Five months ago over a thousand journalists covered the drama in the Gaza. Not one explored the other side of The Wall or interviewed Mordecahi Vanunu, a Christian held captive in Jerusalem who stands trial beginning January 25, 2006 because he exercised the inalienable right to free speech.
Jerusalem, Israel (PRWEB) January 25, 2006 — Begins the most recent trial of Mordechai Vanunu, a Christian in Jerusalem fighting for the inalienable right to free speech.
Five months ago over a thousand journalists covered the drama in the Gaza. Not one explored the building of more illegal settlements, OR the continuing land and water grab of The Wall and its effects on the Palestinian economy OR interviewed Mordecahi Vanunu, a Christian held captive in Jerusalem.
After enduring 18 years in jail for blowing the whistle on Israel’s underground WMD program in the Negev, Vanunu was released April 2004 under the draconian restrictions of the Emergency Defense Regulations which were implemented first by Britain against Palestinians and Jews after World War II.
Vanunu, a Moroccan secular Jew atheist, was baptized a Christian just days before being kidnapped, clubbed, drugged , bound and thrown onto an Israeli cargo ship leaving Rome for home by the Mossad. After a closed door trial and 18 years in jail he has lived in the guest house at St Georges Cathedral in Jerusalem forbidden to leave Israel.
Israel claims they cannot allow Vanunu to leave because he has a secret he has yet to tell. He has not set foot in the Dimona for twenty years nor have any International Inspectors.
“Israel is the only State that approved torture of detainees. I know there are dictators who use torture, but Israel is the only State that supported torture until 1999. That is when International, Israeli and Palestinian pressure groups forced the issue and Barack was confronted about it when he visited the United States…The methods and photos from Abu Grahib and Guantanamo were no shock to any Palestinian who had been in prison between 1967 and the ‘80’s. All the methods used in Abu Grahib were normal procedures against Palestinians. In 1999 Internationals, Palestinians and Israelis for human rights threatened a boycott against Israel and that is what forced the Supreme Court to address the torture issue. They did not ban torture and the General Prosecutor can choose not to prosecute those who still use it." [Ala Jaradat @ Ramallah Headquarters of ADAMEER January 5, 2006 WAWA BLOG: http://www.wearewideawake.org
In Amy Goodman’s 2004 interview with Vanunu he stated, “..from the beginning they put me in total isolation for seven weeks after my kidnapping they even didn’t admit I am in an Israeli prison..they put me in total isolation. The first two years, they keep me in a small room, filled with light 24 hours and camera inside. I couldn’t sleep for two years; they tried to break my nerves. I demanded to meet a priest. They give me a priest, but without able to speak to him or him speak to me, only through notes. A ShinBet man sitting near the priest, reading the notes. I’m sending him notes, they’re reading them. We couldn’t meet as a human being.
..Eleven and a half years I was in total isolation alone in a cell…I wasn’t allowed to use the phone…So I use my simple brain, and my initiative. Like if they say I cannot speak to anyone, I decided I can speak, I spoke by reading in a loud voice from the New Testament in English…
“I want to leave Israel after suffering seventeen and a half years in total isolation and very cruel, barbaric treatment by the Mossad Shabac inside the prison. Also because Israeli media damaged my image in all of Israel amongst the Jewish people, and some of them hate me, some of them threatened my life when I was released. Some of them are anti-Vanunu because I became a Christian, so I am not free and I am not safe in Israel. And I am demanding to leave Israel to be free… It could only happen in a free state, the United States or Europe…. I would like to move to the United States. I have adopted parents in Minnesota.”
USA tax payers provide three billion dollars a year to a democracy that ignores International Law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
All roads lead to Jerusalem and the war on terrorism will not be won until human beings do indeed have inalienable human rights and a democracy in name is also one in fact.
Donate to Vanunu’s Defense Fund:
http://www.serve.com/vanunu
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A Pro-Bono Public Service discourse confronting media and governments that shield the whole truth. We who are wide awake are compelled by the "fierce urgency of Now"[Rev MLK to raise awareness and promote the human dialogue about many of the crucial issues of our day: the state of our Union and in protection of democracy, what life is like for Christians in Israel Palestine in the 21st Century, nuclear weapons, the environment, science, medicine, theology and spirituality.
Eileen Fleming, human rights activist, author fiction and WAWA BLOG:
http://www.wearewideawake.org