In this Dec. 29, 2009 file photo, Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, center, sits between two prison guards as he waits in a courtroom before a hearing in Jerusalem. Vanunu who spent 18 years in prison was taken into custody at a Jerusalem court Sunday, May 23, 2010 for violating the conditions of his 2004 release. Vanunu was a low-level technician at an Israeli nuclear plant who leaked details and pictures of the operation to the Sunday Times of London in 1986.(AP Photo/Dan Balilty, File)
Israeli nuclear whistleblower back in jail…
In 1986 an Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu provided pictures and details about a clandestine nuclear weapons program in Israel. Mr. Vanunu who was in Italy at the time and was kidnapped by Israeli intelligence agents and brought back to Israel where he was put in prison for 24 years. He was released in 2004 but was thrown back in jail in December for continuing to speak out about the secret nuclear weapons program. Israel up to now has neither denied or acknowledged possessing nuclear weapons.
I find it very ironic such a small country with all the most sophisticated military equipment from the United States can posses these apocalyptic weapons. Having these nuclear weapons only furthers destabilizes the region as neighbors such as Iran are now working on their own secret nuclear weapons program. Israel should be looking more into making peace and living with its neighbors in this volatile religious region between Jews and Muslims in order to reach further to a path of long-lasting peace. Israel should work with other countries in the region in trying to eliminate these weapons instead of a strategic doctrine of possessing them. If Israel continues to deny having the weapons and possessing them its only going to encourage more countries such as Iran to use the same tactics and eventually their own nuclear arsenals. The recent posturing of late by Israel with the disputed settlements on Arab land around Jerusalem and the military incursions into Gaza last year will continue to escalate tensions with its neighbors these conflicts and the possession of nuclear weapons questions the authenticity of real peace by Israel.
A Negev Nuclear Research Center glove box containing nuclear materials in a model bomb assembly, one of about 60 photographs Mordechai Vanunu later gave to the British press.
The image serves as convincing evidence that Israel does have a nuclear bomb programme, and is historic in that it is from the first public evidence that a non-NPT state was developing nuclear weapons.
