Israel Cruel to Nuclear Weapons Whistleblower

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Israel Cruel to Nuclear Weapons Whistleblower

By Maury Maverick,

San Antonio Express-News
Saturday, October 24, 1998

Maury, Edmond Browning has just become the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. As a boy he lived in Corpus Christi and attended the Episcopal summer camp near Comfort for young people. In time he became a surrogate son to me.
Ed is a person of high integrity, decency, courage and intellect. As a columnist I hope you will pay some attention to him.
Retired Episcopal Bishop Everett Jones,1986
Dear Maury: . . . I continue to try every way I know to help him (Mordechai Vanunu) win his release (from an Israeli prison) and to show solidarity with the imprisoned nuclear technician.
Edmond Browning, Presiding bishop, Episcopal Church, April 24, 1994

Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli who blew the whistle on Israel's secret and vast nuclear arsenal has, from prison, apparently written me a letter dated May 28, 1998. More on that in a moment.
What "crime" did Vanunu commit? He, without pay and without being a spy, told the media about Israel's enormous stockpile of nuclear bombs. Vanunu is to Israel what Daniel Ellsberg was to the United States when Ellsberg turned over the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times. My opinion is that Vanunu is a world hero for the cause of peace. So is Ellsberg regarding the Vietnam War.
Israel to this minute refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or to permit the United Nations to inspect its nuclear arsenal. Iraq has been uncooperative, but Israel has been worse. Could that be because of the arrogance of the pro-Israel lobby and the huge amounts of money it has given to members of Congress?
Now about the letter from Vanunu. Why do I think it is authentic?
Because the questions I posed to Vanunu he specifically answered.
Because Maria Hogan, a Texas public school teacher for some 10 years, has had extensive correspondence with Vanunu and she says the letter is authentic.
Because Sam Day, former editor of the Progressive magazine and chairman of the group helping to try to free Vanunu says it is authentic. (Day added in his letter, "We believe that before releasing Jonathan Pollard, President Clinton should insist that Israel first release Mordechai Vanunu.")
Vanunu's letter to me is a long one. Only a few excerpts follow:
Question: Are you still in solitary confinement? (I was told that he was kept for 11 1/2 years in what amounted to an isolated cage as you would do an animal.)
Answer: "I can now walk freely and meet a small group of prisoners, Jewish criminals, but I am not allowed to be with Arab prisoners or with visitors except with my family. . . . The real problem is not the Arabs, but the N.W.s, (nuclear weapons)."
Q: What is your hope for a pardon?
A: "In Israel (the) system is enough 2/3 of the time to be free. I could have been free April 28 (1998). The problem was not the president. It was the Israeli security service."
"What I said to the Sunday Times in London 1986, it was published Oct. 5, . . . was that Israel was producing nuclear materials. And my main revelation was: (censored)."
Q: The publication Catholic Worker refers to you as a convert to Christianity. What is your religion?
A: "I converted to Christianity 12 years ago when I was a tourist in Australia. I identify myself as an Anglican or Episcopalian. I am wearing my cross to remind them and myself I am not one of them."
Q: The newspaper that carries my column goes out to thousands of people in South Texas. What else would you like to say to those folks?
A: "They treat me very cruel. . . . If they don't want N.W.s (nuclear weapons) in Arab hands they should destroy their own. The Jews should not have to take such weapons . . . of killing millions of innocent citizens.
"You should reduce and dissolve the Zionist lobby in Washington."
"I am waiting to my release and to leave this state. I cannot live in a pseudo democracy with religion law and the risk of nuclear war. So thank you for your interest in my case."
Postscript: The summer 1998 Newsletter of the U.S. Campaign To Free Mordechai Vanunu reports: "Jimmy Carter . . . joined political leaders from around the world in calling for the immediate release of prisoner of conscience Mordechai Vanunu." Would you care to write to the U.S. Campaign To Free Mordechai Vanunu, 2206 Fox Ave., Madison, Wis. 53711 for more information and how you can help? They urgently need help.
And, according to the October/November Washington Report on Middle East Affairs magazine, "direct donations to congressional candidates by pro-Israel political action committees as of June 30 totaled $1,495,560 for the 1997-98 election cycle . . ."

To leave a message for Maury Maverick call ExpressLine at 554-0500 and punch 4422.

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