Vanunu: I was arrested because I have a Norwegian girlfriend

Israel is NOT threatening the world with its nuclear program, Iran is. That's all.

Just prior to the taping of "30 Minutes with Vanunu" [freely streaming @ VANUNU ARCHIVES http://wearewideawake.org/ ] on March 26, 2006, 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." 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." Here's hoping this latest harassment will be the last and Israel will have some mercy and deliver JUSTICE: FREE VANUNU!

Your 'traitor' for ours. A fair trade. Our governments should do this thing and put an end to what has been dragging on for far too long.

Let's see....Israel jails a guy for 18 years for revealing Israel has nuclear weapons, and put him in a state of permanent house arrest, but Israel demands Iran make all their nuclear energy research an open book! They irony seems lost on many of your readers.

The only reason Vanunu is not allowed to leave Israel or to talk to foreigners is because doing so would create an immense embarrassment for Israel. Vanunu would become an international star and a media darling. He would probably write books and give lectures. And the spiteful people at the Shabak would not want to see that. Israel is a Shabak state where EVERY single citizen is a potential administrative detainee. As a Jew who, first and foremost, values his freedom of speech, I'm truly glad I don't live in that country.

A representative of the Israel legal system said on telvision last night that "this shows that Norway is an enemy of Israel" I wonder (and many with me!) if this is the official view of Israel. I just can't believe it. Do the israel government think that we send a woman to spy on your nuclear programme. Or what?

Had he been a US Citizen, leaking US secrets from lets say, Palo Alto..guess what.? A lifetime in jail without parole or the electric chair. For treason does carry the death sentence in many countries. Mr.Vanunu is a premeditated traitor, he collected over time photographs, documents then went to the highest bidder in the press, sold his country for pieces of silver. Yes, he is a modern day Judas. Yes, he should spend the rest of his life in jail.

Has it ever occurred to you that he might just be in love with this woman? Maybe he just doesn't limit his search for love to one group of people...? And "Norvegy" isn't anti-semitic. It's just one of many countries that speak out when Israel acts in unethical or illegal ways. Criticizing a state doesn't mean that one is racist against the people in the state!

This traitor seriously compromised the security of Israel. He should never have been let out of prison. Now that he is back in, the key should be thrown away.

He is wrong because we have in Israel so fine women, also intelligent as Judy Moses,or Miki Haimovici ,or Shelly Iehimovici or Esther Peretz,or Perly Shahar also beuatiful as Judy Moses,Gimel Tafit,Tafit Grant.So why he needs to take a girl friend from anti semitic Norvegy?

Some hero.

Vanunu never was a spy, but a whistleblower, a herald, who told the world of a most dangerous project of perfidious rulers (who did not sign the Nonproliferation Treaty even now). He did not expect, or got any payment for his revelation, though has every moral right to be remunerated for this journalistic investigation. He, like Sakharov, was listed for the Nobel Peace Prize, and it would do credit to the Committee if it chose him, as it did with Sakharov. I hope, a day would come when Israel will honor him, as Russia honors Sakharov now.

This man should never have been allowed to see the light of day and in many nations would have received the death sentence for his treasonous acts. This woman is most likely a left wing extremist fishing for info to aid Iran or other enemies of Israel as this would fit into the traitors pattern.

....who thinks the world around him... what? Are you searching for a perfect definition of 'Israel'?

Vanunu didn't sell any secret intelligence - he simply exposed Israel as nuclear state, received 18 years and has not been allowed to leave Israel. However, American AIPAC officials Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman and Ben-Ami Kadish were convicted of spying on the US on behalf of Israel and were not jailed because of AIPAC influence. http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2009/12/16/no-fault-espionage/ Quite a difference, huh?

"Personal feats of Vanunu and Sakharov are quite comparable" - Samuel What a curious statement. Sakharov was a brilliant physicist intimately involved in developing Russias first thermonuclear weapons. Vanunu was a low-level technician. Sakharov never revealed any State Secrets, while Vanunu pimped them on Fleet Street. Some of the comments upon this forum have been really absurd today.

"Pollard traded American secrets for cash, jewelry, and travel." - Natallie And Vanunu sold Israeli secrets for money. I guess you have missed a few things, like him getting paid for the Sunday Times article. He was exposed when he approached a second paper, the 'Sunday Mirror' who's owner tipped off Mossad. "Vanunu was a man of conscience." - nattering Durson Twaddle. The material sold by Pollard was FAR more dangerous to the USA and world than the information Vanunu peddled was to Israel (more embarrassing than dangerous). In either case they were traitors for profit and disgusting in my book.

The best between us: Jesus and Vanunu :-) is that what you're suggesting?

Whether or not one thinks an Iranian doing the same would be a hero the fact is that he would be a traitor to Iran, just like Vanunu is a traitor to Israel. His mistake is that he was captured by the ones he betrayed. If he was in Iran he would not have to worry about parole regulations. The west considered Saddam's son-in-laws heroes for doing the same but that didn't mean a thing once Saddam got his hands on them. Parole restrictions in Canada can last for the life of the parolee, as in the case of murder or treason, why not in Israel?

The likelihood of Vanunu NOT meeting a foreigner on any day of the year is zero. He lives in Jerusalem's Old City.

many of us in our day to day work have access to sensitive information. Once we take our first paycheck we become part of a pact. Even if we do not sign a statement, that we will not divulge that information to anyone. It as a matter of personal integrity that if you work for an organisation you should not give that information to anyone outside unless the nations laws are being broken. If everyone who handeled sensitive or personal information in their work acted as Vanunu did then we would have a state of anarchy. He is not a whistelblower but a person of low integrity who can never br trusted again.

If Pollard heard this from the deep of his jail. He wishes he could have any mean to meet with strangers (or anyone by the way). But what did he do? Reveal vital information to an ally. His sentence? His life. What about Vanunu? Revealing proof of so-called truth to Israel's worst enemies (the World). His sentence: 18 years. Where's justice?

nr. 38 was right: only this state of israel- haters and zionism-haters care about vanunu, but the one"s who care about vanunu are not jews-haters. how vanunu is still treated in israel is un-democratic,cruel, inhumane and a big shame. how the palestinians are treated by israel is also ridiculous and unrespectible, that israel does not allow i.a.e.a-inspection to its nuclear arsenal (other countries are forced to do so)is hypocrisy and israel uses double standards (in judging other countries like iran, north-korea, but israel is the same). down with zionism and islam! long live the brave people like richard goldstone, richard falk,norman finkelstein, gideon levy, amira hass, naomi klein,avigdor feldman and of course mordechai vanunu!!

So, jail Vanunu forever, but free Pollard now? Is that the equation?

Funny thing is that Israelis still deny having nuclear weapons and nuclear subs with nuclear weapons. If Israelis still will deny these facts they will deny anything. Why should we believe anything these "Zionist forever" types say? Ah, but we are anti-semites for suggesting they be truthful.

The point is that no Israeli official wants to admit that his country is a nuclear power. Although this is "a secret all over the place", this guy is kept like "the man with the iron mask", even if he can show his face.

both betrayed heir countries, but for a different reason. vanunu was a coldblooded traytor with no conscious . pollard was driven by emotion and he is paying for it. but you can not compare the two.

The man betrayed his country for money, weather Israeli, Russian or South African. Comparing him to Vanunu indicates you have real poor understanding of the issue.

Vanunu took 18.000 $ from Sunday Times in the '80th. Than he was so stupid that he told everything he did to a beautiful mossad Agent for tanking her to bed in Rome. They catch him in a Hotel and took him to the airport in underwere. Stupid Man, Vanunu.

all of a sudden they are so concerned about this one man's freedom...what a sham, what a bunch of frauds.....

all their ol ladies are old and ugly

No 12 you are incorrect in many ways. Yes, Vanunu was convicted of spying and sentenced to 18 years, of which 11 were spent in solitary. He served his full sentence, even though he was offered remission 4 years prior to his release. He did not accept the conditions for early parole, which were the same restrictions imposed on him when he was released after serving his full sentence. Its about time Israel, as a western democracy was mature enough to honour those democratic values it claims to beleive and fight for.Vanunu did the crime, served his time, now let him go!

its funny how you think Vanunu should be punished beyond his original sentances because as you say, "he broke the law" YET, his, what you call "arrest" was actually a kidnapping, and in a foreign country no less. His "arrest" was outside the law. can you explain this contradiction to your rule of law? or is it simply explained by your hypocrasy???

Vanunu is the rarest and most precious of men - a man of conscience and principle. His imprisonment and relentless humiliation are a testiment to how vindictive and repugnant the state of Israel is to its real heroes. The rest of you can just grovel in your moral bankruptcy - incapable of seeing a real jewel of humanity in your midst.

Who told you Vanunu is a man of conscience? Because he fits your likes and dislikes? Vanunu wanted the money The Sunday Times offered him, he wanted to be famous and see the world, besides he was a troubled mind, estranged from his family and his sorroundings. Don't turn the white black and the black white!

Why keep on victimizing him.? Why not expell him abroad, what else can he add more to what is already common knowledge to all the world.

Some days ago Russia and the world marked the 20-th anniversary of the death of academician Sakharov, the man who was one the inventors of Russian nuclear weaponry and later became a staunch champion of peace and human rights defender. Vanunu is by no means a man of such stature in science, but their moral standing and personal feats in fight against a most horrible threat to humanity are quite comparable. Sakharov for his dissent spent some six years in exile, and every injustice to him and his wife immediately made the world headlines. Vanunu is kept in obscurity. For just telling the world about an insidious project, especially dangerous in this part of the world, he spent 18 years in prison, and is arrested again just for talking to foreigners. The situation dismally resembles that of the last years of the USSR?

and he gets 18 yeras for telling the truth, then how much time will someone gets if telling LIES??

Incredible lack of objectivity on this board

Pollard traded American secrets for cash, jewelry, and travel. He even scored a wedding ring for his wife. He also tried to peddle the intel to South Africa and Pakistan. Unlike Israel, they blew the whistle on Pollard. Vanunu was a man of conscience. He simply unleashed truth into the world and received nothing in return.

Keep him in jaul until Pollard is released, which will be never in our lifetimes

that if an Iranian do the same as Vanunu and provides to the world smoking-gun photos evidence of secret Iranian nuclear arms facilities, please confirm that you would still consider him as a traitor and should deserve all punishments from the Iranian regime? You wouldn't want any Iranian whistleblower to come forward and expose to the world the Iranian regime nuclear arms activities then??

1. libra - the Israeli bomb design was stolen from the French design. 2. Joe is right - to a tee. 3. Yohatan - the US and UK were fighting a world war, Israel is not. 4. Jack - Pollard will NEVER be free. 5. zionist forevr [sic] - "not talking to foreigner" reminds me of the Soviet Union. The Israeli government is worse than the Iranian government.

.....Is not that vanunu blew the whistle,it's the fact that Israel has nuclear weapons.

A highly authoritative source - Jimmy Carter - told the world that Israel has 200 nuclear bombs. Would he be liable to arrst, trial and incarceration were he to visit Israel?

This is not the first time this traitor had violated the terms of his release. He should be permanently put back into prison in solitary confinement and stay there till death. This man is a danger to the world and a menace.

Like it or not, Vanunu spoke the truth, embarassing the government and paying for it dearly. Israel has betrayed it's humanistic Zionist and Jewish heritage by conducting a two class society, expropriating Arab lands, violating international law and promoting an endless pointless conflict that may end catastrophically. The answer is to resume negotiations now, reverse settlement construction, and acknowledge that Israel has erred greviously. Vanunu blew the whistle, but every one has been playing dumb. There could be another holocaust here if we don't start to listen.

I believe the correct correct noun for Vanunu is traitor. He took and gave to a foreigner photographs of restricted sections of a nuclear reactor. Whether this facility is part of a so-called secret weapons making operation or not (and no real proof has been presented that it is--including his photographs) he revealed restricted information that could be used against Israel and its population by military or paramilitary (read terrorists) organization. If memory serves me correctly, the man who was on a candidate list for a Nobel prize received money for his efforts. (Some hero, some Nobel prize laureate.)

then Kim Philby was the conscience of Great Britain and Alger Hiss was the conscience of the United States.

Day by day Israel slides further away from the west and is turning step by step into just another despotic theocracy. This man served 18 years in prison, with the majority of the time in solitary confinement. But that is not good enough for the state; they are still trying to punish him further. If this man was an Iranian who exposed elements of their nuclear programme you would be calling him a Hero and accusing the Iranian state of persecuting him. What a bunch of hypocrites.

Let me get this straight, Vanunu can't talk or see any foreigners or he would be in violation of his "parole"? Are they kidding, Israel has mostly "foreigners". I can think of 2 million Russians to start off with. Vanunu, a Moroccan, practically everyone is a foreigner to him. If he talks with an "Israeli" with an American passport, he is violating his parole. His insane predicament exemplifies Israel to a tee.

Whether Mr. Vanunu is a traitor, a spy, a whistle blower or a man of conscience is irrelevant. The fact is, he served his sentence (18 years) and was released. The subsequent restrictions placed on him by the security establishment (on his movement and associations) are clearly designed as further extra-judicial punishment. What harm to the security of the state could possibly arise from allowing him to move on with his life? Does anyone really think he still has information on him that would pose a risk to Israel's nuclear weapons program?

Mordechai Vanunu is a courageous whistleblower who has world peace as his first consideration. In addition, he has run afoul of the zionist authorities by recognizing and acknowledging, in his heart, the personal love and salvation of Christ Jesus, and thus is a completed Jew.

He went from being mr badly paid low level nobody at Dimona to international celebraty overnight because he announced the fact that Israel had a nuclear weapons program, something I think most governments suspected anyway To some he is considered a hero and its not that he has done anything special it was just Israels nuclear weapons program he told everybody about. If he had told everybody about an American program nobody would be considering him a hero. If he had betrayed America he would probably either be spending the rest of his lie in jeil or he would be executed for treachery It also doesn't mater if you think Vanunu is hero or traitor the facts of the issue are 1) Vanunu BROKE THE LAW & commited an act of treachery so he was arrested and send to jail same as all criminals go to jail. 2) Vanunu got parol and in all cases where a prisoner gets parol the judge places restrictions which vary case - case and in vanunus case its not talking to foreigners or leaving the country.

Let me get this straight, Vanunu can't talk or see any foreigners or he would be in violation of his "parole"? Are they kidding, Israel has mostly "foreigners". I can think of 2 million Russians to start off with. Vanunu, a Moroccan, practically everyone is a foreigner to him. If he talks with an "Israeli" with an American passport, he is violating his parole. His insane predicament exemplifies Israel to a tee.

Shame on Israel for behaving EXACTLY like the Sovjet Union in its darkest days. Vanunu now undergoes the same 'legal' judgements that the Sowjet dissidents experienced. Ask Natan Sharanski how that was! To prevent a person from speaking with a specific group of persons is anti-democratic and isn't based on any law or logic. It is just state harrassment of an individual citizen! Israelis should start wondering why their security services are so powerful and why they are told so many lies by the state. Vanunu is one individual who was able to stop the state lies for one day and he was punished cruelly for it. He DOES deserve the noble price and he DOES deserve freedom from imprissonment in Israel! LET VANUNU GO!

Jews made bombs for USA and Russia so why not for Israel?

Remarkable how a person, who served his time, is still hounded by the Israeli state with the acquiscence of both the 'court' and the Israeli people. He can't talk with foreigners? A kangaroo court for a kangaroo country. Even that scumbag Pollard is allowed to communicate WHILE in prison and I am sure that once released he will be able to go wherever he wants. What kind of state are you?

he met with FOREIGNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Few have sacrificed so much for the sake of world peace. I say give Mordechai Vananu the Nobel Peace Prize despite his objections. He deserves it. And let the man go. He wants to leave Israel. The secret of Israel's nukes has been out, in no small part thanks to Mr. Vananu's courage. But his technical knowledge of Israel's nukes is 25 years out of date and no conceivable threat to Israel's security, only its public relations. To paraphrase a slogan heard too often on these talk backs, if there is a deal for Shalit, don't leave Vananu behind!

When will whistle blower Pollard be free

he is a traitor and he has to face the concequences. he who bertays his country can never be a free man. a nobel for a sick mind?

Not only would Jewish blood seem to be all about vengeance, you people, incredibly, don't have any idea who the best among you are. You really are a people just totally at odds with reality -- the cost, no doubt, of being so special.

The relentless pursuit of this long-time-ago whistleblower is grossly vindictive. And it's a clear cameo of Israel's clinging to the "We wuz wronged" bleat while looking backwards coupled with inability to live in todays's world, needs and circumstances.

Mordechai Vanunu is perhaps the only true Israeli hero.

He betrayed his country, and continues to break the terms of his release. In any other country he would either be rotting in jail or executed outright. He could have shown that he is no longer willing to divulge state secrets in exchange for leniency but instead he keeps on flaunting in front of reporters. The guy doesn't deserve a break.

He did it to himself.

Imagine if Palestinians and israelis are doing the same! Then no more bloodshed or suffering.

been allowed to leave Israel to join his family in the United States? Hardly the actions of a western democracy

Mordechai Vanunu exposed the Israeli government's nuclear program as a peaceful gesture to halt nuclear proliferation. Today Israelis are better informed on the nuclear issue than before Vanunu's expose and hence he should know that the Israeli people are grateful for his painful 25 years of prison as a scientist who stood for peace and disarmament. Few Israelis would be willing to suffer so much for a point of principle.

Towards the end of the Soviet Union, dissidents were prevented from meeting any foreigners. Those that did were arrested and jailed. It was a desperate measure, like the state was trying to prevent the tide from coming in with a few sandcastles. Then the USSR collapsed upon its own internal contradictions. What direction will Israel take?

Mister Vanunu is the representative of the Israeli reality. The state of Israel is lying permanently about their nuclear weapons, their war against the Palestinians and their "fear" of Iran. Therefore it is not astonishing that Mister Vanunu is held as a prisoner and against all human rights. Shame on Israel. Be aware that the world is watching you.

not that of a western style democracy whocse citizens are subject to the rule of law. Vanuatu, a Christian is being persecuted because and onoly because of his religion. He has served his sentence for a crime he cannot possibly have committed because israel's leaders have stated that Israel does not possess nuclear weapons. It is time to mount the same sanctions on Israel that Iran is subject to. It is this double standard that radicalises young moslems to fly aircraft into buildings.

Half of the Israelis hold a foreign passport.