfied when the touch off Armageddon.
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Thinker222 months, 3 weeks ago
Vanunu was a spy who sold state secrets to the enemy during a war.
He is lucky he is still alive. In most countries (including the US) such crimes are punished by death.
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blowback2 months, 3 weeks ago
Vanunu is a hero.
He exposed Israel's nuclear weapons program
when it had denied to the world that it had
any such thing.
Most countries frown on such activities.
Especially the US if it assists other agendas.
Israel then, as today, got a free pass.
Iraq was not so lucky and was attacked on suspicion alone.
Vanunu got 18 years and is censored for life.
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Thinker222 months, 3 weeks ago
Would you consider someone exposing to the world the latest American anti-terrorist measures designed to track Osama bin-Laden and his guys -- A HERO?
Sure you would... After all, this "hero" would prevent Americans from cathing or killing terrorists allowing them to plan and execute anothet 9/11 on a much larger scale.
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ciera-marie2 months, 3 weeks ago
Thinker22:
"In most countries (including the US) such crimes are punished by death."
When was the last time in this country, we executed someone for committing an act of treason, or espionage? Even in a time of war. Most US citizens who we caught selling secrets etc to our enemies are sent to jail. Lonetree is an example. (Cold War against the Soviets) He got sentenced to 25 years and in 1994 his sentence was reduced. (http://ww...">http://www.jonathanpollard.org/1994/071494a.htm...
How about more recently, Robert Hannsen? He sold secrets in times of war and non war. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_s...
His wife gets his pension and he gets life in prison without possibility of parole.
I too think Vanunu is a hero.
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Thinker222 months, 3 weeks ago
> When was the last time in this country, we executed someone for committing an act of treason, or espionage? Even in a time of war.
Does the name Rosenbergs ring a bell? Husband and wife Rosenberg were executed for selling the secrets of the atomic bomb to the Soviets... in peace time.
> I too think Vanunu is a hero.
Just as Jonathan Pollard or Robert Hunsen, correct?
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Spadecaller2 months, 3 weeks ago
The same kind of right wing neocons that have ruined our country have been in control of Israel and the results are simiilar; abuses of civil rights and crimes against humanity. Much of it never makes it into the news there or here, for that matter.
Just as we are attempting to dismantle the corporate dictatorship that has taken over Washington through K Street, it is imperative to support the progressive Israelis who want their country restored to its people, as well. Patriotism or Zionsim is not an excuse for abuse against an individual's unalienable rights.
However, we must be careful not to throw the baby out with the dirty bathwater! The majority of Israelis are against these unjust abuses of power -- just as we are rightfully disgruntled with the thugs who are running our govenrment.
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hyperbola2 months, 3 weeks ago
Here is an american jew that we should support - in all she says, including the right of return of christians and moslems. Otherwise your fine words are just hypocritical.
The end of Israel
Hannah Mermelstein
I am feeling optimistic about Palestine.
I know it sounds crazy. How can I use "optimistic" and "Palestine" in the same sentence when conditions on the ground only seem to get worse?...
..I am optimistic not because I think the process of ethnic cleansing and apartheid in Israel/Palestine is going to end tomorrow, but because I can feel the ideology behind these policies beginning to collapse. For years the true meaning of political Zionism has been as ignored as its effects on Palestinian daily life. And suddenly it is beginning to break open. Olmert's comments last week are reminiscent of early Zionist leaders who talked openly of transfer and ethnic cleansing in order to create an artificial Jewish majority in historic Palestine.
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hyperbola2 months, 3 weeks ago
.. We must expel the Arabs and take their places and if we have to use force to guarantee our own right to settle in those places -- then we have force at our disposal. - David Ben-Gurion, Israel's "founding father" and first prime minister, 1937
So this idea of a "two-state solution" a la Olmert -- which I would argue provides neither a "state" nor a "solution" for the Palestinian people -- is the new transfer....
...So why am I optimistic? Why do I think Olmert will fail, if not in the short term, at least in the long term? There are many signs....
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berkeley2 months, 3 weeks ago
this is the most important issue: on one hand, we do not want to even think that we live in an occupied country, while on the other, we know that very few of us support the policies of "our" government. is this gap simply becaue of their stupidity and incompetence? not at all. those in charge have a plan, and have followed it for decades.
the same is true in israel. there is more outer diversity and disagreement in the knesset than in congress, but control never leaves the hands of a smaller group. whether we call them bankers, bilderburg, globalists, or criminals, doesn't matter. their agenda does not favor the common man/woman. even our lives are irrelevant to them.
just as they succeed in getting our army to commit atrocities in iraq and afghanistan, they get the IDF to do the same against the palestinians. we can only blame "israel" to the extent that we also blame ourselves.
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Spadecaller2 months, 3 weeks ago
berkeley
Good to read your post. Those that would want to carry their denunciation of Israel's policies to the point that they reject its very right to exist, have another ax to grind, which often distorts the ability for us all to look clearly and fairly at the issues.
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Thinker222 months, 3 weeks ago
> ...they get the IDF to do the same against the palestinians. we can only blame "israel" to the extent that we also blame ourselves.
As a matter of fact you should blame the Palestinians and their terrorist leaders. After all, if they did not try to kill Israelis and destroy the Jewish state the IDF would not have any reasons to do anything against the Palestinians.
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mackiemesser2 months, 3 weeks ago
I've travelled throughout Israel and had conversed with numerous Israelis and the government's actions against Vanunu run counter to what I believe is the nature of the Israeli man on the street. But the nature of the situation brings complex factors into play. I'll withhould judgment except to say that I don't believe that the Israeli people would condone the curtailment of their right to free speech and expression.
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Thinker222 months, 3 weeks ago
Right for free speech has little to do with selling state secrets to the enemy. This is what the security clearance is for: a person granted such clearance is automatically under obligation to keep state secrets he/she has access to. A person who knowingly violated securit clearance by deliberately selliing state secrets to the enemy is guilty of high treason and is subject to punishment up to and including death penalty.
Vanunu used his security clearance to do exactly that. He was a spy who sold state secrets to the enemy during a war. No punishment is too severe for him.
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hyperbola2 months, 3 weeks ago
Time to start treating israel the same as all other countries. To begin with by imposing sanctions until such time as the nukes are taken away from racist terrorist like the zionists.
Israel must be held to same nuclear scrutiny as Iran
Do No Evil â;; Israel is using nuclear blackmail against the U.S. Israel is saying that if we don't agree to use our nuclear weapons against Iran, they will use theirs. It is time to deal openly with Israel's nukes. The only way to secure a nuclear-free Middle East is to have every nation play by the same book of rules, and this must include Israel.
http://donoevil.propeller.com/story/2008/05/19/...
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hyperbola2 months, 3 weeks ago
Spoken like a true believer in totalitarianism thinker. The world has moved beyond 19th century totalitarian ideologies like nazism, stalinism and zionism.
International Federation of Journalists condemns intimidation of whistleblower
The International Federation of Journalists today accused Israel of bullying and intimidation in its continuing campaign against Mordechai Vanunu, the man who spent 18 years in jail for telling the world that Israel possesses nuclear weapons but who may be sent back to prison - for talking to reporters.
"Israel is creating a new crime - of talking to journalists," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. "It is a shocking betrayal of democratic principles in what is a vindictive campaign of bullying and intimidation against a man who has served his time."
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icono12 months, 3 weeks ago
True Thinker22.
In most countries, the US included, the breaking of that 'agreement or contract' can or will lead to sever criminal penalties with extreme prejudice.
However the US and Israel, unlike other countries, prefers prison time over immediate execution for certain high visibility 'media' cases.
The prison sentence is used to make the person's behaviour 'an example' of what not to do.
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Shankari252 months, 3 weeks ago
Look Thinker. The number of nukes one has is NOT a state secret. We know who has nukes and how many. We have treaties where all nuclear parties agree to open their doors and let everyone have a look. They used to publish this stuff in Newsweek for crying out loud. Israel is hiding its weaponry, because it wants to be exempt from inspection. Why should they be exempt from inspection? Because they are the chosen ones? Come on now. No one is buying that baloney anymore.
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1-2-Oscar2 months, 3 weeks ago
Vanunu hasn't been near a nuclear facility for twenty-three years. Any knowledge he may have possessed about the Israeli nuclear program is so outdated that it is useless. He is not being sent back to prison for revealing more secrets to Israel's potential enemies, he is being locked up because he is an embarrassment to an aggressive (toward its neighbors) and repressive (toward its citizens) neo-fascist state.
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Edmar142 months, 3 weeks ago
Oscar, you know this because......? It never ceases to amaze me how some people just make idiotic comments as if they were privileged with information that no other person has. You can state your opinion, but don't look like the horses rear by making statements as if they were factual and verifiable. Use your head, not the other end.
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1-2-Oscar2 months, 3 weeks ago
You are privileged to disprove any or all of the statements in my post, but you "choose" not to. Perhaps that is because your head is generally located Up the horse's rear.
Vanunu is being charged with "talking to journalists." Only in t
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