[Rictor]

...someone will give this man the Nobel Peace Prize.

__________________________________________

'I Am Happy and Proud to Do What I Did'
 
by Mordechai Vanunu


Excerpts from the news conference with Mordechai Vanunu held upon his release from an Israeli prison after serving 18 years for disclosing Israel's nuclear secrets.

I have a statement to tell you. I'm speaking only in English. I'm not speaking in Hebrew. If Israel don't let me to speak to foreigners, I'm not speaking in Hebrew.

I have a statement to read: I am Mordechai Vanunu, the man behind The Sunday Times article from October 5, 1986, the article about Israel's nuclear weapons.

I was kidnapped in Rome, Italy, by Israel's spy on September 13, and I was brought to Israel, arrived to Ashkelon prison on October 7. I was here, I am here in the prison, in this prison Ashkelon prison from October 7 1986, until today, 17 and a half years, in very cruel barbaric treatment by Israel's spy Mossad, Shabak.

This prison is guided and controlled by Shabak Mossad. The prisoners, the guards, the guards are only obeying orders of Shabak Mossad. In this prison you have a section seven by the Shabak Mossad. ...

(In Hebrew): I tell the Israelis if you discriminate and prevent me from talking to citizens abroad then I am also not talking to you in Hebrew. If you decide who, and discriminate between Jews and foreign citizens then you are a dictatorship and an apartheid country. You yourselves are conducting a racist policy.

(In English): To all those who are calling me traitor, I am saying: I am proud, I am proud and happy to do what I did. I am very glad I succeed to do what I did. I don't have any secrets. All this bull****, blah blah blah about secrets is dead. My case is dead. Since the article was published, there is no more any secrets. All the secrets were published in the hand of all the world, all the world, all the states, 180 states received these secrets and now I am ready to start my life, to do for my life.

I am not harming Israel, I am not interested in Israel. I am, I want to tell you something very important. I suffered here 18 years because I am Christian, because I was baptised into Christianity. If I was a Jewish, I wouldn't have all this suffering here in isolation for 18 years only because I was a Christian.

I say Vanunu Mordechai saying he don't need a Jewish state. Vanunu Mordechai don't want to live in Israel and don't need a Jewish state. I said Israel don't need nuclear especially now that all the Middle East is free from nuclear weapons, Iraq don't have a nuclear weapons, Libya ... Egypt. All the Middle East is free from nuclear weapons.

My message today to all the world is open Dimona reactor for inspection, open Dimona reactor for inspection. I said to the Shabak Mossad you didn't succeed, you didn't succeed, you didn't succeed to break me. You didn't succeed to make me crazy, the target of 18 years of isolation is to make me crazy.

This will be a symbol that a free man can survive, a free spirit can exist. There is no human being that can destroy the freedom of speech, the will of freedom, the man who want to be free. I'm a hero? I think that all those who are standing behind me and supporting me, all those who continue to be my friends for 18 years, all are heroes.

What I want to say is that this day I am free but not total free. I hoped that after 17 and a half years I can leave Israel. My symbol as I said is about the will of freedom, the human spirit. I am a symbol of the will of freedom that you cannot destroy the human spirit. ...

I will continue to speak against all kinds of nuclear weapons, against all democracies nuclear weapons. I want to say this day, I want the President of the United States, George ****, Tony Blair, Gerhard Schroeder, Vladimir Putin, all the leaders to do for my release from Israel, to leave Israel, and now all those leaders should deal and speak about Israel nuclear secrets. I come to end this silence and secret cooperation by the West: United States, Canada and all Europe helping Israel, co-operating with Israel. ...

Of course, I'm free to speak. They found some papers that I wrote about what I worked, but I wrote it in 1991 when I had nothing to do, I wrote it for myself. They have nothing to fear from me. I don't have any secrets, I don't want to harm Israel, I want to leave Israel and start new life. I want to go to the United States to start my life to study history to teach history.

They take all the copies of all my letters to my friends, all my copies of my letters to my friends. I am going to the church to give thanks to my friends and to God, Jesus Christ for the support for 18 years. I am going to the St. George Church in Jerusalem and later I will start my life.

I was kidnapped immediately after we land in Italy. We went to an apartment as soon as I went into the apartment they attacked me, one Israeli and one Frenchman. They drug me, they drug me, they drug me, they took me in a car, from the car we went to the beach, an isolated beach, a commando boat, from the commando boat to a small yacht. There I was chained for seven days, we speak only English. I ask them: "Who are you?" They say we are here Israelis, French English. After seven days we arrived near to Caesaria beach.

[Sesquipedalian]

I don't know that he deserves a Nobel prize.  

Frankly, Israel was in its rights to charge him with treason.  It may or may not have been the right thing for him to commit treason, but either way it was still treason.

Oh, and actually Canada has a very neutral position regarding Israel.  So do most European nations, I believe.

[Rictor]

And South Africa was well within its rights to imprison Nelson Mandela....so what? The guy spent more time in prison than some people have been alive. He exposed something that very much needed to be exposed, and suffered because of it. I don't care about Country A's rights to secrets and bull**** to further their own agenda. Isreal had no right to keep the nuclear program a secret. The welfare of the world comes before the welfare of any one country. If Dubya and Blair can be nominated for the Nobel Prize, why shouldn't he be?

[Grey Wolf]

If Israel has the right to develop a nuclear weaponry program in secret, why then do other countries have the US poking their nose into their business when they try?

[mikhael]

Actually, Rictor, unless they were signatories to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, they were A) within their rights to develop any nuclear weapons they so chose and B) keep it a secret.

I hate to break it to you: a country has whatever rights within it borders that it says it does. That's pretty much what makes it a sovereign nation.

You may or may not agree, but them's the facts.

[an0n]

No, those are the aspects of the status quo.

**** the status quo.

[aldo_14]

It's basically national security - if the revealing of Israels nuclear programme creates an additional risk (i.e. of a pre-emptive attack, or compromises it's negotiating position, etc), then it can be considered treason.

 If Mordechai Vanunu signed a document promising to obey nationality security / secrecy rules, then Israel are and were well within their rights to hold him to that.

[an0n]

Like **** they are.

If someone signs a non-disclosure agreement with the US then finds out they're planning to bio-weapon Mexico, there's no fucking way a piece of paper signed under United States law should keep that **** a secret.

[Gank]

Tell that to your government Mikhael

[StratComm]

Gank, keep that out of this.  If you want to get that debate started, take it somewhere that can be locked independently of this thread.

An0n, I agree.  Morally I would have to make it public, and almost everyone would see it the same way.  But I do not concur that is is somehow outside of a nation's rights.  I would not be suprised if that same government had me arrested for treason if I revealed information classified for national security reasons of any kind.  It's only marginally removed from spying.  Yes, I'd fight it, but I would have to concede that it is within the government's power and responsibility to do so.

[Ghostavo]

What Grey Wolf 2009 and Gank said but with more charisma and in a more friendly manner...

[an0n]

If any government has anything that can reduce a sizable portion of this Earth to a cinder it Should. Not. Be. Secret!!

[StratComm]

I agree.  But fault Israel for building the things in the first place, not for holding the guy in jail for 18 years.

[Gank]

StratComm, **** off.

[an0n]

Bah. **** Israel.

They're America's little pit-bull. Building them up with weapons and cash till they're read to set them on the rest of the middle-east, so they can reduce the region to village-level governments while maintaining a comfortable official distance for America to hide behind. Then in come the Marines and BAM! No more OPEC.

Everyone knows it. It's just the only people with the balls enough to say it are the terrorists.


.......

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by an0n
Like **** they are.

If someone signs a non-disclosure agreement with the US then finds out they're planning to bio-weapon Mexico, there's no fucking way a piece of paper signed under United States law should keep that **** a secret.

That's true, but it's also a different parallel to this - there's been no evidence - as far as I know - that Israel intends and plans to make a first strike.  

The difference between an offensive and defensive weapon is very fuzzy, true, but the political repercussions would make it seem very unlikely to me that Israel would actually use nukes as anything beyond bargaining chips.

Of course - to be fair - there is a side issue in whether Vanunu didn;t do the Israeli government a service.  It certainly would have (and possibly has) acted as a deterrent  to any major attack.  

but overall, I'd still say that it was within the rights of the Israeli government, the same as it would be if it had been a defector selling nuclear secrets to another nation - although the morality of the punishment (both in length and nature) is certainly debatable given the nature of the 'crime'.

[Ghostavo]

Originally posted by aldo_14
The difference between an offensive and defensive weapon is very fuzzy

A WMD? Defensive?

Yeah, right... but you are right about it being bargaining chips... the problem is when they call for "your" bluff.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Ghostavo


A WMD? Defensive?

Yeah, right... but you are right about it being bargaining chips... the problem is when they call for "your" bluff.

Yeah, well that is the somewhat dodgy defensive sense of a nuke.  Hence the whole nuclear 'deterrent' malarky.....which only works while you have them in control of a relatively sane individual, which is less and less nowadays.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of nukes.  The only problem is figuring out how to make sure everyone gets rid of them at the same time, so noone can take advantage.

[Gank]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=4898771

[an0n]

Who gives a **** is Israel only intends to use it as foreign tanks are rolling through the streets? They're still planning to indescriminately incinerate a most probably populated area.

The same thing goes for the whole 'nuclear deterant' thing. America is basically saying "If anyone launches a nuke at us, we're going to purposely and deliberately destroy half the Earth out of spite".