| Mordechai
Vanunu
By
Summer Lambert
"I have sacrificed my freedom and risked
my life in order to expose the danger of nuclear weapons
which threatens this whole region. I acted on behalf
of all citizens and all of humanity."
What are the qualifying factors that make a hero? The
answer is perhaps relative. But doesn't surrendering one's
liberty and peace of mind to a prison cell so that the
truth might be revealed distinguish an individual as a
hero? Mordechai Vanunu is a man with a conscience. A conscience
that would not permit the secret developments in an Israeli
nuclear power plant to continue. Vanunu worked at Dimona
from 1976 to 1985 as a technician and learned about Israel's
secret production of plutonium for nuclear weapons. It
was in 1985 that Vanunu believed it was his responsibility
to inform the citizens of Israel as well as the rest of
the world that nuclear weapons were being built and stored
in Israel. He believed that Israelis deserved to know
this information, especially in light of the tensions
surrounding Middle East weaponry.
On October 5, 1986, the London Sunday Times, a prominent
newspaper, headlined, "Revealed: The Secrets of Israel's
Nuclear Arsenal," based on interviews with Vanunu.
However, Vanunu never saw the paper because five days
prior to the release of the story he was lured to Rome
and kidnapped there by Israeli secret agents. Vanunu was
brought back to Israel where he was secretly tried and
convicted of treason and espionage. He was sentenced to
eighteen years in prison. So far he has served over ten
years in solitary confinement.
Vanunu sacrificed his freedom for a cause he considered
absolutely necessary for the integrity of both his own
life and the life of his country. He is limited to seeing
his immediate family, his lawyer, and an Anglican clergyman.
To see few people, breathe the air within the same four
walls day in and day out, and to know of the world that
exists beyond the constraints of the prison cell are sacrifices
that many people wouldn't choose to make. Because Mordechai
Vanunu did, he is a hero.
Vanunu did what a respectable citizen paying allegiance
to his fellow countrymen should do. He is a man who stands
before us all as an example of political and global responsibility.
In his six foot by nine foot cell, in the quietness of
the world in which he now lives, Vanunu is a man of reverence.
Vanunu remains a prisoner for the cause he has chosen.
Surely this man is capable of much more; certainly his
courage and sense of justice reveal that his potential
is limitless, and thus to see his years passing in the
quiet of a prison cell engenders frustration to all who
celebrate his actions. But his stature is in no way reduced.
He remains a servant to both his countrymen and all who
share life on this planet. His voice has not been silenced.
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