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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Commentary Home page  back Print  Send To friend A letter to Supreme Court Judges on the Vanunu case A note from Gideon Spiro to his readers My friends, I have been suffering from an illness that has seriously restricted my ability to function, which has meant that I have had to suspend my column. Now, however, I am trying to get back to writing, but it depends on the state of my illness. The gravity of my condition varies. There are hard days when I cannot write, and so publication will not be on a fixed schedule. Gideon Spiro A letter to Supreme Court Judges on the Vanunu case To: Judge Esther Chayot, president of the Supreme Court Supreme Court Judge Daphne Barak-Erez Supreme Court Judge Noam Solberg Shaarei Mishpat Street, Jerusalem 9195001 Subject: High Court of Justice Vanunu 5881/18, ruling of 16 December 2019 Madam President, I read with sorrow and disappointment your decision to reject Mordechai Vanunu’s appeal against the restrictions that were imposed on him on his release from prison in April 2004. From reading your judgment I learn how weak the arsenal of excuses of the security services is. Again and again they repeat the lie that Vanunu has “secret information” that he intends to expose, and you adopt those words of defamation under cover of the revolting process in which the court hears evidence from the prosecution that is not disclosed to the defence. You are imposing a life sentence on Vanunu without him being able to defend himself and you are rendering the term “justice” devoid of meaning. As one who has been involved in the subject of nuclear weapons for decades now, in Israel and abroad, I know that Vanunu has no secret information that has not been published. Official Israeli sources, including former prime ministers Olmert and Peres, have explicitly confirmed that Israel possesses nuclear weapons. I have met with the scientists who interviewed Vanunu for the Sunday Times and learned from them that the oft-repeated claim by the General Security Service (GSS), that he retains unpublished information in his brain is groundless. If you had done your jobs properly you would have examined what has been published on this subject, including the book Vanunu and the Bomb, and not swallowed like fools the fairy-tales the GSS tells you behind closed doors, you would have come to the conclusion that the restrictions that have been imposed on him are abusive and vindictive. He poses no danger. Israel launched a nuclear, chemical and biological arms race in the Middle East. The danger we face is the reckless use of these weapons that will send us all flying on nuclear mushroom clouds. And that will be the completion of the satanic plan to render our region unfit for animal or plant life. The harsh treatment of Vanunu is related to the fact that he is a native of Morocco. The judicial and security establishment cannot stand the fact that a son of Oriental Jewry has received global praise for his struggle for a world free of weapons of mass destruction. And there’s another point. These days the Christian world is observing Christmas and the New Year. For Christians these are meaningful dates and in some countries it is traditional to lessen sentences in honour of the holidays. You could show a little compassion and remove the restrictions to allow Mordechai Vanunu and his wife to celebrate the holidays with his Norwegian family. Regards, Gideon Spiro Links to the latest articles in this section The US and nuclear programs in the Middle East How can Israel, Palestine return to a two-state solution? A matter of concrete debate