Nuclear whistleblower wants Israeli reactor destroyed

NUCLEAR whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu said he has no more secrets to reveal, but he believes Israel’s nuclear reactor near the desert town of Dimona should be destroyed, according to remarks published yesterday.

Vanunu is to be released tomorrow, after serving 18 years for treason.

In 1986, the former Dimona technician provided photographs and descriptions of the reactor to The Sunday Times of London. Based on his information, experts at the time said Israel hadhas the world’s sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.

Mossad agents kidnapped Vanunu from Italy in 1986, and he has largely been kept out of sight since then, except for occasional court appearances.

Yesterday, Israeli newspapers ran rare photographs of Vanunu, provided by Israel’s prisons authority.

The Yediot Ahronot and Maariv newspapers published excerpts from what they said was Vanunu’s interrogation by Shin Bet security agents two weeks ago. Vanunu appeared to be rambling at times, sometimes referring to himself in the third person and other times as “we”.

Vanunu spent 12 years of his term in solitary confinement, and his mental health suffered during that time, his brother Meir and his attorney have said. Vanunu has improved since getting out of solitary, they said.

Israel is concerned that Vanunu’s release will refocus attention on its nuclear programme. As part of its policy of nuclear ambiguity, Israel neither confirms nor denies it has nuclear weapons.

After his release, Vanunu will be prevented from travelling abroad for a year, from contacting foreigners and from discussing his work at the nuclear reactor and the circumstances of his capture. Vanunu plans to appeal to the Supreme Court if the restrictions are not rescinded.

In his conversation with the Shin Bet agents, Vanunu said the United States and Europe already know everything they need to know about Israel’s nuclear programme.

“As for myself, I just want to repeat the things I already said and that were published,” Vanunu was quoted as saying. He suggested it would be difficult for the Shin Bet to monitor him, noting that he’ll have access to a computer.

Vanunu said he hoped the debate over Israel’s nuclear programme would be revived, and he expressed disappointment that Israel hasn’t come under greater pressure to dismantle Dimona.

“I want them to take the reactor, more than that, I want them to destroy the reactor, as they destroyed the reactor in Iraq,” Vanunu said. Israel bombed anthe Iraqi reactor in 1981, to prevent Baghdad from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Vanunu, who began working at Dimona in 1977, said Israel should not have trusted him with sensitive information. While working at Dimona, Vanunu studied philosophy at Ben Gurion University and joined left-wing groups on campus.

Vanunu said “bigshot psychologists” from the Shin Bet and the Mossad should have spotted him as a potential security risk. “You gave information to the wrong man,” Maariv quoted him as saying. However, he insisted he was not a spy.

Vanunu said he believes he is considered a hero by much of the world.