From Chicago to the World: Update About Mordechai Vanunu and a 'Brief' History

"When tomorrow calls today into account, some of us want to say we stood up. We called out. We were not silent."~ Leonard Pitts, Jr.

Mordechai Vanunu

(CHICAGO) - As of this this weekend, it has been five years since  this reporter started covering the situation of Mordechai Vanunu who was imprisoned by Israel for blowing the whistle on Israel's nuclear weapon's program, Live on American Arab and Middle East Talk Radio with Ray Hanania and Laila alHusinni, on www.radiobaladi.com which will be archived.

A little history begins on YouTube:

On March 26, 2006, during one of my 7 trips to Jerusalem beginning in 2005, Vanunu told me: "Many journalists come here to the American Colony, from CNN and NY Times. They all want to cover my story, but their EDITORS say no...CNN wants to interview me; but they say they can't do it because they don't want problems with the Israeli censor. BBC is doing the same thing.

"Sixty Minutes from the United States from the beginning they wanted to do a program, but because of the censor situation they decide not to do it. Also big media from Germany, France, Italy, Japan. None of them wants problems with the Israelis."

As I was NOT a reporter until AFTER I met Vanunu for the first time in 2005, I HAD NO PROBLEM filling that vacuum and that lead to the taping of:

"30 Minutes with Vanunu" WAWA's exclusive uncensored interview from March 24, 2006 that did NOT go through Israeli Military censors Click here to download entire 30 minute video (Taped March 24, 2006) Click here to View 30 Minute Video Message on Google Video

BACKGROUND:

On January 25, 2006, Vanunu was convicted by the Jerusalem Magistrates Court of 15 violations of a military order that prohibited him from talking to non-Israelis and because he supposedly attempted to leave Israel by taking a cab to go from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to attend Christmas Eve mass at the Church of the Nativity in 2004.

The original indictment included 22 different violations; Vanunu was charged with 19 and acquitted of four. He was acquitted of speaking to foreign nationals on the internet and via video and voice chats.

On July 2, 2007, Israel sentenced Vanunu to six more months in jail for speaking to foreigners-who happened to be media-in 2004.

On September 23, 2008, the Jerusalem District Court reduced Vanunu’s sentence to three months, "In light of (Vanunu’s) ailing health and the absence of claims that his actions put the country’s security in jeopardy."

On June 14, 2009 Vanunu told me, "The Central Commander of the General Army testified in court that it is OK if I speak in public as long as I do not talk about nuclear weapons."

On July 6, 2009, Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish continued to deny Vanunu the right to leave the Jewish State, claiming his "case is still generating great interest, like any other security-related case. The media's attention he gets is proof of that."

On July 7, 2009, while in the midst of posting the following question to the FACEBOOK Cause I had created and was the only Administrator of my Facebook account was Deactivated.

 

Facebook still has NOT responded to my email inquiries as to WHY did they banish-delete-censor-deactivate me; but as it happened just hours after Vanunu's restrictions were continued by Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish, I have my suspicions as to why I was deactivated in the midst of posting video and posing this question:

Have you eyes to see and ears to hear Vanunu on video in 2005, 2006, 2008?

To the Cause: Letters to Netanyahu and Obama: FREE VANUNU NOW

Click here for Vanunu's message to USA Christians filmed on 6/23/05 (Windows Media, 5:49, 58mb)

Click here to view Vanunu's Video Message on YouTube



"13 Minutes with Vanunu" on Video taped January 2008: 

Click here to view the latest Vanunu Video
(Requires Windows Media Player)

view the video on google by clicking here.

On May 23, 2010, Israel sent Vanunu back to solitary confinement for 78 days.

VANUN FREEDOM OF SPEECH MAY 23-2010.m4v

On July 29, 2010, I received my first reply from the State of Israel Ministry of Justice, after petitioning the state of Israel for over five years to FREE Vanunu:

View PDF of State of Israel Ministry of Justice Response

MY Response to Israel Minister of Justice vis a' vis Human Rights of Mordechai Vanunu

My Open Letter Response to State of Israel Ministry of Justice The Human Rights and Foreign Relations Department that I emailed back to them:

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Ref: 952

 

 

Thank you for your letter dated July 21, 2010, that I received in my gmail on July 29.

 

 

I would now like to address all "relevant authorities" and the State of Israel Ministry of Justice The Human Rights and Foreign Relations Department regarding points 1-13:

 

 

On April 30, 2007, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, convicted Vanunu on 14 [out of 21] counts of violating a court order prohibiting him from speaking to foreign journalists in 2004. Vanunu was also convicted for traveling the four miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem when he hoped to attend Christmas Eve mass at the Church of the Nativity, his first Christmas after being released from 18 years in jail [most of it in solitary] on April 21, 2004.

On July 2, 2007, Israel sentenced Vanunu to six more months in jail for speaking to foreign media in 2004.

On September 23, 2008, the Jerusalem District Court reduced Vanunu’s six-month jail sentence for speaking with foreign media in 2004, to three months, "In light of his ailing health and the absence of claims that his actions put the country’s security in jeopardy."

After appealing that sentence, the Israeli Supreme Court returned Vanunu to jail on May 23, 2010, after they refused his counter-offer to do three-months of community service in Arab east Jerusalem, the only community he has known since 21 April 2004.

 

The Court insisted Vanunu must serve in west Jerusalem, which is 99% Jewish-populated, but Vanunu feared attack there by angry Israelis, most of whom consider him a traitor, and thus his three month sentence in solitary began on 23 May 2010.

 

 

The restrictions that have subjected Vanunu to 24/7 surveillance [his movements, phone calls and emails] for the last six years come from the Emergency Defense Regulations, which were implemented by Britain against Palestinians and Jews after World War II.

Attorney Yaccov Shapiro, who later became Israel's Minister Of Justice, described the Emergency Defense Regulations as "unparalleled in any civilized country: there were no such laws in Nazi Germany."
 
Israel also kidnapped Vanunu in 1986, but Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: "No one shall he subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention", including abduction of a person by agents of one state to another state.

Vanunu was charged with and convicted of treason and espionage.

Section 99 of the Israeli Penal Code, treason is defined as "an act calculated to assist (an enemy) in time of war...delivering information with the intention that it fall into the hands of the enemy."
 
Section 113 defines aggravated espionage as "deliver(ing) any secret information without being authorized to do so and with intent to impair the security of the state" and a sub-clause provides for a penalty of seven years for the unauthorized collection, preparation, recording or holding of secret information; if this is done with intent to impair the security of the state and then, the penalty is increased to 15 years.

On November 24th, 2006 Vanunu wrote:

"My lawyer succeeded to reveal a few very important facts: This General of the Army also was not allowed to see all the secrets that he is required to protect by these restrictions that they claim I know them. So, he gave orders of restrictions without knowing what he is protecting or that he is also following orders blindly, and Mossad Sheen Bet using its authority for just punishing me. He testified that it is not a crime for me to talk with foreigners in general anywhere. He testified that I can speak freely to any Israeli citizens about anything; it is not his concern what I am saying to them. These Israelis can give this information to any foreigners. It was difficult for the Judge to understand why this dichotomy exits between foreigners and Israelis. It means that it is not about secrecy but about something else."


In 2004, Yossi Melman wrote for Haaretz:

"This is the secret that hasn't yet been told in the affair: the story of the security fiasco that made it possible for Vanunu to do what he did, and the story of the subsequent attempts at cover-up, whitewashing and protection of senior figures in the defense establishment, who were bent on divesting themselves of responsibility for the failure. The 18-year prison term to which Vanunu was sentenced is almost exactly the same period as that in which Yehiel Horev has served as chief of internal security in the defense establishment [who has been] involved in the affair as deputy chief of security at the Defense Ministry, and also after Vanunu's abduction and arrest, as a member of an investigative commission.


"Shortly after taking office as chief of security at the Defense Ministry, Horev began to take punitive measures to hobble Vanunu. He is responsible for the harsh conditions in which Vanunu was held, which included years in solitary confinement, and the sharp limitations on the number of visitors he could have…[and has fought] a rearguard battle to prevent Vanunu from leaving Israel and to place him under supervision and restrictions that will be tantamount to house arrest. Horev has always been considered the strictest of all the security chiefs in Israel, especially in regard to the protection of institutions such as the Dimona facility and the Biological Institute. He is apprehensive that if Vanunu goes abroad, he will continue to be a nuisance by stimulating the public debate over Israel's nuclear policy and the nuclear weapons he says Israel possesses…all the hyperactivity being displayed by Horev and those who support his approach is intended only to divert attention from what has not yet been revealed: the security blunders and their cover-ups."

 

 

On July 29, 2010, Mordechai Vanunu’s American parents, Nick and Mary Eoloff wrote, "Please advise Mr. Radzyner that Mordechai Vanunu has never been told what 'secret information' he holds that 'constitutes a relevant threat to the security of the State of Israel' after the passage of 20 years. At court hearings those matters are dictated to the court in its chamber by the Mossad without Mordechai being present. But, of course, that is how the ‘only democracy’ in the Middle East operates…"

 

 

On February 22, 2006, in a Jerusalem court it was revealed that Israel had asked Microsoft to hand over all the details of Vanunu's Hotmail account before a court order had been obtained, while eluding that Vanunu was being investigated for espionage.

 

 

Vanunu wrote:

 

"Microsoft obeyed the orders and gave them all the details…three months before I was arrested and my computers were confiscated. It is strange to ask Microsoft to give this information before obtaining the court order to listen to my private conversations. It means they wanted to go through my emails in secret, or maybe, with the help of the secret services, the Shaback, Mossad.

"The State came to the court with two special secret Government orders; Hisaion [documents or information that are deemed confidential by the government and kept from the court, the defendant, and lawyers.] This allows the prosecution to keep documents related to my court hearing secret. One was from the Minister for Interior Security and one from the Minister of Defense.   "The policeman did not have any answers and said that he brought all the evidence to the court. When Sfard asked him again about any material related to the espionage [charge] Peterburg had no answers.    "Sfard proved that the police had misled the judges who gave the orders to arrest me: to search my room, to go through my email, to confiscate my computers and [that they] misled Microsoft to believe they are helping in a case of espionage."     Israel claims Vanunu received a fair trial; the facts prove other wise and the point remains that on 18 June 2010, Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International's Middle East Programme announced:   "Mordechai Vanunu should not be in prison at all, let alone be held in solitary confinement in a unit intended for violent criminals. He suffered immensely when he was held in solitary confinement for 11 years after his imprisonment in 1986 and to return him to such conditions now is nothing less than cruel, inhuman or degrading. Mordechai Vanunu is a prisoner of conscience. The prison authorities might claim that he has been put in isolation to protect him from the risk of attack by other inmates, but if the Israeli government is really concerned for his safety it should release him without delay. His re-imprisonment is both harsh and unjustified. The restrictions on Mordechai Vanunu arbitrarily limit his rights to freedom of movement, expression and association and are therefore in breach of international law. They should be lifted and he should be allowed to start his life again as a free man."

On October 10, 2010, Israel denied Vanunu's appeal to leave the state!

On December 15, 2010, I wrote and then snail mailed the following with a copy of BEYOND NUCLEAR: Mordechai Vanunu's FREEDOM of SPEECH Trial and My Life as a Muckraker: 2005-2010

 

 

 

Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Peres, Minister of Defense Barak, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lieberman and Minister of Justice Ne’eman,

 

 

Your copy of BEYOND NUCLEAR: Mordechai Vanunu's FREEDOM of SPEECH Trial and My Life as a Muckraker, is enclosed.

Please know it would not have been written if Israel has allowed Vanunu the right to fade into the world in 2004 through 2009, or at least the right to write his own book.

 

 

Everyone who meets Vanunu understands the only way he can harm Israel is with bad publicity and the longer he is denied the right to leave the state, the greater his legend will grow.

My hope in offering you my third book is that you will feel compassion and show mercy and allow Vanunu the right to fade into the world instead of continuing to make history.

 

 

Most sincerely and in solidarity with Micah 6:8,

Eileen Fleming, Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"

Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
Staff Member of Salem-news.com
A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com
Author of Keep Hope Alive, Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory and BEYOND NUCLEAR: Mordechai Vanunu's FREEDOM of SPEECH Trial and My Life as a Muckraker: 2005-2010

In January 2011, I received this response:

 

 

 

 

On February 23, 2011, I received this response from the Israeli PRIME MINISTER's BUREAU, dated January 17, 2011, signed by Jordana Cutler, Deputy Adviser to the senior Adviser to the Prime Minister, stating:

"We acknowledge receipt of your letter dated December 15, 2010, and the signed copy of your book, "Beyond Nuclear: Mordechai Vanunu's Freedom of Speech Trial and My Life as a Muckracker 2005-2010 which you enclosed."

I am most grateful that Israel is aware of this lone voice, but I am still waiting for any response from President Obama, VP Biden, Secretary of State Clinton regarding their complimentary copies of BEYOND NUCLEAR: Mordechai Vanunu's FREEDOM of SPEECH Trial and My Life as a Muckraker: 2005-2010.

I am also still waiting for a response from this Administration to the many FAXES, email's and phone calls I have made to them seeking they HELP FREE VANUNU vis-a-vis the fact that Israel's very statehood was contingent upon upholding the UN UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS and these Articles affirm:

 

Article 19:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

 

Article 13:
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

 

(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

 

Every Member State of the UN UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS is charged with the responsibility to hold ALL other Member State's accountable!

And when tomorrow calls today into account, some of us WILL BE ABLE to say we stood up. We called out. We were not silent and We did our best and this lone voice offers the rest in:

BEYOND NUCLEAR: Mordechai Vanunu's FREEDOM of SPEECH Trial and My Life as a Muckraker: 2005-2010

 

TO Contact Vanunu, please visit his sites:

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/vanunuvmjc

 

http://vanunu.com/

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           In Solidarity YES WE CAN begin the world again.

_________________________

Eileen Fleming is the Producer of "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu" Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org, Eileen is a Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com, Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory" and the soon to be released "BEYOND NUCLEAR: Some of my Experiences of Mordechai Vanunu and the Holy Land: 2005-2010" youtube.com/user/eileenfleming. Eileen is a unique leader in her state and she intends to run for a Florida Congressional seat in the future, to help speed the process of change that is so demanded today. Like many who walk in similar steps, Eileen, like other writers at Salem-News.com, is an outspoken advocate for humanity and she has no tolerance for the oppressive forces of the world.

You can send Eileen Fleming an email at this address: ecumei@gmail.com

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