« Business As Usual | Main | Stop the Presses! Philip Morris Knew Smoking Kills! »
November 11, 2004
Nuclear Whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu Has Been Rearrested -- Do Something.
A few years ago, a friend of mine told me of his visit to the Robben Island prison in South Africa, where Nelson Mandela was jailed for 27 years. My friend, a journalist from India who reports mostly on the harsh lives and struggles of the "untouchable" castes, and a bunch of the usual dignitaries were taken to the island during an international conference. Robben Island has now become a tourist attraction, apparently, an obligatory visit.
But, of course, some things never become ordinary and encountering true human courage is one of those. The visitors were greeted by an old black man who would act as their guide. He welcomed them by saying, "Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Robben Island, one of the apartheid regime's prison. I spent 15 years here for your freedom."
Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear whistleblower who spent 18 years in jail in Israel --more than 11 of it in solitary confinement-- trying to further the cause of our freedom to live free of the most horrific weapons of mass destruction, has just been rearrested. The pretext is the flimsiest: that he was revealing "classified information." The whole world knows Vanunu has no more secrets to reveal; he has already told the world all that he knew from his time as a technician at the secret Israeli nuclear plant in Dimona.
His real crime is that he wasn't broken by the prison, by the solitary confinement. He wasn't even bitter: he emerged from the long ordeal as a calm, confident believer in peace, a steady opponent of nuclear weapons. The Israeli goverment slapped on him ridiculous restrictions: can't talk to foreigners, can't talk to press, can't leave the country, can't do this, can't do that. It's obvious that what they are afraid of is not some alleged secrets that he possesses, but his brave voice.
Vanunu did not seek to be a hero, he was just looking for a job when he landed at the heart of Israel's nuclear program. He has, however, more than lived up to the challenge life thrust upon him. His rearrest is a crucial test for all of us. It's clear his arrest was timed to take place when most news organizations were covering Arafat's death. They are betting we will ignore this outrage.
If we let Mordechai Vanunu once again be disappeared into the Israeli jails, who will want to fight for our freedom again? If he can be snatched by "20 police commandos wearing bulletproof vests and wielding machine guns" without worldwide outrage, who will want to be a whistleblower again?
Right now, the campaign that was formed earlier to demand his release is putting out a call to everyone to contact the Israeli Embassy to demand his release. Here are the phone numbers in the United States:
Israeli Embassy: (202) 364-5500
email: ambassador_sec@israelemb.org
fax: 202-364-5607
Public & Interreligious Affairs: (202) 364-5542
Political Department: (202)364-5581/2
Press Office: (202) 364-5538
If you are not in the United States, contact the Israeli ambassador in your country: http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/israel1.html.
I urge you to pick up the phone and call the embassy. Then write a fax. Then write an email. Then organize a demonstration in front of the embassy. Call your paper and demand that they cover this story.
And be outraged not because it's the right thing to do and what has happened is outrageous, but also because if we run out of his kind of people though abandoning them when they need us, we have no hope left.
Posted by zeynep at November 11, 2004 12:47 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.underthesamesun.org/mt-tb.cgi/283
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Nuclear Whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu Has Been Rearrested -- Do Something.:
» Stupid? Insane? Evil? Or A Heady Combination Of All Three? from A Tiny Revolution
Zeynep at Under The Same Sun points out the US government's latest attempts to get us all killed. And by "us" I mean "all mankind." As Zeynep says, it's increasingly difficult to tell if whether we're being monstrously offensive by... [Read More]
Tracked on November 13, 2004 01:10 PM
Comments
"If we let Mordechai Vanunu once again be disappeared into the Israeli jails..."
This is an insult to the thousands of people who live under regimes where real disappearances happen.
When these states "disappaear" citizens they do it with secret police, there's no public record, the victims aren't told the charges against them, are not given a chance to plead their case, don't have the benefit of an independent jury or judge.
You may disagree with the decision but calling it a disappearance ignores the real threat to people that disappearances are.
Fwiw, from the article you link to:
"He has acknowledged violating his release arrangement which barred him from meeting foreigners or discussing his work at Dimona, but he said he had no more classified information to reveal."
Any state would be compelled to act. What's the point of a release agreement if you're not going to enforce it?
Posted by: greg at November 11, 2004 02:24 PM
You know, apartheid was legal too. The South African state also argued it was compelled to act, to preserve its laws and constitution.
And 18 years with little or no contact with the outside world --with most of it spent it solitary-- for *telling the truth* about nuclear weapons: that's being disappeared. This isn't a stray overnight weekend stay at a jail; this is two decades of a man's life spent under draconian conditions.
Okay, if you want acknowledgement that it's worse to be snatched, tortured, killed and your body dumped from a helicopter, yes. That's much worse.
What a defense.
Posted by: zeynep at November 11, 2004 02:53 PM
It never ceases to amaze me that people can rationalize injustice with the formula, "if I can think of something worse, it's not that bad." At a basic level, injustice is injustice, regardless of degree. That you can think of something worse does not justify an act.
As far as greg's contention that the re-arrest is justified because "any state would be compelled to act" if someone violated a release agreement requires the erroneous assumption that the release agreement was just in the first place.
Let me respond to your final question, greg:
"What's the point of a release agreement if you're not going to enforce it?"
This is a ridiculous question - it assumes the legitimacy of the agreement simply because it was enacted by a state. Past unjust acts do not legitimize subsequent acts.
Greg does not seem to disagree with facts, simply with philosophy. To him, state actions are inherently just. I disagree.
Posted by: seth at November 11, 2004 04:29 PM
Hey, Seth -- yeah, this "it's not as bad as [fill in the blanks]" is a very curious creature. I mean, I'll be first to admit that but what's the lesson here? We should only be outraged by the absolutely worst of the worst crimes? That we are going to gloat that we're better than the Argentinian Junta at its worst?
There is one point about the comparison business, though, that I do think can be a problem -- sometimes people do exaggrate. I don't like it, for example, when people call the U.S. a police state. Not that there isn't great amount of injustice and police brutality but calling this country a police state is misleading. (We are getting worse, but we're nowhere near yet). Same with elections: there is a great deal of voter supression and quite possibly real election fraud that needs to be uncovered and resisted but it's not the same as what they are trying to do in Iraq: hold total sham elections.
Posted by: zeynep at November 11, 2004 06:20 PM
i'm reading about this story in a couple of places - one said he was re-arrested for telling mor nuclear secrets. i can't imagine after 18 years he has any more information of value. that bloomberg article (http://tinyurl.com/5azk5) says he will go before a judge in 24 hours to determine if he will remain in jail.
on the other hand, a times online article (http://tinyurl.com/3pgzs) says he was held several hours for questioning about violating his parole and ...
"was released on bail, on condition that he spends the next seven days under 'house arrest' at St George’s Cathedral. 'Mr Vanunu has agreed to abide by all the restrictions under which he was released in April, and the police investigation will continue,' Gil Kleiman, a police spokesman, said."
Posted by: m at November 11, 2004 08:00 PM
FYI: An online action is set up for people to contact the Israeli embassy at http://capwiz.com/wagingpeace/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=6639876
Would you consider posting this on the main page somewhere?
Peace,
Forrest
Posted by: forrest at November 11, 2004 08:28 PM
Hi Forrest,
You know, I have both the email and the phone numbers you have in that automated page on the front page. I think it's more effective not to use pre-written texts. Let me know if you think otherwise and I'll reconsider.
Posted by: zeynep at November 12, 2004 10:00 AM
No, I agree that it's better if people call or fax, but we have it set so that folks can change the text we have. We've found that many people will not make phone calls or write their own emails unless it's made simple for them. That's just the reality of the thing. In any case, do what you will.
-Forrest
P.S. Love the blog!
Posted by: forrest at November 12, 2004 01:11 PM
The US may not be a Police State - YET. But this article is really scary!
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/14/1026185141232.html?from=top5
Posted by: Tookie at November 13, 2004 05:32 PM
This is really a shame...
Without this man's bravery, we might still not know that Israel has a stockpile of nuclear weapons. This is a travesty. He is in jail for telling the truth.
-Anthony
http://leftcoast.blogspot.com
Posted by: Anthony Smith at November 14, 2004 12:59 AM