Media Monitors Network
Nov 16 2004

Arresting Vanunu While Burying Arafat
by Mary La Rosa

“Mr. Vanunu, who is a Christian and who claims his faith profoundly
directed and sustained him during the worse of his imprisonment,
gives much credit to the spiritual teachings of Jesus Christ.”

They stormed St Georges early in the morning
just like it was Ramallah
and the Ghost of some other plot the base of their desire
Machine guns poised ready to fire
How many agents do you think it takes
to intimidate Anglican Bishop Riah?

How many agents needed to crash a cathedral gate
How many agents to dash past clergy and Pax Ecclesiae
How many agents to frighten the Christian pilgrims
and seize the unarmed Mordechai?

Mr Vanunu remained calm.

They took him away with automatic weapons and hostility
Later they returned him without harm but missing his technology
Without regard for laptop sanctity and inviolability
towards sacred place, circle, temple, mosque or church
how many security agents DOES it take to represent a fascist state?

MLR

On November 10 2004, Fredrik Heffermehl, Norwegian author of the book
“Peace Is Possible” and spokesperson for the International Free
Vanunu Campaign distributed an online report and analysis concerning
the ongoing and active campaign for full human and civil rights for
Israeli nuclear whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu. Mr Vanunu is
currently living with the ambiguity of not quite full freedom. While
it appears that he was physically released from one Israeli styled
prison six months ago, he is seemingly further punished and being
held prisoner by being forced to remain under court restrictions that
prevent him from leaving the country that does not really want him,
but also does not really want him to be free. The overt theme of
Israel’s continued restrictions over Mr Vanunu’s civil rights and
liberties is one that claims security , not vengeance, to be at the
core paranoia about Mr Vanunu’s twenty year old memory of such
“secrets” now known and published throughout the free world.

Fredrik Heffermehl, who is also a lawyer and Vice President of the
International Peace Bureau had only just presented the newly proposed
legal strategy based upon review of Mordechai’s situation and the
progress of the campaign thus far. Due to various aspects of Mr
Vanunu’s unique case re: its legality, civil rights, environmental
concerns, an international awareness and interest in the case has
been growing. Mr. Heffermehl’s report welcomed a larger international
presence including special interest groups that support Mordechai and
umbrella together in support of the abolition of nuclear
proliferation. Another lawyer and activist, Jennifer Harbury joins Mr
Heffermehl in Lawyers For Full Freedom For Vanunu . She is currently
working on a project that exposes the various use and users of
torture and she brings to the Vanunu campaign her expertise in
championing political prisoners and human rights causes.

Less than one day after Mr Heffermehl posted his report to an
international community of supporters, Mordechai Vanunu was taken
away in a fanfare of commando style mobbing. If indeed this event
took place to contrast the event of Yasser Arafat’s death and
funeral, why did Israeli security still deem it so necessary to
utilize such armed force against unarmed Christian clergy and
pilgrims.? Some witnesses reported as many as thirty security agents
arriving in various kinds of vehicles brandishing weapons across the
threshold of the sanctity of the Church grounds, and against the much
outraged indignation of the Right Reverend Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal.

Bishop Riah is the Christian leader of the Anglican community at the
Cathedral of St George in Jerusalem where Vanunu has been living in
sanctuary from those who wish to do him physical harm. This is not
the first time Bishop Riah has been rudely approached by security
police with regards to Mordechai Vanunu. Since offering Mordechai
Vanunu the hospitality and protection of the Church, Bishop Riah has
been stopped and detained at Tel Aviv airport. There he was subjected
to a body search and he was interrogated by the Shin Bet.

Bishop Riah , as a Palestinian Christian, has experienced most of his
life living under Occupation.

Considering his past and present status in the Anglican community
this recent incursion is a great disrespect and an affront to all
Churches. Since this inappropriate incident and armed visit that
included Mordechai’s arrest, the Anglican Church and the Compass Rose
Society have featured Bishop Riah’s letter and reaction to this
latest assault.

He remains Mordechai’s loyal friend and spiritual adviser.
The motivation behind making the dramatic kind of arrest at St
George’s that befitted some dangerous kingpin with some equally armed
entourage, is unclear at this time, except that it has provided the
Vanunu campaign with further vitality in the medias. Mr Vanunu
remained calm and the other guests and clergy, after expressing their
initial shock and dismay, are now expressing their outrage. It has
been alarming to notice how an established religious leader at his
center and consecrated ground, is treated by an over active police
force thus setting further example for those “unofficial” and self
proclaimed police gangs known for acting out racist hatred and
violence near illegal settlements. Other religious leaders, pilgrims
and concerned travelers must consider if this incident is part of a
current trend by the Israeli government to single out certain types
of Jesus followers, especially those involved in human rights issues
and/or unpopular causes.

An unpopular cause, besides Mordechai Vanunu’s complete freedom,
appears to be any overt defense of the Palestinian people’s basic
human rights and needs. Christians involved in using their presence
in order to protect Palestinians from settler violence have been
physically attacked while walking as a protective presence with
school children. The Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron has reported
on such settler violence for some time now. Israeli and Christian
groups report that the rate of incidence has increased but with
little or no real policing of the hate crimes.

Recently tensions in Jerusalem involving chronic abuse of Christian
clergy by orthodox students culminated when a Jewish orthodox student
spat at an archbishop during a procession from Jerusalem’s Armenian
Quarter to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site that
comemorates the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. The student in this
particular incident was arrested, after ripping the cross from the
neck of the cleric. The Armenian Christians reported that the
spitting is an ongoing and continuous problem and one that comes from
adult men and women , as well teens.

The Presbyterian Church has been recently featured in alternative and
some mainstream medias for its latest strategy and decision to do
something positive on behalf of the existing and continuing suffering
of the Palestinian people living under occupation. Tired of waiting
for yet another official UN veto to stop “even” investigation of
human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, the Presbyterian
Church has decided to take direct action against illegal settlements
and the illegal targeting of human rights activists in the Occupied
Territories.

By making such brave and courageous commitment to peace in the name
of values directly associated with the life and teachings of Jesus,
the Presbyterians, have come under attack.

As a pro active commitment to peace and justice, the Presbyterian
Church announced it would target specific companies and businesses
that operate on occupied land, and or companies that support illegal
settlements, build barriers and make business with organizations that
support violence against the Palestinian people. The Church further
explained that all Companies can balance their past bad business
practices by protesting the occupation, helping victims, contributing
to a viable economy for an independent Palestinian state, or
employing Israeli Arabs or Palestinians.

“The goal is not to divest but persuade organizations to change their
behavior,” said Jerry Van Marter, director of the Presbyterian News
Service.

This statement and statements like this have inspired bullying and
threats from violent Jewish extremist groups operating in the US and
abroad. Tensions have risen with the most recent arson threats that
have been directed specifically towards Presbyterian churches all
around the United States. Threats of arson were sent to individual
Churches and included swatiska signs condeming each Church and the
Presbyterian organization as a whole, for its human rights efforts
against illegal settlements, that either promote or inflict apartheid
style racism or that defiantly stand as obstacles to peace.

Mr. Vanunu, who is a Christian and who claims his faith profoundly
directed and sustained him during the worse of his imprisonment,
gives much credit to the spiritual teachings of Jesus Christ.
Throughout his hardship and the loneliness of solitary confinement,
Mordechai held strong to his Christian beliefs. If eighteen and a
half years did not break him of those beliefs, thirty men with
weapons will not succeed either. Afterall, the universal message of
Christ is one of peace and love and is still held in “some” popular
esteem at his birthplace and elsewhere around the world, more than
two thousand years later.

This year Mr Vanunu was once again nominated for the prestigious
Nobel Peace Prize. Had he won he would have had to have made his
acceptance speech from inside Israel while under restrictions for
doing that which put him in prison eighteen and a half years ago
which in turn led him to be nominated. He was recently honored at the
United Nations along with Seymour Hersch as recipient of the Lennon
Ono Peace Award and also because of his restrictions he could not
attend. Instead , his adoptive parents, Nick and Mary Eoloff accepted
for him and gave his speech for him in absentia.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament recently made a tribute by
naming its national headquarters in London after him.

In October, Mordechai Vanunu celebrated his 50th birthday . Because
of the court restrictions he could not share his cake and toast with
all his friends, but supporters from all around the world celebrated
his special day . Shortly after, David Frost contacted him and he
answered David’s questions in interview format . This interview was
considered a defiance of the restrictions placed on him upon his
release. However, if David Frost calls Mordechai Vanunu how is it
possible to comply with such restrictions and still be a man free to
answer the door or pick up the phone?

Among his last words to David Frost :

“I tried to inform the world and to try to stop this nuclear
proliferation”

— Mordechai Vanunu

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress