April 22, 2004
Adopt-a-whistleblower.
18 years on, Israel's most famous prisoner emerges, arms aloft (Donald Macintyre, in the Independent)
Yesterday, a man who had been in prison for 18 years, 12 of which were spent isolated from other prisoners, was released. At his release, he was met with a mixture of adulation and death-threats. He can number the CND among his supporters, but I don't count that against him. He has been described as a hero, and as a traitor, and I will be incredibly surprised if he survives the next 12 months or so.
But that's not my point. No, my point lies in the following paragraph:
"Nick Elov, a 74-year-old American who has legally adopted Mr Vanunu in the hope that he can secure US citizenship, accused the Israeli authorities of endangering Mr Vanunu by leaking his plan to live temporarily in the holiday apartments attached to the upmarket Andromeda Hills complex in Jaffa."
I should explain, in case you've not heard the news, don't remember much about Middle East politics in 1986, and haven't followed the above link, just what's going on here. Mr Vanunu was abducted in Rome 18 years ago, drugged, and flown back to Israel, by Mossad agents, after he released secret details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to Peter Houman, a journalist for the Sunday Times. He remained in custody, rightly or wrongly, until yesterday.
Now, this man who released state secrets to a foreign newspaper, and served 18 years in prison for doing so, has been released under the condition that he doesn't do anything dangerous like, say, approach a foreigner or a reporter, or look as though he might leave the country. The government have, one way or another, leaked details of his intended whereabouts in the near future — it does look a lot like the intent there is that he'll be killed, and while it'll be a terrible shame, the government will be able to attribute it to extremists, yadda yadda. I simply find it ironic that he has come out and accused them of endangering his life by doing so — for a man who betrayed his country by releasing information, this seems somewhat hypocritical. I suppose the difference is that he was arguably doing The Right Thing, whereas a government trying to cause the death of one of its citizens is probably not.
But this still isn't my point. No, rather my point is that I had no idea it was possible to be adopted at 49 years old, certainly not for such a strained reason as to try to get US citizenship. The mind boggles.
While I'm on my soapbox, though, I note that Israel has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (whilst all these people have), nor the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention. Still, probably nothing to worry about, right? I mean it's not like they have a leader with hawish tendencies or anything, is it? Certainly not! It almost makes you think those people muttering about Armageddon might be onto something... Of course, this isn't to say Israel are the only nation who can be faulted in this way, nor that I think a nuclear war is likely to happen in the immediate future. Still, it's far from reassuring. Sleep well tonight, eh folks?
Posted by James at 17:43
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Comments
The practice of a political adoption while both parties are adults has precedent going all the way back to Roman emperors.
Posted by: Edmund at April 22, 2004 07:09 PM
Shows what I know :-)
Posted by: James at April 22, 2004 07:45 PM