Vanunu's poems and speeches
Speeches
Mordechai Vanunu Asks for an Irish Welcome
Interview with Indie Media Ireland, 8 October 2004
This wide-ranging interview is cited as a violation of Mordechai's restriction orders
Link to online interview
Link to Charge Sheet (on this site)
Mordechai sent this email on 12 April 2005, the day after receiving notice of the continuation of his restrictions.
"Hi Friends.
They decided to renew all the restrictions, for another year, yesterday the
police come and gave the papers, saying they decided to continue the
restriction, and thinking to make them more severe, like not to talk on NWs
[nuclear weapons] to any one,
So, it means one more year in this Prison state. I will continue to be very
free, and exercise my freedom of speech...
vmjc "
MORDECHAI VANUNU, AT MARCH 14 PRESS CONFERENCE IN JERUSALEM, BEFORE GETTING NEWS OF THE INDICTMENTS:
At a Jerusalem press conference yesterday, March 16, with Daniel Ellsberg (US), Jennifer Harbury (US), Fredrik Heffermehl (Norway) and Rayna Moss (Israel), Vanunu said,
"I have no more secrets to tell and
have not set foot in Dimona for more than 18 years. I have been out
of prison, although not free, for one year. Despite the illegal
restrictions on my speech, I have again and again spoken out against
the use of nuclear weapons anywhere and by any nation. I have given
away no sensitive secrets because I have none. I have not acted
against the interests of Israel nor do I wish to. I have been
investigated by the police again and again, and re-arrested twice,
but they have found nothing. I have done nothing but speak for peace
and world safety from a nuclear disaster...
"I did not seek to harm Israel, but rather to warn of an enormous
danger. I do not seek to harm Israel now. I want to work for world
peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons. I want the human race to
survive."
Read press conference press release
Lennon Ono Peace Grant Award Acceptance speech, New York
Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu is one of two people awarded
the 2004 biennial LennonOno Grant For Peace by Yoko Ono. Ono said that
Vanunu, and journalist Seymour Hersh, who will each receive a $50,000 grant,
epitomize her late husband John Lennon's song, "Gimme Some Truth." Ono
personally selected this year's recipients for their courage in seeking
truth as a means to a more peaceful world.
Acceptance speech
Delivered on behalf of Mordechai Vanunu by Nick and Mary Eoloff (Mordechai's adoptive parents).
"In the 21st century, people all over the world are beginning to acknowledge
and appreciate the importance of the whistleblower. The one who has the
courage to take responsibility on behalf of all humanity, the one who has
the courage to act on behalf of all humanity. The whistleblower has in mind
the safety of life on this earth, the people. He or she acts to prevent
catastrophe by informing the public directly through the mass media - such
is the combined power of knowledge and of conscience. In this age of mass
communications information should no longer be secret, and in a democracy it
should be open and available to the people. It is the task of the
individual, who later becomes a whistleblower, to be the eyes and ears of
the people, even if it will cost him his liberty.
A whistleblower pays a heavy price by putting their freedom at risk for
refusing to remain silent by telling the truth. When a government
intentionally keeps the public in the dark about nuclear secrets, it falls
on the individual who is prepared and ready to sacrifice their life in order
to shed light and let the people know. In the case of Israel, it fell on me
to take the risk of revealing the extent of their nuclear weapons programme.
It was not an easy decision to make but one that I knew I must make. I am
very happy that I succeeded, despite all the war Israel made, and continues
to make, against me.
I have no regrets. I am proud and happy to publish israel NWs secret to all
the world through the mass media. I have stood firmly behind this act of
truth-telling for 18 years, and I continue to do so. Despite the personal
suffering I have endured,kidnapped in Rome, being isolated from the world
and feeling no respect or honour for my actions, I continue to believe that
the public has a right to know, and must know the truth about Israel's
nuclear weapons secrets. I was released after 18 years, 11 and half years in
the most appalling conditions of solitary confinement, and I deserve to be
able to speak now, but Israel is not ready to respect the freedom of speech
and the rights of the people to know about the catastrophic nuclear weapons
that Israel continues to clothe in secrecy. That is the point of a
whistleblower; the world needs these phenomena of WHISTLEBLOWERS.
I would also like to say a few words about Israel's nuclear weapons. By
1986, Israel had produced in secret, beyond the imagination of the public or
foreign governments, a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.
Approximately 200 atomic bombs including the new production of Hydrogen
bombs and, undoubtedly, much more in the last 18 years. I believe that
governments have a duty to inform the public about weapons being produced in
their name. The Israeli government did not even inform their own parliament,
the Knesset, never mind the neighbouring Arab states that will bare the
brunt of any accident in the future.
My reason for speaking out was to bring this news to the people, to inform
them and encourage active questioning of Israeli weapons policies. In
addition to the threat posed by the use of such weapons, a stockpile of
nuclear weapons without inspection, such as at the Dimona reactor, is a
danger to the health of the people of the region as well as the environment
of the Middle East and beyond.
My message to the United Nations and to influential democratic governments
is "Open Dimona for inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency and
take all necessary steps to prevent the use of nuclear weapons in any war".
Al Baradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency should insist they
have a right to inspect. Next, take all steps to make Israel a nuclear
weapons free zone, and all the Middle East free from nuclear weapons.
I believe the UN should now have the courage to pass a resolution calling
for the abolition of all weapons of mass destruction by making them illegal.
BAN the production, possession and use of atomic bombs - that is potentially
the greatest gift the United Nations and the UN Secretary General could give
on behalf of 6 billion people in this fragile world. We cannot continue to
exist with the threat posed by nuclear weapons."
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Full statement of Mordechai Vanunu upon leaving Ashkelon Prison, 21st April 2004.
"I have a statement to tell you. I'm speaking only in English. I'm not speaking in Hebrew. If Israel don't let me to speak to foreigners, I'm not speaking in Hebrew. I have a statement to read:
I am Mordechai Vanunu, the man behind the Sunday Times article from October 5, 1986 - the article about Israel's nuclear weapons. I was kidnapped in Rome, Italy, by Israel's spy on September 13, and I was brought to Israel, arrived to Ashkelon prison on October 7.
I was here; I am here in the prison, in this prison, Ashkelon prison, from October 7, 1986, until today. Seventeen and a half years in very cruel barbaric treatment by Israel's spy Mossad, Shabak. This prison is guided and controlled by Shabak Mossad. The prisoners, the guards; the guards are only obeying orders of Shabak Mossad.
(in Hebrew) I tell the Israelis, if you discriminate and prevent me from talking to citizens abroad … and discriminate betweens Jews and foreign citizens then you are a dictatorship and an apartheid country. You yourselves are conducting a racist policy.
To all those who are calling me traitor, I am saying: I am proud; I am proud and happy to do what I did. I am very glad I succeed to do what I did. I don't have any secrets. All this bullshit, blah blah blah about secrets is dead. My case is dead. Since the article was published, there is no more any secrets. All the secrets were published and is in the hand of the whole world. All the world, every state, 180 states received these secrets. I am now ready to start my life.
I am not harming Israel; I am not interested in Israel. I am, I want to tell you something very important: I suffered here 18 years because I am Christian. Because I was baptized into Christianity. If I was a Jewish, I wouldn't have all this suffering here in isolation for 18 years only because I was a Christian.
I didn't say Israel should not exist. I say Vanunu Mordechai saying he don't need a Jewish state. Vanunu Mordechai don't want to live in Israel and don't need a Jewish state. It's for Jewish people to solve the problems with the Palestinians. I said Israel don't need nuclear especially now that all the Middle East is free from nuclear weapons, Iraq don't have a nuclear weapons, Libya, Egypt. All the Middle East is free from nuclear weapons.
My message today to all the world is open Dimona reactor for inspection, open Dimona reactor for inspection … I said to the Shabak Mossad you didn't succeed, you didn't succeed, you didn't succeed to break me. You didn't succeed to make me crazy. The target of 18 years of isolation is to make me crazy.
I want the president of the United States, George Bush, and Tony Blair and Gerhard Schroeder, Vladimir Putin, all the leaders to do for my release from Israel, to leave Israel and now this day all those leaders should deal and speak about Israel's nuclear secrets. The time has come to end this silence and secret cooperation by the West, the United States, Canada and all Europe helping Israel and cooperating with Israel's secrets.
This will be a symbol that a free man can survive,
a free spirit can exist. There is no human being that can destroy
the freedom of speech, the will of freedom, the man who want to
be free. I am a hero? I think that all those who are standing
behind me and supporting me, all those who continue to be my friends
for 18 years, all are heroes. I will continue to speak against
all kinds of nuclear weapons, against all democracies' nuclear
weapons."
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Poems
I Am Your Spy
by Mordechai Vanunu
I am the clerk, the technician, the mechanic,
the driver. They said, Do this, do that, don't look left or right,
don't read the text. Don't look at the whole machine. You are only responsible for this one bolt. For this one rubber-stamp.
This is your only concern. Don't bother with what is above you.
Don't try to think for us. Go on, drive. Keep going. On, on.
So they thought, the big
ones, the smart ones, the futurologists.
There is nothing to fear. Not to worry.
Everything's ticking just fine.
Our little clerk is a diligent worker. He's a simple mechanic.
He's a little man.
Little men's ears don't hear, their eyes don't see.
We have heads, they don't.
Answer them, said he to
himself, said the little man, the man with a head of his own. Who is in charge? Who knows
where this train is going?
Where is their head? I too have a head.
Why do I see the whole engine,
Why do I see the precipice--
is there a driver on this train?
The clerk driver technician
mechanic looked up.
He stepped back and saw -- what a monster.
Can't believe it. Rubbed his eyes and -- yes,
it's there all right. I'm all right. I do see
the monster. I'm part of the system.
I signed this form. Only now I am reading the rest of it.
This bolt is part of a bomb.
This bolt is me. How
did I fail to see, and how do the others go on
fitting bolts. Who else knows?
Who has seen? Who has heard? -- The emperor really is naked.
I see him. Why me? It's not for me. It's too big.
Rise and cry out. Rise and
tell the people. You can.
I, the bolt, the technician, mechanic? -- Yes, you.
You are the secret agent of the people. You are the eyes of the nation.
Agent-spy, tell us what you've seen. Tell us what the insiders, the clever
ones, have hidden from us.
Without you, there is only the precipice. Only catastrophe.
I have no choice. I'm a
little man, a citizen, one of the people,
but I'll do what I have to. I've heard the voice of my conscience
and there's nowhere to hide.
The world is small, small for Big Brother.
I'm on your mission. I'm doing my duty. Take it from me.
Come and see for yourselves.
Lighten my burden. Stop the train.
Get off the train. The next stop -- nuclear disaster. The next book,
the next machine. No. There is no such thing.
-1987, Ashkelon Prison
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The Agent who didn't come back from the Cold
by Mordechai Vanunu
I am the agent who is still in the cold
An agent who is waiting for his comeback from the cold
An agent without his agency
An agent who as yet didn't finish his mission.
My mission, your mission- let the people know reveal.
uncover the truth.
Who cares about the agent
Who can hear me in this silence
Who can want to be my agent
Who wants me to come back from the cold
The last agent of the cold war
The last hostage of the secret Security Service
Those who want me to be in the cold
Those who brought me to the cold
to be left in the cold
Those who don't want me to come back from the cold
Those who are silencing me by the cold
to make me very cold
To cool me, cool my mind, cool my memory.
18-18 years, 18 agencies against me
Agent
One - against 18 years 18 agencies.
The agent of the earth
The agent of the people
The agent of the anti nuclear Holocaust
The agent of the anti nuclear proliferation
The agent of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chemovil
The agent who is not - spy- no- agent
No-traitor- no- agency
If not, not. Why am I in the cold.
The judges is the agency of 18 years
The judges is the agency of- spy, traitor
The judges who sent me put me in the cold.
Who can judge the judges
Who can send those judges to the cold. Siberia. Who can tell that I haven't
betrayed the earth. Who can reveal the truth that I was, is,
The spy of all the world
On behalf of all the human beings
The spy who wants
And did for- no more Hiroshima Nagasaki
No more Chernovil
No more nuclear proliferation
No more nuclear tests
No more nuclear weapons
No more cheating deceiving lying.
But here the cold war doesn't end
But here the cold war is the solitary confinement
The war in a silent, by silent
Against the silent
The war against walls, cement, grills
The war in the cold, by the cold
The agent who helped to end the cold war
is still in the cold
Yet didn't come back from the cold.
Sent to Emma Thompson 19 February 1995
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Buried alive
By Mordechai Vanunu
Solitary confinement is living in a grave
to live alone is living with yourself, talking to yourself in your mind
remembering yourself in the past, living the past in the present, living
the past many
times,
In the present time you are Dead. A dead man walking in his grave. To be
alive is to be free.
Here I am a blind man
my eyes, walls, can see
eight years far away from trees, flowers, sea, women, birds -freedom.
Now iron gates, doors, grills, cement in this concrete world solidifying
me. Only my mind, my spirit is free-free to remember why I am in prison but
not
prison for my spirit, they cannot chain my mind.
And I am free to keep my belief
in my action against all psychological brainwash until I can fly from this
state prison - until my dead body will rise again from this tomb like an
agent who came back from the cold to serve the world in the war against nuclear
Holocaust,
nuclear proliferation, against nuclear secrets...
to be free to live to be alive...
Far Green wrote a poem dedicated to Mordechai Vanunu --- this was his response.
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Hiroshima - 50 Years
by
Mordechai Vanunu
Hiroshima Hiroshima
My beloved Hiroshima
Your sons daughters elders wives
Blew radiated with an Atomic Bomb
A radioactive cloud consumed rubbed out Hiroshima
Hiroshima Hiroshima
For a live nuclear test sentenced you
a nuclear laboratory of children women trees animals
in and under nuclear mushroom live burning
burned flattened to ground radioactive ash- Hiroshima
Hiroshima Hiroshima
Nuclear weapons gamblers win against you '
a U.S. revenge for Pead Harbour
Hiro-shima Japan heroism is the target
wipe out rain Hiro - Hero- shima - Truman
Hiroshima Hero- shima
Japan and U.S. betrayed you Hero Hiroshima
silence forget Hiroshima Atomic tragedy
Japan sacrifices your holocaust on the Yen altar
Hollywood doesn't know you - you are not a Jewish Holocaust
Hiroshima Hiroshima
Ant-nuclear weapons campaigners adopting your
orphans. Heritage of Hiroshima our heroes
carry preach the memory message of Hiroshima
to the future ages to end nuclear gamblers.
Beginning and end of nuclear weapons. Hiroshima. Hero.
Hiroshima. Hero. Hero. Hero.
Presented at the exhibition Hiroshima Sans Amour
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VANUNU WAS FREED ON 21ST APRIL 2004
YET STILL REMAINS HELD IN ISRAEL AGAINST HIS WILL
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