Vigil for Mordechai Vanunu, whistleblower on Israeli nukes

Nuala Young (posted by eileen) | 20.04.2004 09:42 | Anti-militarism | Oxford

Vigil for Mordechai Vanunu,Cornmarket Street by St Michael at the Northgate, Oxford. Wednesday 21st April from 5.00pm to 7.00pm. Wear black if possible.

If he had been a whistleblower for Iraqi WMD, he would have been welcomed as a hero, but Mordechai Vanunu tried to tell the world 18 years ago about Israel's production of nuclear weapons. According to the NPT Treaty none of the existing nuclear countries should provide any financial aid to any previously non-nuclear state that started to produce nuclear weapons. Vanunu thought he was safe in coming to London to give the story to our papers. But his story would have jeopardised the massive and continual financial aid going from the US to Israel.

Vanunu was enticed by an Israeli woman spy to Italy from where he was abducted to Israel. He was held in solitary confinement for 11 years, so that he could not pass on his story. He refused to promise to stay silent in return for liberty and priviledges. Now,18 years later he is due to be released on April 21st.

All over the world vigils are planned to draw attention to the stringent conditions of his release and to make sure that he is releasd. 90 people many of them famous will be going to Israel to greet him as he leaves prison - we hope. There are plans to have photos taken of all the vigils in his honour and to send them to the papers and to him.

PLEASE COME TO the vigil in Oxford on Cornmarket by St.Michael at the Northgate on WEDNESDAY 21st. April from 5 to 7pm. Wear black and bring a banner or a peace flag if you can but there will be candles there.

Nuala Young (posted by eileen)

Comments

Hide the following 12 comments

hmm

20.04.2004 14:47

There are thousands of political prisoners throughout the world, Arab and otherwise. Arab regimes we are great buddies with - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, etc are tyrannies that arrest and torture people for the crime of having differnet beliefs from the rulers. This Vanu guy on the other hand was a government employee involved in very secretive and classified things, and he released secret information about Israel's nukes, information that will most likely be very useful to anti-Israel Arab states should another war come. Every state in the world would have arrested him were he their employee. Why don't you protest against political prisoners, torture victims, tyrannies, etc, rather than the restrictions placed on one man who knows classified information about Israel's nuclear weapons?

sgfgfg

Oh. Brilliant

20.04.2004 16:01

Amazing. There's always one, isn't there.

A man is drugged and kidnapped illegally for exposing the truth about a Middle Eastern state's illegal weapons of mass destruction; held in solitary confinement, in violation of all sorts of human rights for 16 years for his honesty and STILL the Doublethink trolls emerge from the woodwork claiming that this was all OK!!!

You couldn't make it up.

Wankers. [sigh]

Support Vanunu! (and all those other people held unjustly around the world, fuckin' OBVIOUSLY!!!!)

Moshe Pitt

...

20.04.2004 16:58

It's 'FUCKING OBVIOUS' that you people support others imprisoned, tortured, etc? Vanunu was kidknapped because he was revealing top secret state secrets!! Regardless even of the rights and wrongs of Israel's nuclear weapons, ANY state would arrest someone who revealed secrets about their nuclear weapons, especially a state surrounded by hostile powers. You protest about this, but I have never heard of protests on here for Saudi, Egyptian, Kuwaiti, etc political prisoners, of which there are thousands.

Oh and btw did I say that anything with regard to Vanunu was ok? No, I said any government would do it. Cuba, China, the USA, Britain, ISRAEL, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Libya, India, ETC ETC all these states would do exactly the same thing, if not more.

This is ONE GUY, arrested not because of his political opinions, not because he wanted to form a trade union, not because he cared about women's rights, but because he was revealing state secrets illegally.

sdfdf

Touchy touchy

20.04.2004 17:30

lrmstrdl, wghmfdmg or ohahcantona or whatever you call youself today - is you rabid response to a tiny little bit of friendly crtitcism because the offender in this case is peace loving, freedom promoting, democracy (providing you aren't a palestinian)spreading Isreal.

Vanunu did what he did because he thought nuclear proliferation is a bad thing, not because the Israeli government was (and is) made up of a bunch of mad zionists but because like President Bush, he thought it was a bad thing in principle.

Skyver Bill

..

20.04.2004 18:11

My response was not 'rabid' and there was no 'friendly criticism'.

Vanunu has links with the Israeli far left and peace movements, who have links with Palestinian 'moderates' (like the Holocaust denier Abbas). And regardless of whether this was a principled stand, or whether it was right or wrong, or whatever, what do you expect Israel to do? Say 'oh fair game you released our national secrets even though we're surrounded by hostile powers, how principled of you'??? ANY state would have done what Israel did, except they prob would have used torture, and perhaps would have executed him, or never released him.

dgfg

You cock, fdfdfd or whatever

21.04.2004 11:54

Israel's nukes are ILLEGAL

State secrets are a BAD THING, especially when they protect the ILLEGAL development of WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.

We at IMC do not go along with the idea that exposing such atrocities as ILLEGAL NUKES is a bad thing.

If "Israel's enemies" learnt anything from Vanunu's expose, it is that they are in danger of being NUKED if they step out of line.

I don't give a monkeys what other states may/may not have done in similar circumstances, the fact remains that Israel ILLEGALLY drugged and kidnapped Vanunu for exposing their own CRIMES.

If you can't see this, take your head out of your vicious, Zionist arse and stop trying to confuse the issue by wittering about women's rights and trade unionism.

The issue is that a rapacious and militaristic state (Israel, though you doubtlessly believe it to be a peace-loving utopia) has more WMDs (including biological and chemical weapons) than Britain.

Vanunu told the world what was happening at considerable risk to himself.

Jesus, there are few madder people in the world than apologists for Israel. Shame on you, blinker-boy.

Getagrip

...

21.04.2004 14:34

Israel's nukes prevent another Arab attack. The whole point of protesting I assume is that you start with the worst things first. So you protest against say the Indonesians in East Timor before you protest against say a French Muslim who you think is innocent of the charge of drug dealing or mugging (invented case, just an example). Why do you not protest against what I hear in the media is ethnic cleansing by the Sudan government of blacks? Why not protest against Chienese suppression or something? Dictatorships in Africa?? This is one guy who has released state secrets. ANY STATE IN THE WORLD WOULD HAVE ARRESTED HIM!!!!

Even the Spanish anarchists would have arrested someone who on alleged pacifist principles revealed where the anarchists where keeping their arms. Now imagine its 1943 the anarchists won the civil war their agents in America have given them nuclear secrets they're (the anarchists) building a thing to build nukes to stop the Nazis winning the war against them, and some pacifist reveals this! I think they'd kill him and quite rightly!

afdfdf

Oh fuck off

21.04.2004 15:41

you loony

More attempts to confuse the issue

21.04.2004 15:44

It just won't wash.

Your science fiction nonsense about anarchists winning the civil war in Spain and developing nukes (somehow!) is as insulting to anyone who ACTUALLY knows anything about history/politics/peace issues/common sense as it is far-fetched.

No go away and take your anti-psychotics.

Moshe Pitt

..

21.04.2004 16:37

Science fiction nonsense? I know the scenario was incredibly far fetched, but less so than the idea that the Friends of Durruti could have crushed the communists, socialists, liberals, and the fascists and then spread the revolution into France etc. Are you saying that the anarchists, had they the opportunity, and had they won the civil war and faced a war with the fascist powers, would not have developed nukes to threaten the enemy with? Well whatever, not really that relevant anyway.

The issue is the fact that the guy is being imprisoned because he revealed state secrets. Every state would do this. So why single out Israel? There are massacres, tyrannies, ethnic cleansing, etc throughout the world, why do you care so much about this but not the others? Israel only has nukes in the first place because it is a tiny country surrounded by hostile powers that want to destroy it.

afdafdsf

Oh for fucks sake

22.04.2004 10:51

I give up. This bloke's a psycho and a fantasist.

worn out by the loony

Friendly comment

22.04.2004 11:45

Dear person-with-many-syllables-for-a-name

You sound far too sensible to be unduly worried by the unpleasantly vicious tone of most of these comments. But in case anyone is new to Oxford imc, I wanted to make the point that the people who descend to immediate abuse as soon as someone says something they disagree with are in the minority. Most people are capable of civilised discussion, thank goodness.

watcher