As Israel approaches an historic election for prime minister, the hopefully outgoing Bibi Netanyahu defends himself, and little else, against the stains of his three years in office. He will be long remembered for his disgraceful attempt near the conclusion of the Wye River Peace Conference in 1998 to extort the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard from US prison by threatening to back out of the Wye deal President Clinton had worked so hard to mediate. US taxpayers should consider carefully these issues of Israeli politics and the country's violations of International Law, since we subsidize Israel with more foreign aid than we give to any other country (annually $3 billion direct, $8 billion more indirectly).
Pollard remains in prison, where he belongs, but so also, Mordechai Vanunu remains in prison in Israel, having spent over 12 years in solitary confinement for having revealed to the world that Israel has nuclear weapons - which some say were developed using stolen US nuclear secrets. In May, 1998, Vanunu's petition for parole was rejected by the Israeli authorities, as reported by The London Times.The following is an earlier appeal from Amnesty International for the release of Vanunu:
The material that follows has been provided by Amnesty International http://www.amnesty.org.uk/press/israel_sep20.html
Amnesty International is again calling for the immediate release of Mordechai Vanunu as the 10th anniversary of his arrest and solitary confinement approaches.
"Mordechai Vanunu has been held alone in a cell for 10 years which is cruel, inhuman and degrading. He is suffering mental health problems and he still does not know when he will be released," Amnesty International said today.
"Any military secrets he may know would be 10 years out of date. Other secrets that the Israeli authorities appear not to want him to reveal relate to his kidnapping. He has suffered enough abuse and should be immediately released."
Mordechai Vanunu was abducted by agents of the Israeli Government, in Italy on 30 September 1986, and secretly taken to Israel. He had provided classified information about the Atomic Research Reactor at Dimona where he had worked from 1977 to 1985 to the British newspaper The Sunday Times. The information was published on 5 October 1986 and indicated that Israel was running a major nuclear military program.
Once he had been taken to Israel Mordechai Vanunu was held in secret detention -- the Israeli authorities did not admit holding him until 9 November 1986. He was tried and convicted on charges of treason and aggravated espionage. He was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment. His trial and appeal before the Supreme Court were held in camera. Since then, appeals to the Supreme Court have also been shrouded with secrecy.
Mordechai Vanunu has been imprisoned in solitary confinement in Ashkelon Prison for 10 years. He has a further eight years' imprisonment to serve. In meetings with Amnesty International delegates in February 1996, Israeli Government officials, including the then Minister of Justice, stated that Mordechai Vanunu could not be released now because they fear he may yet reveal secrets.