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Democracy Now!
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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 8-18-04
PRSS Channel: A67.7
8:00-8:01
Billboard:
Exclusive: Israeli Nuclear Whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu
Risks Jail To Speak to Democracy Now! in First Nat'l U.S.
Interview
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:58
Exclusive: Israeli Nuclear Whistleblower Mordechai
Vanunu Risks Jail To Speak to Democracy Now! in First Nat'l
U.S. Interview
Today, a Democracy Now! exclusive. Risking prison again,
nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu defies Israeli government
restrictions and speaks for the first time to a national audience
in this country.
Vanunu was released from prison in Israel earlier this year
after serving 18 years for revealing to the world that Israel
had a nuclear arsenal. For more than 11 of those 18 years,
he was kept in solitary confinement.
Today we spend the hour with Mordechai Vanunu, who is defying
an Israeli government ban to speak to us.
Vanunu worked as a nuclear technician at Dimona, Israel’s
secret nuclear installation from 1976 to 1985. He worked there
at a time when Israel was insisting it would not be the first
to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East. What Vanunu
discovered is that Israel was secretly developing an extensive
nuclear program, hiding its existence from the Israeli people
and parliament, and the world.
The Dimona facility where Vanunu worked harbored an underground
plutonium separation plant operating in strict secrecy. As
the years went by Vanunu grew increasingly troubled as he
realized his work was part of Israel’s nuclear bomb
program. In 1985, before leaving Dimona, he took extensive
photographs inside the factory.
Traveling through Asia with the film in his backpack, Vanunu
made his way to Sydney, Australia, where he converted to Christianity
and joined an Anglican church social justice community where
he shared the story of his nuclear background.
The London Sunday Times, learned of his story and sent a
reporter to Sydney. The newspaper then flew Vanunu to England,
where his photos and facts were further checked by British
scientists familiar with nuclear weapons.
Vanunu’s story, published October 5, 1986, gave the
world its first authoritative confirmation that Israel had
become a major nuclear weapons power, with material for as
many as 200 nuclear warheads of advanced design. But days
before the story was published, Vanunu was lured to Rome by
a female Mossad agent. Vanunu says he was kidnapped, drugged
and put on an Israeli cargo vessel. It was during this period
that the famous picture was taken of him in the back of a
van pressing his hand to the glass with his name and the details
of his abduction scrawled on his palm.
In Israel, he was charged with treason and espionage. His
trial was conducted in total secrecy and he was sentenced
to 18 years in prison. He was released earlier this year after
serving his full term.
On April 21st, 2004, he walked out of prison in the coastal
town of Ashkelon flashing a peace sign and waving to cheering
supporters. At an impromptu press conference, Vanunu said
he was proud of what he did and described what he called "very
cruel and barbaric treatment" at the hands of Israeli
intelligence and the military.
Since his release, Vanunu has faced restrictions placed on
him by the Israeli government. He is not allowed to leave
the country, he has to register wherever he goes in Israel
and he can’t speak to foreigners. Despite these restrictions,
late yesterday around midnight Israel-time, he agreed to talk.
Listen carefully, he is not easy to understand. We reached
him on a cell phone in East Jerusalem.
Read
the transcript
8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and John Hamilton.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Jenny Filipazzo
and Isis Phillips.
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