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Israel preparing to use nuclear weapons against

Run and Hide | 03.01.2006 15:33

Interview with Mordechai Vanunu: Israel preparing to use nuclear weapons against Iran

Global Research Feature Article



Interview with Mordechai Vanunu: Israel preparing to use nuclear weapons against Iran
Each and every nuclear bomb is a Holocaust in itself. It can kill, devastate cities, destroy entire peoples.



January 2, 2006
Voyenny Parad, No. 4, 2005 (original Russian)


The first rumors of Israel working on its own nuclear bomb arose back in the mid-1950s, when the Jewish state's scientific institutions started serious nuclear physics research. But only in 1986 did the rest of the world find out the real scale of Israel's work on nuclear weapons, thanks to Israeli nuclear scientist Mordechai Vanunu. With the assistance of Irish journalists Sean O'Carroll and Maria Escribano, we have managed to interview Israel's most prominent dissident. Mordechai Vanunu told us about the threat of a nuclear catastrophe hanging over the Middle East.

Question: You say that Israel already has nuclear weapons. Iran is on its way to acquiring them. And these two countries regularly exchange threats about bombing each other. How likely is a nuclear conflict in the Middle East?

Mordechai Vanunu: All I can say is this: the Israeli government is preparing to use nuclear weapons in its next war with the Islamic world. Here where I live, people often talk of the Holocaust. But each and every nuclear bomb is a Holocaust in itself. It can kill, devastate cities, destroy entire peoples. The Israeli Defense Ministry has long had a nuclear arsenal. Israeli intelligence tried to keep the existence of this arsenal secret from the outside world, but fortunately did not succeed. Nevertheless, they are still trying to silence me - even now, after seventeen-and-a-half years in prison.

Question: Do you know how many nuclear bombs Israel has?

Mordechai Vanunu: When I worked at Dimona, nuclear materials were already being produced there - plutonium, lithium, tritium, and others. Enough to make ten nuclear bombs per year. In other words, starting from 1985, Israel has over 200 nuclear warheads by now.

Question: Why did you decide to speak out in 1986?

Mordechai Vanunu: I simply could not help it. Incidentally, now the Western countries, including the US, that condemn Iran for its intention to destroy Israel should condemn themselves first of all. It were they that gave nuclear technologies to the Israelis and helped them to build the center in Dimona where the atomic bomb was created, although the Israeli government did not recognize this fact.

(...)

Question: Israel and Iran are on the threshold of nuclear confrontation now. Is nuclear apocalypse inevitable in Middle East?

Mordechai Vanunu: No doubt, the main reason for this confrontation is the Palestinian problem. For many decades Palestinians have been living in occupation like in prison. They will never stop fighting and sacrificing their lives for the sake of liberation.

Question: But this is not a justification for terrorism and statements similar to those made by the President of Iran when he promised to "wipe Israel off the map"?

Mordechai Vanunu: Killing Palestinians, including civilians - demolishing their houses and pushing people into ghettoes - isn't that terrorism?

Translated by Pavel Pushkin Defesne and Security (Russia)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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© Copyright , Voyenny Parad, No. 4, 2005 (original Russian), 2006


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Comments

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This is yet more conspiracy crap with no hard facts to back it up!

03.01.2006 16:30

We have had several similar style posts in the recent past on Indymedia about Israel's planned attacks on Iran. All have been conspiracy style stories with no hard facts to back them up. Israel has no plans to attack any country. If an attack on Iran happens then it will most likely by next year 2007 and be carried out by the USA, but only after stern warnings have been given and ignored by the Iranian government concerning its nuclear programme. There are no plans anywhere for an imminent attack on Iran however.

Concerned


Dear Concerned

03.01.2006 23:49

Dear "Concerned" and anyone else who may be (understandably) concerned,

I don't know if you have seen this article but it seems to suggest that there is support in Israel for an attack on Iran (nuclear or non-nuclear). The link to the article is here:

Likud members: Bomb Iran
 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3193102,00.html

It is possible that you did not know about this before, and I did not before I read the article. I can understand the need to check facts. Clearly it is likely that Israel has nuclear weapons. I also think it is possible that Iran may also (or have plans to produce some). So does the United States and other nations but no-one seems to be "concerned" about that. But let's not be unrealistic by denying all possibility that Israel may attack Iran or have plans to do so.

Brian B


Hidden Comment

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Nukes?

04.01.2006 09:49

Mordechai Vanunu is a terrific source for this article. I can just imagine how Israeli defence chiefs would be falling over themselves trying to discuss top-secret plans with Vanunu... What a bunch of conspiracy rubbish.

If Israel were going to attack Iran (and they've got plenty of good reasons to) they could do it with conventional gear quite easily. Your article is trying to whip anti-nuke activists into a frenzy and by association, turn them against Israel, with no hard facts to support your argument. But then, hard facts never were important when slagging off Israel.

See this page  http://indymediawatch.blogspot.com/2006/12/freedom-of-speech-for-some.html and  http://indymediawatch.blogspot.com/2006/01/hard-evidence-of-uk-indymedia.html for hard evidence of UK Indymedia censoring comments in support of Israel for no other reason than the moderators disagreeing with them.

I suspect this comment will go the same way very shortly, but would love to be proven wrong. It won't excuse what's going on here, and it stinks.

TH


Dont be so naive

04.01.2006 09:50

Of course Israel is preparing to attack Iran; does not mean that an attack will happen though.

However Iran is a State run by a Caliphate with the mentality of a suicide bomber (stop thinking as a westerner) and which is trying to build nuclear bombs.

Iran has also called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

So Israel has bought F16i's and several hundred non nuclear bunker buster bombs to stop itself facing nuclear attack.

Would you prefer it if Israel did not defend itself and Iran made good its threats? In your own words every nuclear bomb is a holocaust.

J&P


Sources

04.01.2006 12:09

It is also worth considering that Globalresearch.ca which appears to be the source of the above, is a notorious whacked conspiracy theory site. All that crazy material is a staple of UK Indymedia, but something to bear in mind before considering their military and strategic commentary.

I must say, for a conspiracy whackjob site, they produce a very good effort. It would probably fool a lot of people.

TH


not naive

04.01.2006 22:50

With regards to the various comments above:
- it does not seem clear that Iran has actually made any nuclear threat.
- Israel would not have to arm itself with nuclear weapons if it is accepted that they already have them.
- Iran has been under threat now for a while even before the comments about 'wiping' Israel off the map. It was on a United States list of rogue states. I also seem to remember something about a threat by Israel to strike Iran if it even just became clear that it possessed nuclear weapons (??)
- Global research / labelled as conspiracy site. Is there proof of this conspiracy? Who actually is behind this site?
- Iranian state run by a Caliphate with the mentality of a suicide bomber (stop thinking as a westerner) - this appears to me as pure bogey-man creation - divide and conquer propaganda. It is a 'them evil, us good' mentality, when according to my beliefs a suicide bomber is capable of just the same thoughts that we have (and vice versa) given the same living conditions and the same people to influence us. Remember Tony Blair is a westerner and he has given orders for a war leading to the deaths of thousands of Iraqis - I hope not to think that way.
- Saying there are no plans anywhere for an attack on Iran is also speculation. There is no way to know that.

Brian B


Doubt

05.01.2006 00:43

One of my comments has already been hidden simply because someone disagreed with it. I hope I'm not wasting my time typing this one...

Brian B, in 2003 "At the climax of a military parade marking the outbreak of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the enormous Shehab-3 missiles were rolled out painted with the messages, "We will crush America under our feet' and "Israel must be wiped off the map"
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1047804,00.html

Adding this to the Iranian President's recent remarks shouldn't leave anyone in doubt as to what they'd do with nukes and how responsible they are in the first place.

As for your thoughts that Iran is being painted as a 'bogeyman' - have a look at what they have actually said and done. Israel or Bush has not said "Iran must be destroyed" however Iran has said this, quite explicitly, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

You are quite naive and Israel isn't going to wait to be vaporised so you can say "whaddya know, they really were serious". When someone says quite clearly they are going to kill you, it's not very smart to give them the benefit of the doubt.

TH


RE:Doubt

05.01.2006 23:51

"You are quite naive..."

Thanks very much - you're so kind (sarcastic remark).

"...and Israel isn't going to wait to be vaporised so you can say "whaddya know, they really were serious". When someone says quite clearly they are going to kill you, it's not very smart to give them the benefit of the doubt."

It is not clear that they have made any such threat. The article you posted clearly quotes the Iranian Prime Minister as saying that Iran was opposed to the very existence of nuclear weapons and their spread. So if anyone uses a nuclear threat as a sole reason for a pre-emptive atack on Iran they better be sure of the facts before killing thousands of innocents. It could end up being a mirror of the events in Iraq.

The article also states "Israel suspects Iran's theocratic leadership may be planning to arm the weapons eventually with nuclear warheads." No hard facts there then but still faithfully reproduced and not questioned by the Guardian. It even goes on to back this up by referring to a United States and European suspicion - again without question.

Thanks for posting a link to the article anyway. I had forgotten about that incident.

Brian B


Freaky

09.01.2006 14:37

Freaky – just what I’ve been thinking of late.

I wanted to tell Tony Benn (I have been making enquiries into the US/UK nuclear relationship) of my Jewish-led (?), neo-conservative, conspiracy theory but didn’t have the bottle to spark the conversation. Your article may just change that.

With Drosnin’s, ‘Bible-code,’ having allegedly predicted 9/11 and the war in Iraq, the third prediction is a nuclear strike in 2006. I am becoming increasingly concerned by recent events, that this could become a reality; my reasoning being, that like some people accuse Tony Blair of being a Tory within the Labour Party, the new Iranian President sounds to me like a Jew who is just out for trouble, to further instigate, cause, or to steal even, God’s Holocaust. If the unthinkable should happen, I for one wont be shouting the praises of Drosnin’s Code or predictions – I will be shouting, ‘conspiracy!’

I seem to find myself wanting a chat with the Iranian President, he may not be denying their (the Jews) ‘holocaust,’ in as much as I say, ‘what about the Congolese ‘holocaust’ where the French and Belgians killed at least three times more people than Hitler killed Jews, even before WWI and what about Chairman Mao’s doings in China, some 70 million people. But mostly, what of the ‘holocaust’ of all, the Tribes of Israel, to come?’

Robin Cook in his article against the replacement of Trident (Guardian 29/07/2005) says: ‘If we ever were deluded enough to wreak our revenge (07/07) by unleashing a latter-day Hiroshima on a Muslim city, we would incite fanatical terrorism against ourselves for a generation.’ Alarm bells are ringing here, as these sound now like very prophetic, famous last words.

Now we are in trouble, what with Ariel Sharon unconscious, this doesn’t augur well at all. This will leave a power vacuum that will probably be filled by a retaliatory figure to stand up to the new Iranian President.

It could be more than just coincidence that your article was translated from Russian because on this subject of ‘nuclear,’ I can quite easily go off on a quite relevant tangent. It could also be more than coincidence that your man Vanunu (having just emailed:  info@vanunufreedomride.org.uk) was incarcerated 20 years ago this April. April 2006 will also be the twentieth anniversary of the world’s biggest nuclear accident, that of Chernobyl, in Russia.

Are there any Muslims out there that could explain Mary 94 to me? I’m intrigued to say the least…
I was once told by a Jehovah’s Witness that ‘Chernobyl’ in Russian, is ‘Wormwood.’ Is that true?

I’m into Numerology and there are some strange figures lined up for this year but I’m not going any further until I get a response from those two questions.

Andrew J Silvera
mail e-mail: ajsilvera@yahoo.co.uk


Hidden Comment

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Freaky!

09.01.2006 15:13

Freaky – just what I’ve been thinking of late.
I wanted to tell Tony Benn (I have been making enquiries into the US/UK nuclear relationship) of my Jewish-led (?), neo-conservative, conspiracy theory but didn’t have the bottle to spark the conversation. Your article may just change that.

With Drosnin’s, ‘Bible-code,’ having allegedly predicted 9/11 and the war in Iraq, the third prediction is a nuclear strike in 2006. I am becoming increasingly concerned by recent events, that this could become a reality; my reasoning being, that like some people accuse Tony Blair of being a Tory within the Labour Party, the new Iranian President sounds to me like a Jew who is just out for trouble, to further instigate, cause, or to steal even, God’s Holocaust. If the unthinkable should happen, I for one wont be shouting the praises of Drosnin’s Code or predictions – I will be shouting, ‘conspiracy!’

I seem to find myself wanting a chat with the Iranian President, he may not be denying their (the Jews) ‘holocaust,’ in as much as I say, ‘what about the Congolese ‘holocaust’ where the French and Belgians killed at least three times more people than Hitler killed Jews, even before WWI and what about Chairman Mao’s doings in China, some 70 million people. But mostly, what of the ‘holocaust’ of all, the Tribes of Israel, to come?’

Robin Cook in his article against the replacement of Trident (Guardian 29/07/2005) says: ‘If we ever were deluded enough to wreak our revenge (07/07) by unleashing a latter-day Hiroshima on a Muslim city, we would incite fanatical terrorism against ourselves for a generation.’ Alarm bells are ringing here, as these sound now, like very prophetic, famous last words.

Now we are in trouble, what with Ariel Sharon unconscious, this doesn’t augur well at all. This will leave a power vacuum that will probably be filled by a retaliatory figure to stand up to the new Iranian President.

It could be more than just coincidence that your article was translated from Russian because on this subject of ‘nuclear,’ I can quite easily go off on a quite relevant tangent. It could also be more than coincidence that your man Vanunu (having just emailed:  info@vanunufreedomride.org.uk) was incarcerated 20 years ago this April. April 2006 will also be the twentieth anniversary of the world’s biggest nuclear accident, that of Chernobyl, in Russia.

Are there any Muslims out there that could explain Mary 94 to me? I’m intrigued to say the least…
I was once told by a Jehovah’s Witness that ‘Chernobyl’ in Russian, is ‘Wormwood.’ Is that true?

I’m into Numerology and there are some strange figures lined up for this year but I’m not going any further until I get a response from those two questions.

Andrew Silvera
mail e-mail: ajsilvera@yahoo.co.uk


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