The Vanunu Lie

By: Rev. David B. Smith


Morde is a mate of mine. We spent many hours sharing meals, prayers and a common love of

existentialist philosophy back in 1986 when we first met. Since then our friendship has been

somewhat hampered by Morde’s 18-year prison term, eleven and a half of which was spent in

solitary confinement!

For anyone who knows me and doesn’t know Morde, they’d be forgiven for thinking, ‘ah, that’s

Dave all over - making friends with the violent riff-raff of society. That mate of his must be a

serial killer or something worse’. Those who know Morde though know that nothing could be

further from the truth!

Morde is a quiet man, naturally humble and self-effacing. He is also a very gentle man, who has

never understood my fascination with the sport of pugilism. Of course he has been labelled as a

spy, a traitor, and even as an anti-Semite, but that’s all a lie. Indeed, it‘s all part of a

series of lies that come together to make up one great big lie - a lie that I’m referring to

here as ‘the Vanunu lie’.

Those who know the story know that the only crime Morde ever committed was that he spoke out

about Israel’s secret stockpile of WMD’s (weapons of mass destruction).

Morde gave out photos, taken during his employment as a junior nuclear technician, proving that

Israel had been lying to the world when it repeatedly stated, “we will not be the first country

to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East”. It was a lie. They were the first, and they

are still the only country in the Middle East to have developed a nuclear arsenal.

Many had suspected that Israel had nuclear weapons hidden somewhere in the Negev desert but no

one knew for sure, and few had guessed the horrific size of their arsenal - at least 200

tactical nuclear warheads - enough destructive power to turn every city, farm and village of all

their Middle Eastern neighbours into one enormous car park. Yet we’re not allowed to talk about

this. We must pretend that it’s not true. We must pretend that the state of Israel has spoken

honestly to the world just as they deal justly with Morde. This is all a part of the lie.

It sickens me, and not only because Morde is a mate. It sickens me because it’s an act of pure

vindictiveness being sold as something legal, moral and legitimate - an act of primitive

violence being perpetrated by a state that the American President holds up as the sole example

of true democracy in the Middle East!

Can we imagine for a moment how different things would be if Morde had been an Iranian,

unmasking some hidden nuclear stockpile in Iran?

We know full well the response he would have received - hailed as a hero of the free world,

decorated as a defender of democracy, a friend of the persecuted and an example of true

patriotism - a man who overcame his fear of punishment from his tyrannical government in order

to help protect the free world from the threat of terrorist aggression.

But the problem is that Morde blew the whistle on the state of Israel and not on the nation of

Iran - a state that is above reproach, for as we all know, if you criticise the policies of the

state of Israel, you risk not only being labelled as politically incorrect, but as anti-Semitic!

This is all a part of the lie!

It would be almost funny if it wasn’t so terrible. In years to come people will look back and

say, “how did everyone fail to see what was going on?”, just as we look back today at Nazi

Germany and scratch our heads, wondering how such a historically great nation ever allowed the

holocaust!

How is it that Israel just carries on with its systematic genocide of the people of Gaza and

nobody dares question how it could really be self-defence? How does the state of Israel manage

to break United Nations resolutions without censure and thumb its nose at the ruling of the

International Court of Justice by building a separation wall that fences in territory that

doesn’t belong to it? How did opponents of these draconian policies ever get labelled as

racists? And why on earth won’t they just let poor Morde Vanunu go, so that he can leave the

country and retire quietly into the back-blocks of Australia where his friends are waiting for

him?

It’s all tied in to the lie - the Vanunu lie - and if we are going to maintain our integrity in

this world, we must see this lie for what it is.

For the Vanunu lie is bigger than Morde himself. It is an evil perpetrated by governments and

the media that exemplifies all that is wrong with our world. Powerful men play God and our media

outlets lionize them. The truth is twisted, the masses are kept in fear, Christ is crucified and

Morde Vanunu gets another six months in gaol for daring to speak the truth!

Remember the Vanunu lie!

Next time you’re tempted to believe that the 9/11 tragedy was a declaration of war by the entire

Arab world upon the West, remember what they said about Morde Vanunu. Next time you’re told that

an Islamic tyrant has weapons of mass destruction, remember Vanunu. Next time you’re tempted to

cower in fear from the imminent threat of terrorist attack, remember the Vanunu lie.

Remember that things are not always as they seem. Terrorism is not the greatest threat to our

freedom. Islam is not the enemy of the West. Opposing the policies of the State of Israel does

not make you anti-Semitic, and Morde Vanunu is not, was not and never will be a criminal.
The complete transcipt of the BBC documentary,
href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1665.shtml">Israel's Secret Weapon


Rev. David B. Smith
(t1he 'Fighting Father')
Hear a radio documentary made on Morde by SBS radio
Read a scanned copy of Morde's last letter to me from prison
Download the 'light' version of Morde's 'Letters from Prison'