Israel desperate to bury nuclear secrets
Bob Briton Israeli security forces rearrested nuclear whistleblower Mordecai Vanunu last Thursday in a show of armed force at the compound of East Jerusalem's St George's Cathedral. Thirty security men stormed the Anglican Church property and ignored pleas from Bishop Riah to respect the sanctity of the place by putting away their machine guns. Vanunu was taken into detention at Petach- Tikwa before being released into house arrest later that day. The arrest was carried out in response to the urging of Knesset (parliament) member Yuval Shteinitz who has been outraged that Vanunu continues to call for international inspection of Israel's nuclear weapons program. The campaigner had been released from prison in April after serving the full 18 years for treason and espionage. The charges were originally laid when Vanunu went public with information confirming that Israel had secretly developed nuclear weapons. He went into hiding and remained on the run until he was kidnapped in Rome by Israeli security forces and returned for a secret trial. Vanunu still does not know if new charges will be made against him. It is thought that he could be charged with violating the conditions of his release, which included a ban on speaking to the foreign press. He had given interviews to Swedish and British journalists but denies that he has given away any of Israel's nuclear secrets. In fact he insists that he has no more to pass on. US writer Daniel Ellsberg, author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, has said: "The only secret Mordechai Vanunu has left to tell the world is the one he revealed on the day of his release from 18 years in prison, April 21, 2004: 'I am a symbol of the will of freedom, that the human spirit is free. You cannot destroy the human spirit.' Israel should let the foremost prophet of the nuclear age go forth to be honoured throughout the world — and we call on them to do so — but even if it returns him instead to his 6-by-9 foot cell, Mordechai Vanunu will remain the most free man on earth." A reporter for Israel's Channel 2 has called the incident at St George's Cathedral "unnecessary and embarrassing". It appears that the Police had chosen to mount the terrifying raid rather than simply asking Vanunu to accompany them for questioning. Many others commented on the lack of respect for the religious site where Vanunu has been given sanctuary. Some commentators have noted the timing of the move against Vanunu. Rayna Moss, Israeli coordinator for the International Campaign to Free Vanunu, said: "The attempt to silence Mordechai Vanunu on this of all days, is an attempt to bury Israel's secret nuclear arsenal together with Yasser Arafat. While the world media and attention are focused on the burial of the Palestinian leader, the Israeli Government is attempting to disappear the nuclear whistleblower, whose only crime is revealing the terrible truth that Israel is trying to hide: weapons of mass destruction that are concealed from Israeli citizens and from the world."