We Are Wide Awake.org - Eye Witness Reporting on Israel Palestine

Just days before my first of seven journeys to Israel and occupied Palestine in June 2005, a Palestinian American friend warned me, “Don’t visit Vanunu, if you see him; don’t speak to him. He’s not allowed to speak to foreigners and you could cause him trouble.”

I responded, “OK, I won’t track him down, but Jerusalem is a small town and if our paths cross, I will speak to him. What kind of government is that, that will tell a human being who they can and cannot talk with?”

Not only did I cross paths with Vanunu during that trip, I have met with him on every trip since, have been streaming 2005, 2006 and 2008 video interviews with him on my site and have reported since day one on his FREEDOM OF SPEECH TRIAL in the ‘democracy’ of Israel since it began January 25, 2006.

This American citizen journalist wants to assure Israeli SECURITY that Vanunu never gave me an order that I have followed.

[UPDATE March 18, 2010: I am writing my 3rd book, and just caught the need to clarify-the only order Vanunu EVER gave me was to stop writing to and about him. But, as a writer who stumbled into being the only reporter to see the historical import of a FREEDOM OF SPEECH Trial in Israel as it happened, I cannot, will not, and my 3rd book will explain why that is the way it is.]

Nor have I done anything other than follow my conscience and we all know you know about me. I tell the truth at Ben Gurion, I get the strip search and write all about it on the WWW.

I also have written twice to the Mossad agent who trapped him in 1986 and who lives less than a two hour car drive from my home:

My letters never returned, but I noted visits to my site dramatically increased within two days of my posting.

Dear SECURITY,

You know that all during Vanunu's captivity in occupied East Jerusalem, since April 21, 2004, he has spoken with hundreds –if not thousands-of internationals.

You hire Palestinian spies to follow him around.

You monitor his phone and email.

On December 28, 2009, Vanunu was arrested/HARASSED once again, this time just for meeting with his Norwegian girlfriend, Dr. Kristin Joachimsen, a scholar and an associate professor of Biblical Studies. They have known each other for two years, and if i knew , you did too.

Learn more here:

http://web.mac.com/terje.stordalen/iWeb/CoCult/Joachimsen.html

On You Tube, Russian media reported that a search of Vanunu’s belongings uncovered a letter from an American causing Israeli officials to be concerned that “he could be orchestrating something” and you can view it here:

Whistleblower exposing Israel nuke program faces court

In June 2009, I mailed a copy of my second book and a few articles to the Israeli High Court Judge, so she could read the final chapter; BROTHER V and learn what this American’s interest in Vanunu has been: his childhood, his stumbling into Christianity, his FREEDOM OF SPEECH TRIAL and denial of basic human rights by the Jewish State.

In June 2005, Vanunu told me, "When I decided to expose Israel's nuclear weapons I acted out of conscience and to warn the world to prevent a nuclear holocaust.”

I too act out of conscience and because corporate media has failed to do their job; go-seek and report the truth, no matter how ugly or brutal it is.

In June 2005, Vanunu told me:

"When I became the spy for the world I did it all for the people of the world. If governments do not report the truth, if media does not report the truth, all we can do is follow our conscience...Israel is the only country in the Middle East where America can right now find WMD's. America can also find where basic human rights have been denied Christians, right here in Israel.

"My Christian conversion was also considered as treason and led to me receiving more time in jail than any murderer has ever served. The Israelis have this very beautiful article about freedom and liberty but they want to destroy anyone who criticizes them for revealing the truth to the world. The world must look and see what kind of democracy Israel is when one speaks out the truth. Israel is not a democracy unless you are a Jew."

Anyone who bothers to speaks with Vanunu for even a few minutes can readily understand that the 'secret' Vanunu has that can harm Israel is nothing more than bad PR!

This American also believes all people are equal and equally loved by God and that only THE TRUTH will set US free.

I also have a radical hope that Israeli SECURITY will WAKE UP and allow Vanunu the right to leave the Jewish state and fade away into history, instead of keep making it, for only then will this little one shut up about him.

On the third day of my fifth trip to occupied east Jerusalem, I crossed paths with Vanunu on July 16, 2007; the 9th day of Av, the day which commemorates the Jewish Temple’s destruction.

I was on my way back to my hotel on Nablus Road in occupied east Jerusalem just after attending the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions media kick off day regarding that summer’s plan to rebuild 300 homes out of the now 24,000 Palestinian dwellings that the state of Israel has destroyed since 1967.

I had just witnessed the pouring of the foundation of the new home of the Hamdan clan of nine who still had the deeds to their property that were filled-out during the Ottoman Empire.

My mind was still on them when I noticed in front of me an old man, hunched over as in the proverbial image of one whose back is breaking under the weight of the world, walking very slowly and talking to himself.

It was not until I passed him by and he called out to me, "Hi, remember me?"

Only because I recognized his voice, did I realize, that I had passed by Mordechai Vanunu.

I had failed to recognize him, for I had walked with Vanunu on the streets of occupied east Jerusalem before, and he always had walked as fast as I did, and everyone in my life who takes a walk with me, always tells me to slow down, for they cannot keep up!

Vanunu’s gait on that day was like many other old men's on the hot streets of Jerusalem in July and it broke my heart to see such a change in him.

But, Vanunu smiled when he informed, "This is the very spot where they stoned to death the first Christian martyr for freedom of speech," as we had crossed paths in front of St. Stephen's Church.

2,000 years ago, Saint Stephen was the first follower of Jesus to be stoned to death for speaking truth to power

Vanunu had quit talking to me once again in June 2007, after he emailed me with his command to delete the "30 Minutes with Vanunu" from my website.

Vanunu didn’t give me a reason as to why and I emailed him back that no way would or could I comply with such a request, for the video was also cross posted on Goggle News and Information Clearing House and had become a part of his history.

But now that we were face to face, I asked him, "Just exactly why did you want that video deleted?"

He responded, "It's not making any money."

I retorted, "Look, I have no control over people's generosity or lack of!"

He smiled as he challenged me, "If you want to keep running my video, you should pay me $1,000.00 a month."

We both laughed at that!

In March 2006, just prior to the taping of “30 Minutes with Vanunu” he told me that his brother Meir had the idea that all the media that caused his FREEDOM OF SPEECH trial -which lead to a six month jail sentence handed down on July 3, 2007- should donate at least a thousand dollars to his defense fund.

As all the media who he had spoken with Vanunu in 2004, had been MIA ever since, we both had hoped the video interview would raise awareness and some much needed funds, for Vanunu has been living off the generosity of supporters since he hasn’t had a job since 1986.

I reminded Vanunu that, “I never claimed to be a fundraiser. I am a writer and the only way I can really help you is to keep writing your story and running that video. Unless we the people stand up and claim our liberties and rights, we don't have any!

“It is only right and just that my work remains on my site and I remind you that Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms-and which Israel agreed to uphold for their very statehood was contingent upon- affirms that: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

Vanunu shrugged and replied, “Do what you want.”

That is always what he has ended up saying to me, every time we have argued.

I met Vanunu for the first time, in June 2005, which was only days after he disbanded the US Campaign to free Vanunu. I hadn’t even known there was a campaign; in fact I had not even heard his name until I began to research for my first book, KEEP HOPE ALIVE, and he became one of the stories I told in it.

From the moment I met Vanunu, and perhaps because I am nine months older than he, I related to him as a sister and never hesitated to speak to him as I do to my blood brothers and all friends: honestly!

In 2005, I was interested in learning what kind of kid he had been and how he stumbled into Christianity. After he filled me in, I was convinced that when America knew what kind of person he had been; everything would change for him and occupied Palestine.

Vanunu told me I was naïve and I have never disagreed, for that is how I am wired and also the way it just is.

In July 2007, Vanunu laughed at me when he said, “You are too naïve. You think you're going to change anything with your website? Maybe a few hundred people a day read anything you say.”

I replied, “I know I am just one little voice in the wilderness calling out, but there are more like me all the time and the weapons NONVIOLENT people have are words!

“And only in solidarity do we have it in our power to begin the world again.

“And I have a link connected to my site that tells me the U.S. Government and Military visit me daily, and even if Big Brother were my only readers, it is worth it to me to speak out and agitate them with the truth. It is the right and just thing to do.”

I then reminded Vanunu, that when I was a child, my dream had been to grow up and be like Brenda Starr; the red headed ace investigative journalist of the Sunday Comics.

Vanunu laughed at me when I said it again in 2007, but when I first told him about my child hood dream in June 2005, he looked at me like I was crazy and it was the first time he had ever heard of Brenda Starr.

I suppose it is crazy for me to still believe that Vanunu’s on going misery will wake up American Christians about the truth in the Holy Land, but only those deemed crazy by the status quo, ever make a difference in this world and so, I persist.

I suppose it also is crazy how Vanunu got caught up in my mind with George; a little boy of Beit Jala, a suburb on the west side of the Little Town of Occupied Bethlehem, who irrevocably changed my life, but I ascribe that experience to be a mystical one.

It is George's three year old face that adorns the banner of my website and the photo is courtesy of photographer Debbie Hill, who ‘captured’ George the morning after the Israeli army destroyed his bedroom in retaliation for a few hopeless militants who had infiltrated his once peaceful Christian village to snipe across the way into the illegal settlement/colony of Gilo.

The shrapnel that pierced the wall of George's sanctuary read 'Made in USA' and was delivered via American made Apache helicopters.

The second I saw George's eyes, in the photo first published in 2000, by The Florida Catholic, my heart said "DO SOMETHING!"

What could I possibly do I wondered, but I did make a copy of the photo, put it in a frame and placed it upon the altar [a bar high table] in the upper room of my home. Dozens of times a day, I still stop and gaze into the eyes of that little boy of Bethlehem as I beg God to intervene and help us end the insane cycle of violence in the so called Holy Land for the sake of all the children who live there.

When I met George for the first time in June 2005, I vowed to him that the rest of my life would be dedicated to doing something to help bring about the end of the occupation of Palestine. Of course I was clueless as to what I could do as well as how an impossible mission I had taken on, but as it is only the hopeless causes that are worth fighting for, I persist.

In April 2005, two months before my first trip to Israel and occupied Palestine, I turned the TV on which had been tuned in last to the History Channel.

The very clip that ran before my eyes was of Vanunu being transported to his closed door trial in 1986 which captured his inspired move to write upon his palm: "HIJACKED" and the Rome flight number he had been on.

The show was called, "Sexpionage" and was all about Russian female spies, one from the Mossad and also documented Shimon Perez, lying to the world that Israel would never be the first in the Mid East to introduce nuclear weapons.

Then a black and white photo of a bearded, unkempt and disheveled Vanunu filled the TV screen, and I immediately thought his eyes looked just like George's of Beit Jala's. And once again, I heard in my heart: "Do Something!"

Not until I met Vanunu did I learn his eyes are nothing like George's of Beit Jala, but I have done something; documented some of his history and likened him to Jeremiah, the prophet of doom.

When Vanunu read my comparison, he emailed me:

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!”

But in the spirit of freedom of speech and because I listen to my conscience, I persist!

It should be understood that prophets do NOT necessarily predict the future-but they do point out impending doom and at least provoke people to think about God.

In 1986, Vanunu pointed to the Negev and Israel’s clandestine seven-story underground WMD facility called the Dimona, which still has never allowed IAEA inspectors into.

Israel has kept Vanunu under house arrest in occupied east Jerusalem for nearly five years now, claiming he still has something he hasn’t said about a place he has not set foot into since 1985 and it is ludicrous-perhaps insane- to imagine things haven’t changed since then.

The Hebrew prophet Jeremiah spent much of his life under house arrest in Jerusalem, for talking truth to power. We know more about the personal life and struggles of Jeremiah than any other Hebrew prophet. Jeremiah, which translates as “The Lord throws”-as in hurling, had few friends, was intensely introspective, self-critical, timid by nature but was always honest and open about his feelings.

Jeremiah never married and began prophesying in Judah from 604-586, a time of storm and stress when the doom of entire nations-including Judah itself-was being sealed.

Jeremiah had been the king's friend and confident, but the prophet soon entered a dreary round of persecution and imprisonment, alternating with only brief periods of freedom and was labeled a traitor and agitator, for saying things such as:

“I cannot keep silent…Disaster follows disaster; the land lies in ruins…My people are fools; they do not know me.”-Jeremiah 4:19

In 2005, Vanunu told me:

“I really had no idea what I was doing by getting baptized a Christian, I just felt like I had to do it. It was my way to be a new being. It wasn’t until after my trial that I started to read the New Testament.

“While I was in prison I would read aloud for ½ hour twice a day. I would read the entire New Testament and begin it again when I finished the Book of Revelation. I did this for me as well as for my captors. Not so much the prison guards but the ones who watched me on camera 24 hours a day.

“Once I covered up the camera that spied on me and was punished for one month in solitary without any books or radio, no contact with anyone anywhere was allowed.

“The Shen Beet, you know like the FBI and the Mossad, like your CIA were watching me constantly. They tortured me by keeping a light on in my cell constantly for two years. They told me it was because they were afraid I would commit suicide, and the oppressive camera was for my safety. They recruited the guards and other prisoners to irritate me. They would deprive me of sleep by making loud noises near my cell all night long.

“I chose to read them 1 Corinthians 13, instead:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with THE TRUTH! It always protects, it always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails.

“For the first five years I was in prison every day, twice a day I would loudly pray by reading Bible verses. I would also read the Anglican service from the Book of Common Prayer. I did it twice a day, every day for five years.

“I began to see I had become like a machine. I knew if I continued I would lose my mind. So after that I only prayed in silence. Although I knew I was driving them nuts with my loud praying, it was driving me nuts too.”

On my last day in Jerusalem in June 2005, I met Vanunu at the American Colony, and we walked as fast as any two New Yorkers’ up the hill to the Mount of Olives. When we reached the spot to view the site of the tombs of many Jews, Vanunu said, “Those are the Jews expecting to be resurrected first when the Messiah comes.”

I asked Vanunu:

“Have you heard of the USA craze of the Left Behind series of books which leave behind the gospel of peace and love. These books are bad theology and poor literature. Did you know that in America there are Christians who actually want Armageddon? They believe they will escape the nuclear holocaust because they are now the new chosen ones. They think they will be raptured, they think they will be lifted out of the world. They believe a theology of escapism and they ignore that the gospel is: ‘The peacemakers shall be called the children of God’ and that Jesus is The Prince of Peace.”

Vanunu replied, “The time has come for the USA to see the truth of Zionism. It began as a secular nationalist movement not a religious one. Then some Christians believed when Israel became a nation it was the beginning of the second coming. They are deluded if they believe peace will come through atomic weapons. Atomic weapons are holocaust weapons. Christians should be the first people against them…The Christians in America should be helping the Christians here. America needs to wake up to this fallacy that Jesus will come back by nuclear war. America needs to wake up that the Palestinian Christians here have no human rights. Aren’t Christians supposed to be concerned about other Christians? Aren’t Christians supposed to be concerned about all the poor and oppressed?”

I responded, “It is non-negotiable all that stuff Jesus said about doing for the least and the oppressed. It is non-negotiable for Christians that we must forgive our enemies and we must love those who hate us, for what ever we do or do not do, we do it unto God!

“Every time I went through a checkpoint, saw the wall or heard a story of oppression, I wondered how God can stand this situation. I can’t.”

At the summit of the Mount of Olives there is much pavement, but not many trees. I found one tree cradling a few stone steps and sat down while Vanunu wandered about. After about ten minutes, Vanunu reappeared and I immediately asked him, “How was it being crucified for telling the truth?”

“My human rights have been denied me because I am a Christian. When I was on trial I was treated just like a Palestinian; no human rights at all and cruel and unusual punishment, all because I told the truth. The government spread slander about me, that I was a homosexual, that I hated Jews, that I wanted fame and money. What I did was sacrifice my life for the truth. In prison I really began to feel like Jesus and Paul. When Jesus threw the moneychangers out of the temple, it was like me in Dimona exposing the Israelis’ dirty secrets. I felt like Paul being thrown in prison for speaking the truth.

“The only real way to worship is in loving one’s enemies. It was not easy to love my tormentors, it was only because I felt so much like Jesus crucified on the cross, and me crucified in prison, that I could do it. It was not ever easy. I have forgiven but not forgotten anything and I never will.

“In Israel, a life sentence is 25 years. Even murderers go free after 17. They imposed the same restrictions on me that Palestinians receive; no human rights at all. No phone, no visitors except family and only through an iron grill. No vacation, no holidays, no gifts. Even murderers get out for vacations! I was locked up for 18 years and still cannot go on vacation, I cannot leave and that is all I am asking, just to leave here.

“For 18 years in prison they even attempted to control my thoughts on paper. I would write exactly what I wanted and they would censor words like ‘kidnapped’ and ‘atomic bomb.’ They would show me how they chopped up my letters, but I continued to write exactly what I wanted. They held my body, but never my spirit or mind.

“The only way to peace is peace; the only way is non-violence. The only answer to Israeli nuclear weapons, their aggression, occupation and oppression, the wall and refugee camps is to answer them with truth and a peace-full voice. When I became the spy for the world I did it all for the people of the world.

“If governments do not report the truth, if media does not report the truth, all we can do is follow our conscience. Daniel Ellsberg did, the woman from Enron did, and I did.

“The USA needs to wake up and see the truth that Israel is not a democracy unless you are a Jew. Israel is the only country in the Middle East where America can right now find WMD’s. America can also find where basic human rights have been denied Christians, right here in Israel.”

I told Vanunu, “In America we understand about inalienable rights. That means they are God given rights that governments cannot take away. The right to worship where and how we choose. When I read that you were not allowed to go the few miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve 2004, to celebrate mass at the Church of the Nativity, I wondered, what kind of democracy is that?

“I cannot understand how a democracy can haul anyone into jail just because they wanted to go to a church in the next town.

“American democracy ensures her citizens the right to think and to speak out the truth as we see it.

“American democracy understands everyone has the right to a life, to liberty-which means freedom from captivity and any arbitrary controls.

“Last night I attended an Interfaith Peace Conference at Notre Dame Cathedral and I kept thinking about what President George W. Bush promised at his second inaugural and wondered if he had even one thought about Palestinians when he delivered it.”

‘There is no justice without freedom. There can be no human rights without liberty. All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for liberty we will stand with you.’-George W. Bush

Perhaps I am crazy to believe that all things will work for the good for those that love God and are called to his/her purpose and that every one of US was created for a purpose.

My comfort is in knowing that my conscience is clear that at least I did something.

And my hope, wish and prayer is that America will WAKE UP in 2010 and we all will do something to help FREE Vanunu, FREE Gaza and Palestine and THE WALL will fall!

PS: Just weeks after his FREEDOM OF SPEECH TRIAL began the whistle blower of Israel's underground WMD Facility sent this message to Senator Clinton and USA Christians:

Vanunu's Message to Hillary Clinton re: The Apartheid Wall

--
Only in Solidarity do "we have it in our power to begin the world again."-Tom Paine

Eileen Fleming,
Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com
Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory" Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"

Click here for Vanunu's message to USA Christians filmed on 6/23/05(Windows Media, 5:49, 58mb)

Click here to view Vanunu's Video Message on YouTube

In 2006 I wrote:

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.-UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, Article 19.

On September 6, 2006, Mordechai Vanunu was once more inside of the Israeli Supreme Court. He returned this time, regarding an appeal against the renewing of the restrictions against him which have forbidden him to leave Israel and to speak to media or foreigners, ever since he was released from 18 years in jail on April 21, 2004.

The restrictions have been imposed in the name of Security, for the Israeli government has maintained Vanunu could still have a secret he has not yet told about the underground nuclear weapons facility in the Dimona.

Vanunu has not been there in 20 years, and International Inspectors never have.

On 9/30/86, Mordechai Vanunu was kidnapped by the Mossad and sentenced on 3/27/88 to eighteen years in jail, most of it in solitary. Vanunu was charged with treason because he broke down the wall that proved Israel had gone nuclear when he shared photos and his story with the London Sunday Times in 1986.

Released from Ashkelon Prison on 4/21/04, Vanunu has lived under the draconian restrictions of the British Emergency Defense Regulations that forbid him to leave Israel, to speak to media or foreigners. He is currently on trial for the interviews he gave the media after his release in 2004.

The media has been a no show for his current trials, but Vanunu will soon be posting what transpired in Supreme Court on September 6, 2006 on his site http://www.serve.com/vanunu/

When Israel became a state in 1948, it was contingent on upholding The UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

Article 19 affirms:

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Lennon Connection

On 9/18/04 in London, Yoko Ono awarded Mordechai Vanunu a peace prize founded in memory of and in the spirit of John Lennon's "Give Me Some Truth" released in 1971. The award is given biennially, and was instituted in 2002, when Israeli Zvi Goldstein and Palestinian Khalil Rabah each won for artistic contributions to peace in their homeland.

In 2004, Yoko Ono also awarded $50,000 to New Yorker magazine correspondent and author Seymour Hersh, whom she described as "a staunch seeker of truth" for his investigative journalism.

In 2004, Ono was quoted by Reuters that Hirsh and Vanunu were honored as "people who have spoken out for the benefit of the human race by overcoming extreme personal difficulties and, in doing so, have allowed the truth to prevail…Hopefully [Vanunu] can come and receive the award himself. He did complete his sentence, it's not as though he's a criminal…the point is that it's another statement, a statement that the whole world can share and think about…People power is stronger than the power of institutions."

Long time friend and supporter of Vanunu, the Anglican Father Dave from Sydney, Australia wrote in 2004:

"Good news and not-so-good news this month regarding our brother Morde Vanunu.
The good news: Morde has been awarded a Yoko Ono Peace Prize…The not-so-good news is that Morde seems to be flouting the ban placed upon him, preventing him from communicating with foreign media…The danger is that the Israeli authorities will re-arrest Morde for making contact with foreign media. Having spoken to Morde though, he is confident, and is sick of being told who he is not allowed to talk to. Indeed, he has asked me whether I will set up a community web cast for him, where he can talk to you, his online supporters, via webcam. He has asked me to organize this for his birthday, October 13 th."

That web cast still has not happened and Fr.Dave's words proved accuarate, as Vanunu is now on trial for speaking to the media in 2004 and that trial resumes on 9/21/06.

[UPDATE Jan. 6, 2009: This site has been streaming 2005, 2006, 2008 video interviews with Vanunu @ VANUNU ARCHIVES and so, until he is FREE to leave Israel, that maybe as close as he gets to being allowed to speak to the world for himself-as the Media remains MIA.]

Vanunu is a hero to Palestinians and many Internationals, but is surrounded by many who despise him as a traitor.

Vanunu has consistently maintained that he spoke out twenty years ago and continues to do so under threat of more jail time, because he only wants to save Israel from a "New Holocaust."

Israel claims that they must detain Vanunu for security reasons, but they have failed to secure the safety of the citizens that work and live near the leaking dinosaur that is the Dimona.

In March 2006, Vanunu told me, "When I decided to expose Israel's nuclear weapons I acted out of conscience and to warn the world to prevent a nuclear holocaust…The Dimona is 46 years old; reactors last 25 to 30 years. The Dimona has never been inspected and Israel has never signed the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty; but all the Arab states have...Twenty years ago when I worked there they only produced when the air was blowing towards Jordan ten miles away. No one knows what is happening now.”

In Ray Coleman's biography of John Lennon, he quotes the artist circa 1969, "I'd like to be like Christ, [he described himself as a Christian communist] in a pure sense, not in the way Russia or Italy think of Christianity or communism…Every body's uptight [fearful] and they're always building these walls around themselves. All you can do is try to break down the walls and show them that there's nothing there but people… I only know that peace can exist, and the first thing is for the world to disarm…I think I'll win because I believe in what Jesus said."-LENNON , McGraw-Hill, 1984. pgs -374-381.

Vanunu has always insisted, "My Christian conversion was also considered as treason and led to me receiving more time in jail than any murderer has ever served. The Israelis have this very beautiful article about freedom and liberty but they want to destroy anyone who criticizes them for revealing the truth to the world. The world must look and see what kind of democracy Israel is when one speaks out the truth."

Article 18 of the UDHR affirms that: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right includes freedom to change one’s religion.

Love him, or loathe him, one thing remains certain: Vanunu will continue to give us some truth, if we have ears to hear him.

Sources:
http://www.wearewideawake.org

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/478559.html

http://www.fatherdave.org/ezine-express/view.php?item=get&id=22#a5

"If you shut up the truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way."- Emile Zola

Israel's Dimona Nuclear Weapons Factory In 3D

"30 Minutes with Vanunu"
WAWA's exclusive uncensored interview from March 24, 2006
that did NOT go through Israeli Military censors

Click here to download entire 30 minute video
(Taped March 24, 2006)
(Windows Media)

Click here to View 30 Minute Video Message on Google Video

On December 26, 2007, I wrote:

And so this was Christmas in the USA and Israel

UPDATE: From a Dec. 27 email from Vanunu:

"...they were very harsh to the young German girl, they were questioning here like by the KGB,or Stasi, she was in a separate room. She was still there after i left at 24:00. I did not go to Bethlehem, because I knew they were waiting for me. So do what ever you can ,you are in a free country. Next court hearing Jan. 8."

UPDATE:

In an email from Vanunu received on Dec. 26, 2007 AM he wrote:

Bad news, Dec. 25 th. The police come to the American Colony to arrest me. I was meeting a young German girl who wanted to know more about my story. They took us to the police questioning me, hold me until midnight 24:00. Not so impressive all this again arrest. I think the police was waiting for my arrest in Beet Lehem, since I did come to B L. they found new reason to arrest me. Any way life will continue as I am doing all the Time.
vmjc

On Christmas Eve evening I picked up my mail and opened up a card from Jerusalem sent to me by Mordechai Vanunu. He made me laugh out loud, for he addressed it to: "Eileen Flaming" not Fleming, which is my actual name.

But, upon reflection, I think Vanunu has renamed me well; for I am flaming over the hypocrisy and injustice of empire and apathy and ignorance of good Christians who have no eyes to see, ears to hear, or hearts that bleed for the poor and oppressed in the Holy land and the entire Middle East.

I picked my Christmas Eve mail up three years to the very hour to when I had first read an article by Jerry Levin about Vanunu's 2004 Christmas Eve arrest for attempting to travel the less than two hour walk from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Levin was a former CNN Mid East Bureau Chief of the 1980's who had been a secular Jew held hostage by the Lebanese Hezbollah. Levin escaped his captivity unharmed shortly after a mystical Christmas Eve experience of Jesus and had become a full time volunteer with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron. Levin's article about Vanunu's Christmas Eve arrest got my Irish temper flaming about the injustices Israel is allowed to perpetuate; and three Christmas' later, my flaming Irish temper persists.

In 2004, Vanunu had attempted to celebrate his first Christmas Eve Mass as a Christian in the Little Town of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, which is in Occupied Territory.

Instead of mass, Israel arrested him and Vanunu spent Christmas Eve night in prison for Israel claimed Vanunu was "attempting to leave the county" which they have not allowed.

Israel claims they cannot let Vanunu leave Isreal for they believe he still has another secret to tell about their WMD Program in the Negev, which has never allowed international inspectors into and which Vanunu has not set into in over 21 years. Leaving Israel is all Vanunu has desired since his April 21, 2004 release from 18 years in prison for telling the world the truth that Israel was already nuclear in 1986.

When I read Jerry Levin's article about Vanunu's Christmas Eve arrest, I became flaming mad for I could not comprehend how a democracy could deny anyone from worshipping any where and any how they desired.

On Christmas Eve 2004, I spent hours at my computer emailing Mr. Bill O'Reilly-the champion of the "war on Christmas" and my local paper; the Orlando Sentinel, the New York Times and dozens of other MSM outlets, in the naïve belief that the Fourth Estate reported the truth and had the best interests of America and democracy at heart.

How little I knew about how deluded I was back then.

In the olden days of 2004, I had not yet taken my first of five journeys into Israel Palestine. In 2004, I naively/ignorantly believed that the USA Fourth Estate reported the truth and cared about the best interests of America. I once thought the USA MSM would be enraged that a Christian from Jerusalem would be denied the right to enter the Little Town of Bethlehem and celebrate the birth of a little child named Jesus who was born, lived and died under Military occupation. But I am not as naïve or uninformed as I had once been.

In 2007, the USA Fourth Estate has also ignored that Israel "blocked clergy from reaching their churches and Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem and elsewhere in the Holy Land…The Israeli authorities are arbitrarily denying entry to clergy and volunteers belonging to or working for Christian institutions and service providers. The clergy being harassed and denied entry to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) join tens of thousands of ordinary foreign passport holders of Palestinian and non-Palestinian origin who wish to be with their families, work or study, as well as tourists and pilgrims…In addition, there appears to be a new policy by Israel to refuse entry or visa extension for foreign, primarily Western, Christian volunteers working with various Christian organizations here. This is affecting the viability of these organizations and the normal connection with their supporters and fellow Christians in the countries that contribute to the presence of these Christian workers. They represent mainstream Christian and faith-based groups, such as the World Council of Churches and the American Friend's Service Committee that advocate non- violence and brotherhood and are in no way a threat to the security of Israel…Israel has continued to pursue both policies and practices that fail to comply with International Humanitarian Law."-Press Release Dec. 24, 2007, from www.RightToEnter.

The USA MSM totally ignored this abomination as it has also ignored one of the most historic stories of the 21st Century: Vanunu's Freedom of Speech Trial in the 'democracy' of Israel; which is no democracy at all, unless you are a Jew.

I contend that Vanunu is a prophet, and prophets do not necessarily predict the future, but point out the disaster ahead, provoke people to think about God and shine a brighter light onto what has already been revealed. The ancient Hebrew prophets were always ignored, ridiculed or demonized in their life times and so, I also contend, that Vanunu qualifies as one.

The last time I crossed paths with Vanunu, was in July of this year directly in front of Saint Stephen's Church in East Jerusalem and he told me, "This is the very spot where they stoned to death the first Christian martyr for freedom of speech."

Prophets and martyrs have always agitated empire and empire has always sought to render a society subservient by dividing and thus conquer a people.

Big Brother and the MSM in the USA label indigenous people throughout the Middle East who have risen up and are fighting for control of their own lives and homeland as terrorists and negates the terror America, the Industrial Military Complex and the inhumanity of military occupation has done unto them.

The neo-con philosophy infused with the heretical Christian Zionist theology has cut off American Christians from the very root of what the Prince of Peace/Jesus was all about. Jesus never demanded he be worshipped, but he promised that it is the peacemakers who are the children of God; and NOT those who bomb, torture of occupy others.

No Way did Jesus ever say that "SECURITY" –the blanket excuse of empire builders to justify and deny basic human rights and international law-is OK!

The term 'Christian' was not even coined until the days of Paul, about 3 decades after Jesus walked the earth a man. Jesus was never a Christian, but he was a social justice, radical revolutionary Palestinian devout Jewish road warrior who rose up and challenged the job security of the Temple authorities by teaching the people they did NOT need to pay the priests for ritual baths or sacrificing livestock to be OK with God; for God already LOVED them just as they were: sinners, poor, diseased, outcasts, widows, orphans, refugees and prisoners all living under Roman Military Occupation.

What got Jesus crucified was disturbing the status quo of the Roman Occupying Forces of his time, by teaching the subversive concept that Caesar only had power because God allowed it and that God preferred the humble sinner, the poor, diseased, outcasts, widows, orphans, refugees and prisoners all living under Roman Occupation above the elite and arrogant military occupiers.

The early followers and lovers of Jesus were called members of THE WAY-being THE WAY he taught one should be; Nonviolent, a Peacemaker and one who did the will of the Father. And, "What does God require? He has told you o'man! Be just, be merciful, and walk humbly with your Lord." -Micah 6:8

2,000 years ago The Cross had NO symbolic religious meaning. When Jesus said: "Pick up your cross and follow me," He was issuing a POLITICAL statement, for the main roads in Jerusalem were lined with crucified agitators, rebels, dissidents and any others who disturbed the status quo of the Roman Occupying Forces.

Israel claims they cannot let Vanunu leave Israel because he still has a 'secret' he has yet to tell about their underground WMD Program in the Dimona, which Vanunu has NOT sent foot into in over 21 years-and international inspectors never have been allowed to tread upon.

Yet Israel claims SECURITY as their rational and ignores and denies the risks to their own citizens.

"In mid-November, London's Sunday Times reported that Israel put defenses around its Dimona nuclear reactor on "red alert" 30 times… given the threat of radioactive releases, does the plant's continued operation outweigh the risks? Dimona...is the region's largest nuclear plant and sole producer of atomic weapons materials…Dimona is no Chernobyl. It generates only about 5 percent of that failed Soviet reactor's power. Still, the plant - along with its spent nuclear fuel, extracted plutonium, and nuclear reprocessing waste - poses significant radiological hazards that a military strike [against it] could disperse into the environment…during the June 1967 war Israel shot down one of its own Mirage jet fighters when it strayed over the facility. In 1973, Dimona's defenders downed a wayward Libyan civilian airliner heading for the reactor, killing 108 people. But the 1991 Gulf War upset whatever solace Israel could take from the past. Iraqi Scud missiles hit Tel Aviv, and one came close to hitting Dimona. Hizbullah's bombardment of northern Israel in 2006 further demonstrated the country's vulnerability to missile attack…Dimona has produced all the plutonium that Israel reasonably needs, and the reactor - one of the worlds oldest - has suffered minor mishaps and evident deterioration, raising the specter of more serious accidents." http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=87599#

Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center Jerusalem Statement of December 18, 2007
states:

"For Caesar, peace is imposed by the might of empire.

"Peace comes when the sovereignty of God is acknowledged rather than Caesar’s. For people living under occupation or oppression, Caesar has become a symbol of the evil that crushes and enslaves.

"In the kingdom of God, glory and sovereignty belong to God and not to Caesar. God’s peace is not achieved by crushing and eliminating others but by embracing them. Caesar’s empire is built on violence and military might, God’s empire is built on justice and mercy. Caesar’s peace enslaves and humiliates, God’s peace liberates and restores dignity to the oppressed. Caesar builds walls to separate people, God tears down the walls of separation to join, unify, and reconcile them one with the other.

"Caesar’s peace is exclusive for a chosen few, God’s peace is inclusive for all regardless of their race or ethnicity.

"Ultimately, peace will come not from the Caesars and all those who trust in their military might and in the arrogance of their power but from the meek that put their trust in God. It is the meek who will inherit the earth.

"Peace will come from the labor, toil, and hard work of all those who do not glory in their riches or in their power but glory in their love and service of God and in their love and acceptance of others.

"God’s message of peace still rings true, not from Annapolis that represents empire, but from the small town of Bethlehem, Palestine that still suffers under occupation.

"The peace that the Caesars of the world give is largely false and deceptive, and it cannot last. Only the peace that God gives, the peace that is based on justice and truth will survive and prosper."

We are living George Orwell's nightmare in the 21st century; for war is claimed to be the way to peace and nuclear weapons are promised as the way to provide security.

"In Orwell’s 1984…a state or alleged state of war is used to maintain total control over everyone. Lies have replaced truth, and the media serves as propagandist for the Ministry of Truth. The meaning of words, such as 'freedom' has been perverted. The attitude of 1984’s all-powerful government is 'you are with us or against us.' - Paul Craig Roberts

"It's not dark yet, but it’s getting there."-Bob Dylan

Yet, hope prevails in this season of reflection and comprehends that all things are possible for "we have it in our power to begin the world again."- Tom Paine.

Hope is not an optimistic wish; hope is what fuels persistence and "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. ... Genius will not. ... Education will not. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."- Calvin Coolidge

This civilian journalist has no hope in the USA Government or MSM to effect change, but I have a flaming hope in the New Fourth Estate who report truth on the World Wide Web and who are the muckrakers of the 21st century but "we have yet to begin to IMAGINE the power and potential of the Internet."-Charlie Rose, 2005

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."-John 1:5

Nor will it; as long as there is Net Neutrality and truth, justice and peace seekers.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.-UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, Article 19

Send Vanunu a message of support through his website:

http://www.vanunu.com

November 26, 2008: THE Ongoing NAKBA and Vanunu

Read more...

March 30, 2008: Orwell meets Vanunu and The Industrial Military Media Security/Surveillance Complex