Mordechai Vanunu Jailed Again 72


The British government, mainstream parties and the mainstream media never mention Israel’s nuclear weapons, even when pontificating about the effect of potential Iranian nuclear weapons on the balance of power in the Middle East.

Consistent with that, no amount of googling brings up any British mainstream media mention of the fact that whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has just been jailed again in Israel. This is for breaching the terms of a military edict – not a court order – restricting his movements and contacts.

One slight ray of light is that Amnesty International, an organisation I generally hold in high regard, is finally adopting Mordechai as a prisoner of conscience:

“If Mordechai Vanunu is imprisoned again, Amnesty International will declare him to be a prisoner of conscience and call for his immediate and unconditional release,” deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa Philip Luther said in a statement.

“The ongoing restrictions placed on Mordechai Vanunu have meant that he has been unable to move to the USA to live with his adopted family, placing a huge strain on his mental and physical health,” Luther said.

“They are not parole restrictions since he served his full 18-year term. They arbitrarily limit his rights to freedom of movement, expression and association (and) are therefore in breach of international law.”

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18759

Mordechai had suffered the obscenity of eleven years in solitary confinement, and over twenty years in all in prison. Nothing I can say is of consequence compared to that, but I have a particular feeling for Mordechai as a fellow whistleblower – in his case on Israeli nuclear weapons, and in my case on CIA and MI6 torture and extraordinary rendition. I know something of what it is to be called a traitor and have the establishment crush down on you, though obviously Mordechai has suffered much more. I also share with Mordechai the honour of being a former Rector of a Scottish university.

Next time you see our political “leaders” banging on about Iranian nuclear weapons, remember Mordechai and consider why Israeli nuclear weapons are never mentioned.


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72 thoughts on “Mordechai Vanunu Jailed Again

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  • Larry from St. Louis

    Well, you know, Craig Murray did label me an “agent provocateur” way back when. And now Suhayl is constantly pestering me about being a government agent. There’s only so much of this I can take before I take it up a notch and bring up 911 every day.

  • tony_opmoc

    Owen Lee Hugh-Mann,

    How can I change my MP’s mind?

    He has published the money he received from the Israeli’s for his trips to Israel.

    Everything he has done is completely legal and beyond legal challenge.

    I also think he is a decent bloke and a good MP, but he has got this connection that I do not approve of which is why I didn’t vote for him…

    In many other ways he completely represents my views.

    But it is not down to me to tell him to sever his Israeli connections.

    That is down to him and his own conscience

    Tony

  • Larry from St. Louis

    Suhayl: “Btw, ‘Conspiracy’ emphatically is not my default position.”

    Now THAT’S funny. You believe that I’m a government agent and that 911 was an inside job, but you’re so much smarter than those silly conspiracy theorists.

    Face it, Suhayl, you threw away a medical career to pursue being a nut.

  • Suhayl Saadi

    Larry, I have never asserted any such thing about 9/11 and please do not state that I did. I have no idea what you are or might be, Larry. You perhaps display your provenance at every pillar and every post.

    How do you know I “threw away a medical career”? That too is inaccurate.

  • Larry from St. Louis

    “I have no idea what you are or might be, Larry.”

    Right, now you back off. After repeatedly accusing me of being on the government payroll (because, as you suggested, that’s how you would play it).

    You’re starting to come apart, Suhayl. Will you be blowing yourself up soon?

  • Owen Lee Hugh-Mann

    Suhayl. My comment on the other hand wasn’t meant to be specific at all. I was making a general point that had no bearing on any particular comment, yours included and so was not implying what your position is, default or otherwise. I did wonder whether you weren’t simply trying to wind Larry up by accusing him of being a stooge though. While paid commentators certainly exist, such is the nature of the internet that I presume they are often surplus to requiremnets. I was merely pointing out that there is a kind of personality trait which leads people to feel the need to rebutt and correct perceived falsehoods, just as there are paranoid traits.

  • Suhayl Saadi

    This thread, Larry, is about Vanunu and Israel. Not about me and the fact that I am now confronting your assumed position. And make no mistake, I am confronting your assumed position.

    Oh no, I’m not backing off. I suggest that you reveal your provenance, you don’t need me to point out the obvious.

    Vanunu, Israel. Nuclear weapons.

  • Owen Lee Hugh-Mann

    Tony. Why do you think that Craig asked people to write to express their concern at Popov’s treatment? I marched to protest against the Iraq invasion but had no illusions that it might prevent the war. You’ve chosen to exercise your right to opt out of democracy. Fair enough. I don’t think your MP would be interested in pages describing bands you’ve seen and your guitar etc ad nauseam anyway.

  • tony_opmoc

    Sorry, that was me. I’m going out now.

    The “Me Too”

    I was trying to make a General Point point that all our MP’s in all parties should sever their connections to Israel…

    Because it doesn’t look pretty

    And yes I know all about AIPAC

    We expect our MP’s to represent the views of the People who elected them rather than being paid by the State of Israel

    I have no problem with them travelling to Israel providing they pay for it themselves.

    And it is Perfectly O.K. to have Israeli Friends.

    Tony

  • Larry from St. Louis

    “And yes I know all about AIPAC”

    Great Tony!

    Do you also know about the American Association of Retired Persons?

    If not – now you do!

  • Roderick Russell

    As Suhayl Saadi at May 14, 2010 6:57 PM says ?” following my earlier comment critical of the human rights industry for being too close to MI6 / CSIS — “Now let us await the arrival of the disruptors… ” And sure enough it didn’t take long for Larry to appear as we both expected he would.

    Larry is a professional smear team whose job is to cast dispersions on those who are over critical of our intelligence services, particularly MI6. He does this by smearing. We have discussed Larry before on this blog, so I won’t reiterate. I admit it – I am critical of our intelligence services and if anybody wants to see why, just click on my name. If you were honest, Larry you would provide us with your team’s contact details. But then your job is not to be honest is it. Just don’t step over the line between what is just nasty comment and what becomes sinister. SOME of the recent professional SMEARS in Canada got so seriously sinister that my family insisted that I report them to the police, which I did earlier in the week – and they are investigating

    Larry, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL must be very glad to have MI6 provide them with help from such as you.

  • Owen Lee Hugh-Mann

    Larry. There is obviouly some history between Suhayl and you, perhaps even going back to before I started reading Craig’s blog. Internet etiquette leaves a lot to be desired and misunderstandings sometimes arise because the only means of expressing tone is at best an emoticon. A lighthearted or ironic comment may be taken far too seriously. I don’t know how seriously Suhayl intends his remarks to you to be taken. My impression, however, is that you adopt a somewhat antagonist position to everyone here in the assumption that we are all “conspiraloons”. Perhaps I’m mistaken, or it might simply be a result of past history, such as the “agent-provocateur” remark. I thought the “Will you be blowing yourself up soon?” comment was unjustified, although Suhayl doesn’t require anyone else to defend him. Just as an extreme belief does not require us to adopt the extreme opposite position to be able to refute it, even extreme comments and provocation from others don’t require us to respond in the same way, however tempting it may be.

  • Larry from St. Louis

    Roderick, what’s the best piece of evidence that the British government is out to get you for quitting your job?

  • Owen Lee Hugh-Mann

    Larry. Have you read Richard Tomlinson’s account of his experiences in “The Big Breach”? I’m sure you’re familiar with the case, but just in case, the latter part details the persecution he suffered after trying to take MI6 to a tribunal for unfair dismissal. I’m inclined to believe it’s a fairly accurate account, although I can’t be 100% sure obviously. (I did meet him when he was on his final training assignemt prior to graduating as an MI6 officer, but I’m not in a position to make a definitive judgement). The lengths the security forces are prepared to go to, (out of petty vindictiveness in his case), are shocking if his account is accurate, and most of it isn’t really even disputed, but rather details such as whether it was him or MI6 who posted the names of serving officers on the internet. My point is that if someone is facing such persecution, they deserve our sympathy. If however, the person is a victim of a persecution complex instead, (their paranoia perhaps reinforced by the knowledge that such things do actually happen), surely they are equally deserving of our sympathy. The days in which asylums were allowed to exploit public prurience, (rather than being the shelters for the vulnerable which the name implies), are thankfully long gone.

    I should point that this comment is meant generally too, and that I have no knowledge of, and am making no comment about, Roderick Russell’s case in particular.

  • Duncan McFarlane

    For someone throwing around accusations of mental illness so freely Larry, your irrational and overblown raging rants against anyone criticising the British, Israeli or American governments don’t come across as too balanced or normal either.

  • glenn

    As you have close ties with scotland and the good laws they have over there compared to the uk.I wonder if you could also speak up about the terrible case of holy grieg and child abuse in scotland,shows the fact that all is not well with the system in place in scotland as well?

  • Suhayl Saadi

    Yeah, Vanunu ought to be awarded a Peace Prize. Eileen, that’s a fascinating and wonderful website. Amnesty ought really to have declared him a prisoner of conscience 20-odd years ago.

    Owen, thanks for your patience, insight and forebearance. I regret summoning this fracas onto this thread.

    Interesting, too that you met Tomlinson. I’ve read his book. His seems to have been an employer-employee dispute that got completely out-of-hand and ought to have been resolved at Personnel level much sooner than it (eventually) was. Nonetheless, this did render something of an insight into the possible mechanics of such organisations.

    Have you read Stephen Dorril’s opus? Of course, Dorril was never in the service, though he’s obviously made a thorough study of it. I would trust his (Dorril’s) account much more than I would, officially sanctioned histories. He, along with Robin Ramsay, established Lobster magazine (‘parapolitics’) in the early 1980s. It’s now entirely web-based:

    http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/index.php

  • Vronsky

    Whatever they are – trolls, government agents, common or garden twits – they only succeed if we respond. At a rough count, on this thread there have been 3700 words on topic, and 1500 words from or responding to ‘Larry’. The on-topic word count is greatly inflated by several very large cut and paste entries (I wish people wouldn’t do that either – short quote for flavour, then give the link). so the real situation is that the thread has been utterly hijacked by someone posting a few dozen words.

    For fuck’s sake, get a grip (especially Suhayl). If you want to tease the trolls, go to the 9/11 thread – that’s what it’s for.

  • Vronsky

    Suhayl

    I subscribed to Lobster for a while but one or two things made me rather wary of it. Can’t remember everything now, but one relatively trivial point was one of the writers saying that there was something in psychokinesis, because he’d seen someone cause a pencil to roll across a table by the power of mind alone. I was startled by the naivety, as this is a well known pub trick with a cigarette (back in the days when you could have fags in pubs). While you make mystic gestures over it with your hands, an accomplice blows it.

  • glenn

    Whoever wrote under my name at May 15, 2010 2:07 AM, I would ask you not to do so again. Please choose a distinct name for yourself on this forum.

  • Hamish Scott

    “Next time you see our political “leaders” banging on about Iranian nuclear weapons, remember Mordechai and consider why Israeli nuclear weapons are never mentioned.”

    Or for that matter, UN Resolutions. In the press conference given by Hillary Clinton and William Hague yesterday, Mrs. Clinton referred to enforcing UN Resolutions in regard to Iran’s nuclear programme.Unsurprisingly, none of the assembled journalists asked if the US and UK would enforce UN Resolutions in regard to Israel, and if not, why not.

  • Vronsky

    “Whoever wrote under my name”

    It obviously wasn’t you. They’re so fricking thick, aren’t they?

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