Israeli Persecution of Mordechai Vanunu. Israel’s Unspoken Nuclear Weapons Program

Featured image: Mordechai Vanunu in 2009 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home – Stephen Lendman). Contact at [email protected].

Vanunu is a heroic whistleblower, viciously persecuted by Israel for revealing its nuclear armed and dangerous.

In 1986, he was kidnapped, beaten, drugged, secretly tried, and politically imprisoned for 18 years, mostly in harsh solitary confinement – for revealing what everyone has a right to know.

Since release in 2004, he’s been relentlessly hounded and monitored, imprisoned without justification, his fundamental freedoms denied, re-imprisoned several times.

Israel won’t give him a moment’s peace even though he has no updated information on its nuclear program since the mid-1980s. He’s got no new secrets to reveal.

He’s denied the right to renounce his Israeli citizenship, leave the country, and be free from its ruthless persecution. He’s barred from having unauthorized contacts with journalists, including Israeli ones.

He’s denied the right to do most everything without official permission. Israel holds him hostage to its viciousness.

Earlier explaining why he revealed information on its nuclear program, he earlier said

“I am neither a traitor nor a spy. I only wanted the world to know what was happening.”

Daniel Ellsberg called him “the preeminent hero of the nuclear era.” He’s vulnerable to rearrest any time for any contrived reason.

All he wants is his freedom, he said, waiting over 30 years in vain. On July 10, the Jerusalem Post headlined “Israeli Nuclear Secret-Leaker sentenced for contact with foreigners,” saying:

“…Jerusalem’s Magistrate’s Court gave…Vanunu a two-month suspended jail sentence on Monday for violating the conditions of his previous release, having met with foreigners in recent years.”

If he commits a “similar violation in the next three years,” he’ll be re-imprisoned for two months, maybe longer if Israel intends severer punishment – for exercising his fundamental rights recognized by all just societies.

He was also sentenced to 120 hours of unspecified community service. In May 2016, he was irresponsibly charged with:

  • meeting with two US nationals in East Jerusalem in 2013 without permission;
  • moving to a new apartment in the same building in 2014 without notifying Israeli authorities; and
  • appearing on Israel’s Channel 2 television on September 4, 2015, discussing his 1986 arrest and imprisonment, as well as dangers of Israel’s nuclear program, including its Dimona plant hazards.

In January, he was acquitted of these charges. Yet unrelenting Israeli mistreatment continues.

Nuclear ambiguity remains official Israeli policy. It neither confirms or denies what’s common knowledge. The nation is nuclear-armed and dangerous.

Despite agreeing to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), effective January 2016, permitting Iranian nuclear development solely for non-military purposes, its government continues being wrongfully accused of seeking nuclear weapons.

In contrast, the world community remains largely silent about Israel’s longstanding nuclear weapons program – supported by Washington from its earliest stages.

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home – Stephen Lendman). Contact at [email protected].

My newest book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.


Comment on Global Research Articles on our Facebook page

Become a Member of Global Research


Articles by: Stephen Lendman

About the author:

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: [email protected]