NEWS: BBC Ignores Israeli Censorship Order - Apologizes

The BBC has sent a letter to the Israeli government apologizing for ignoring a demand to submit an interview with nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu for censorship before broadcast. BBC Deputy Bureau Chief in Jerusalem, Simon Wilson, was barred from the country after failing to submit tapes of the interview to the Israeli security service and military censors. Mordechai Vanunu was charged with treason and jailed for 18 years, eleven and a half of those spent in solitary confinement, after he released details of Israel's nuclear weapon development to the London Sunday Times newspaper.



Even before publication of Vanunu's revelations, Israeli agents learned of his act of treason and, luring him to Italy, apprehended him and smuggled him on a cargo ship back to Israel where he faced a closed-door trial.

After his release in April 2004, Vanunu was again briefly arrested on November 11 of the same year for his defiance against prohibitions imposed on him against speaking to foreign media. Among many other restrictions, Vanunu is not allowed to leave the country. The next review of restrictions will be in April this year.

LINK: More on Mordechai Vanunu's eventful history.




Related News Links:
www.indexonline.org
www.smh.com.au

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
A nuclear flash from the past - Israel and S.African testing
Who will use nuke in Middle East first???

[edit on 2005/3/15 by wecomeinpeace]

Israel have nuclear weapons? really? well they "only have them for friendly reasons only"

How dare that man exposed all the wonderful toys the US has help them pile up for " friendly reason only"

How dare the media exposed them Israel or even said anything against them

Marg again your analysis leaves much to be desired.

Israel obtained nuclear weapons mainly through spying (one of their spies is in a U.S. jail for life now, see www.abovetopsecret.com...). Also, Israel is NOT a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty so there's not too much the international community can do about it through the United Nations.

[edit on 3/15/2005 by djohnsto77]

i think it's great the bbc ignored israel's 'demands'. i think it sucks that they apologised. once again, the border between news and propoganda is fuzzied.

Unfortunately djohnsto77 is correct. Isreal has been stealing and blackmailing whoever it could since it existed. I wonder how they managed to blackmail the USA into providing much needed tech to defeat thier enemies in that war they almost lost(forgot the name)

It's laughable really.
Sign up to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and you'll be knee deep in inspectors.
Don't sign up and churn out as many nuclear bombs and missiles as you like

Yeah Britguy, sadly you are completely correct.

The NPT has been a disaster. Either countries don't sign it and develop nuclear weapons, or they sign it and develop nuclear weapons using Western technology behind the backs of the inspectors. The only countries that have signed and upheld the NPT are countries that don't need nuclear weapons due to treaties with nuclear powers, such as Germany.

[edit on 3/15/2005 by djohnsto77]

Beware they who holler the loudest. Interesting leak Vanunu provided, he even posted pictures of the interior of Dimona on the web. He showed the world centerfuges, plutonium lathes, production models and prototype bomb cores. But they don't exist right...

And yet..the US has not invaded beligerently to liberate the Israeli people (who are constantly at odds with their government contrary to popular opinion) and remove the threat of WMD. Oh, that's right, because they don't officialy have them, that's the excuse right? Because Israel is involved with the dollar and not the euro they get off scot free when they opress their citizens and hoard weapons and kill innocents because they can't tell the difference between two arabs. They use nukes as a detterent while not admitting their existence. This sort of logic fails to impress me, you either have it or you don't. Nukes aren't like aces, you don't bluff them.



Nuclear bombs aren't such a great detterent to guys who are willing to blow themselves up to drive the intruders from the so called 'holy land.' If you ask me, there's nothing holy about that land. People have been fertilizing the sands with blood for millenia, and nothing has grown but hatred. You couldn't pay me enough to seek profit there.

You can see the photos that Vinunu took of the nuclear weapons facilities here.
www.nonviolence.org...

Upon his release, Vinunu claimed that it was the CIA, not Mossad who abducted him in Italy,

Peter Hounam, the journalist who helped Vinunu expose the nuclear program in 1986 returned to Israel at the time of his release. Hounam, while working on a documentary about Vinunu, was subsequently arrested by Israeli security agents for allegedly having contact with Vinunu. The Israeli court imposed a gag order prohibiting the release of any information concerning the British reporters arrest.
Hounam - en.wikipedia.org

Hounam Arrested, Later Freed

Hounam (center) with Vinunu (left) after Vinunu's 2004 release


[edit on 2005/3/15 by wecomeinpeace]

welcomeinpeace
Thanks for posting that link for people to check out, I was too lazy.

I can't believe the UK allows its citizens to be kidnapped and imprisoned without reprisals, and for interviewing a man for all things. :shakes head:

The UK politicos must be whipped huh? Maybe it's time for a tea-time people's khaki revolution in London. Occupy the Queen's house, eat some scones..hang out and check out all her various human skins hanging in the closet while she chills under the sun lamp, flicking her tongue, scared as hell and unable to show it for lack of lips...



I can't even tell if I'm kidding.

Very easy to bash Israel living safe and sound in America, Europe, Australia, etc.

Let's see, Israel acquired nuclear weapons about 40 years ago, give or take, and has used them zero (0) times. And threatened to use them zero (0) times. And used them for leverage zero (0) times.

So a small country of around 6 million Jews is surrounded by approx. 1 billion mostly hostile Muslims. What would you do?

I think nuclear weapons are the only way to ensure that Israel is not eradicated from the Earth. Note: I did not say to ensure they do not "lose a war," which is the highest price most nations would face during war time.

I said eradication, which by the way, is the stated goal of the nation of Iran, currently developing a nuclear weapons capability.

The Middle East is a bad neighborhood, so you need to be prepared.

Listen, I know Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Lebanon seem to be emerging from the dark ages, but for 57 years, a small nation has defended itself from the likes or Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc.

So please stop pretending Israel is always the aggressor. If you lived among those nations, you would do everything in your power to develop the best conventional and nuclear forces available. Which is precisely what Israel has done.

Imagine if the Arab forces had nuclear weapons for the last 40 or so years. Would there still be a Middle East?

Actually WyrdeOne, one of the main reason why Isreal hasn't been invaded a hundred times in the past 30 years is because they have nukes and a little known military scenario called the Sampson Option. Basically that plan called for the nuking of every major middle eastern capitol(several times over) regardless of the consequences to Isreal. Doesn't deter suicide bombers but it sure deters invasions.

[edit on 15-3-2005 by sardion2000]

I don't know what to say, except good for the BBC...

and maybe a little comment on the OHH so democratic country of Israel...
Wierdone made a good point...

why aren't we liberating the poor people of Israel from there tyranical government, that is hiding WMDs. It is also a country that has attacked us before (remember the sunken ship incident), so they are obviously a threat.

whats up? are ya afraid of attacking a country that really does have WMD and could use it agains't us?

Ohhh, i forgot... they are a democracy already... and such a nice one...
(retching with sarcasm)

Well said, rjleit. Here's a thought. If Chechnya became a sovereign state and was surrounded by enemies, would you condone their development of a nuclear weapons program? What about East Timor? Or Poland before WWII? Not being sarcastic, and your post makes a good point. Just illustrating another perspective.

Sardion
I understand the nature of deterence, but I think the hypocrisy lies in allowing some countries to use it as an option, and punishing others for pursuing the exact same strategy. Israel is no better than any other garden variety oligarchy, but they get special treatment because they're blackmailers. It's a sign of weakness that we gave in to their demands for a country so easily. They went in, took the land another group of people were living on, and slaughtered or imprisoned all the natives...wait, where have I heard that before?

Nevermind. I understand perfectly why Israel has carte blanche. They're like us, they don't play, they snatch. It's the rule of nature, and I'm more than fine with that. What pisses me off is when individuals are punished for engaging in the same behavior as the nation states that make money off our suffering. If they can take theirs, why can't we take ours? They don't get locked up and beaten and raped when they rob people, why do individuals?

rjeit
I disagree. I think evidence exists implicating Israel (or at least some radical elements of it) in nuclear attacks since the late 80's. That small country surrounded by a billion arabs put themselves in that position. They got kicked out of practically every other country they lived in, because governments couldn't deal with the fact that the Jews have their own laws and their own courts and their own morals, all of which differ signifigantly from the status quo. It's their fault they're in that position, I have no sympathy for people who shoot themselves in the foot.

You think nuclear weapons are the only option to prevent the eradication of Israel? They can do plenty of damage with IAF and mobile armor divisions. They would suffer from artillery, but that's the price you pay when you pop a squat in your arch enemy's gun sights. If anything their country should be easier to defend because it's so small and they have such a huge defense budget (entirely subsidized by the American taxpayers I might add).

The middle east IS a bad neighborhood, so go somewhere else. They stole that bad neighborhood and now they're complaining about it, or rather, you're complaining about it on their behalf? Weak, dude.

I think the reason Iran wants to destroy Israel, has something to do with the temple mount, yeah, might have something to do with that. Once again, if I were Israel, I wouldn't be having their problems right now. I would have gone 'door to door' asking for a place to stay, I wouldn't have jacked somebody elses house. And yeah, I know they got the land jacked from them a long time ago, but follow that logic through; that means the Palestinians are entitled to take it back because they too used to live there. It's an endless cycle of violence, and that's precisely why we shouldn't be involved.

I'm not pretending they're the only aggressor. We're all aggressors.

I don't know if the arabs would have nuked Israel. I think they would restrain themselves for precisely the same reason India and Pakistan have been able to hold off. The reality of nuclear war should be enough to deter any thoughts that it would be an easy decision. I don't see arabs as mad salivating dogs, which is apparently how you see them. I trust in every man to do what's best for his country, or not, I care little. If they screw up and die, that means more acres for me.

Life is tough. I'm not crying that they're not playing by the rules. I'm just saying they should be prepared for their enemies to follow their example. Don't set an example if you aren't prepared to see it followed.

WyrdeOne, you been me to the punch: they did choose to live in that part of the world with full knowledge that they'd be targeted by muslims (Iranians arent Arabs). If you kick over a bee's nest you cant complain when you get stung to buggery.

Of course people will claim Iran has no right to pursue nuclear weapons as it signed the NPT. The biggest proponent of this logic is the United States. Which has showed its respect for treaties by its unilateral withdrawal from the ABM treaty and more recently its withdrawal from the Optional Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

To those that are growing tired of my anti-American sentiment you should think how the rest of the World feels when you repeat ad nauseum how America is #1! When it clearly is not.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Marg again your analysis leaves much to be desired.


[edit on 3/15/2005 by djohnsto77]

Well in all this time you still prefer to bash my post than to see through my sarcasm, in a year that I have been here many already knows that I am pretty sure of what is going on, but I am anti bush and that is all it takes for some like you to do just that.

Yes I know about the manhattan project and his members and also about the threaty.

I should not even try to explain myself to you but, I could not help my self this time.

after watching BBC's documentary, Israel's Secret Weapon (17 March, 2003) i feel compelled to do my part to ensure mordechai's freedom.

SIGN THE INTERNATIONAL PETITION TO FREE MORDECHAI VANUNU