10 00 38 COMMENTARYFor the past eighteen years, an international group of campaigners has tried -- and failed -- to get a man released from prison in Israel. Now Mordechai Vanunu is days away from the end of his sentence.
10 00 52 RAYNA MOSS We’re looking forward to seeing Mordechai; we’re looking forward to watching him walk out.
10 00 58 NAME SUPERRayna MossCampaign to free Vanunu
10 00 59 RAYNA MOSSI think Mordechai appreciates that we’ve always supported him, always been there, and I hope that he’s as anxious to meet us as we are to meet him.
10 01 10 COMMENTARYMordechai Vanunu spent eleven-and-a-half years of his sentence in solitary confinement, in a cell without windows. What had he done to be treated this way?
10 01 32 COMMENTARYVanunu had worked at Israel's nuclear reactor, Dimona; in 1986, he proved to the world that Israel was secretly manufacturing nuclear weapons. To this day, Israel denies it. Mordechai was kidnapped from Rome, smuggled back to Israel, found guilty of espionage, and treason. But for much of the world, he's a hero.
10 02 00 TITLE WAITING FOR MORDECHAI
10 02 16 COMMENTARYThis hostel in Jaffa is where Mordechai's international supporters will gather to welcome him; in their vanguard is the organiser of the British campaign, Ernest Rodker.
10 02 27 ERNEST RODKER You’re joking. Oh, I see. Sorry. I’m not that quick at the moment.
10 02 32 COMMENTARYWithout people like Ernest, Mordechai might not have survived. Their plan is to keep up the pressure until he walks through the prison gates. But the Israelis are detaining supporters at the airport.
10 02 45 ERNEST RODKEROK. She’s still there? She’s still being held? Disgraceful. I hope she’s not frightened.
10 02 54 COMMENTARYSome of Mordechai's closest supporters are flying halfway across the world to greet him in person. They believe the information he provided is more vital than ever.
10 03 05 NAME SUPERRev. David B. Smith
10 03 05 REV. DAVID B. SMITHNuclear weapons can’t be a local, national secret. You can’t detonate one without it affecting everybody.
10 03 15 NAME SUPERSabby SagallCampaign to free Vanunu
10 03 15 SABBY SAGALLIf Bush and Blair want to find weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, Mordechai Vanunu told them where to go.
10 03 23 COMMENTARYThough he's campaigned for Mordechai for many years, Ernest Rodker has never met him -- never even heard his voice. But the police at Tel Aviv airport treated him as if he was contaminated.
10 03 35 ERNEST RODKERThey frisked me. They all put on plastic gloves. They all put on these very fine plastic gloves; it was like a surgical operation. This young man goes with both hands down my arms and down my legs – excuse me, he says – then he goes down my legs. They’re treating us like terrorists. This is all for a man who is coming out of prison.
10 04 01 COMMENTARYYou'd think people would appreciate being told their government has a secret nuclear bomb factory -- but Israelis don't feel grateful to Mordechai.
10 04 09 SABBY SAGALLThe majority, unfortunately, see Vanunu as a traitor. So everything depends on the kind of pressure that we in the international campaign put on the authorities here in our attempt to mobilise what we can of Israeli opinion on our side.
10 04 29 COMMENTARYIn the flea market around the hostel in Jaffa, most of the stallholders are Jews from the Arab world, Oriental Jews with hardline Zionist attitudes. Mordechai himself is of Moroccan Jewish origin -- but this is hardly the place to start mobilising support for Mordechai. Jaffa was a Palestinian city, but during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, at least 90% of the Palestinian inhabitants were forced to flee. The neglected graves of the old Jaffa families show they were never allowed to return. There is a small Palestinian community in Jaffa; they have the legal status of Israeli citizens; but like Mordechai Vanunu, they're treated with suspicion and hostility.
10 05 29 YUSUF ASFOURTo be Arab inside of Israel, you are an enemy in front of the Israelis. If you as an Arab try to raise your voice or throw a stone...
SABBY SAGALL (off-camera)...inside Israel
YUSUF ASFOUR...they will kill you.
10 05 44 COMMENTARYFor Palestinian teacher Yusuf Asfour, what made Mordechai exceptional, before the nuclear revelations, was his involvement with Palestinian students at university.
10 05 56 YUSUF ASFOURFor the Arab community inside of Israel, it was amazing -- suddenly a man from the right wing support the Arabs. That was the first time that an Oriental Jew, or Arab Jew, stand and said, 'this is a racist country'.
10 06 17 COMMENTARYIn the months preceding Mordechai's release, some politicians in Israel have been urging the government to keep him in prison. Rayna Moss, an Israeli who's campaigned for Mordechai since he was kidnapped, thinks the pressure to prolong his detention has failed.
10 06 33 RAYNA MOSSOh, he’s coming out. Yes, I do believe so. I mean, maybe it’s silly but even the prime minister said that he wants the world to see Mordechai walk out as a free man so they’ll stop pestering the Israeli government about their treatment of him. He’s not a prime minister who has been known to consistently tell the truth but maybe on this issue we can be confident that the law will prevail, and justice will prevail, and he will walk out.
10 07 07 COMMENTARYSome ninety hours before Mordechai is due to be released, the Israeli army assassinate a Palestinian Islamist leader, Abdel Aziz al Rantisi, in his car in Gaza City. This is a demonstration of impunity that’s not lost on Vanunu's supporters...
10 07 32 CAPTION72 hours till release
10 07 34 ERNEST RODKER AND HOSTEL EMPLOYEERoom 23...No, room 24...
10 07 40 RAYNA MOSSIs something wrong or is this just a change of plan?
10 07 44 COMMENTARYThe campaigners hope to protect Mordechai by generating media coverage of their presence in Israel. But his supporters still aren't being allowed in.
10 07 54 ERNEST RODKERThere are 11 people being held at the airport for no reason that we know of. A famous actress, Susannah York, and Colin Breed, a British MP, and we would like you to find out what’s happening.
10 08 02 COMMENTARYErnest's on the phone to the British Embassy.
10 08 06 ERNEST RODKERWe’ve had nothing but harassment from the authorities here in Israel and it’s an absolute disgrace that our Embassy has not taken a firmer role in assuring that its citizens come through the passport office; they’re peaceful citizens, they have no threat of Israel and they’re being constantly harassed by the authorities at the airport.
10 08 27 COMMENTARYIsraelis are encouraged to hate Mordechai because he 'gave away' their 'nuclear secret'. But he broke ranks in another way, too -- he converted to Christianity. This is Father Dave, an Anglican priest who befriended Mordechai when he was travelling in Australia before he exposed the nuclear story.
10 08 46 REV. DAVID B. SMITHI think for Mordy, his decision to part with the story and his decision to convert to Christianity were very much tied together. There’s no doubt about that. When he eventually came to the front of the church he prayed: now I give my life to Jesus, now I do what I must do. So, they’re one and the same thing. Yeah, the secret had to be made known. And I think Mordy, rightly, recognised that the issue itself was bigger than he was, and was something which was appropriate to lay down his life for if need be.
10 09 18 COMMENTARYWhether or not God called Mordechai, his immediate fate rests with the Shin Bet, the security police.
10 09 26 RAYNA MOSSI’m Rayna Moss and I’m not sure where I am any more, and this is my son Tov. The Shin Bet have announced that the brothers are invited on Tuesday to pick up Mordechai’s belongings, and he’ll be released at 11 o'clock in the morning Wednesday.
10 09 51 VOICE (off-camera)Do we believe them?
RAYNA MOSS...I think in a long time, the first good news that we’ve had, and a confirmation that he will walk out on Wednesday.
10 10 00 VOICE (off-camera)May I propose a toast to Mordechai and his future and the future of the anti-nuclear movement.
10 10 12 CAPTION48 hours till release
10 10 15 COMMENTARYWhen Mordechai was imprisoned, it was his brother Meir who started the international campaign for his release; for years, he devoted all his energies to Mordechai. The battle isn't over yet. Today's newspapers are full of a recent interrogation of Mordechai, taped by the security services in prison, and leaked when it can do most damage.
10 10 46 COMMENTARYThe papers quote Mordechai saying Jews don't need a Jewish state, that Judaism and Islam are backward religions.
10 10 56 MEIR VANUNU (subtitle)The security services must have passed it on.
10 11 01 COMMENTARYMordechai was asked leading questions, and his answers -- published of course without his knowledge or consent -- are being used to make him even more of a hate figure. What’s more, the tape of the interview will be broadcast tonight on national television. This incitement against Mordechai shows such malign intent the campaigners worry what else the authorities will do.
10 11 26 SABBY SAGALLIt’s entirely possible that they will either smuggle him out through the back door, bypassing all his supporters, and whisk him away to some safe house; or else, that they release him early. All our experience indicates to us that they are an extremely hard nut to crack, the Israeli authorities.
10 11 48 COMMENTARYWhat’s even more worrying is that the address of the flat that Mordechai will stay in has also been leaked. The campaign prepares a press release to demonstrate that people outside Israel are watching what happens.
10 12 02 ERNEST RODKER AND SABBY SAGALLHave you got...? You can put Melvyn Bragg (SS: Oh yes, Melvyn Bragg), Emma Thompson... You've got Harold Pinter?... Ken Livingstone (SS: Yup, yup)
10 12 20 COMMENTARYIt doesn't help Mordechai that today is Holocaust Day.
10 12 30 ARNONHostel ownerI know why you came here, this group; I don’t approve of your activity. In some way we are all Holocaust survivors. So for us, probably the only nation that was under a real threat of extermination, having nuclear weapons I see as absolutely legitimate, more than anybody else.
10 13 09 RAYNA MOSS I want to say this, objectively, you’ve observed me over a few days. How much have I actually eaten?
10 13 11 VOICE (off-camera)Not much, not enough.
10 13 13 VOICE (off-camera)Just the bomb!
10 13 14 RAYNA MOSSWhat is the cosmic injustice going on here? I mean, where’s the justice?
10 13 18 VOICE (off-camera)Jews are always persecuted.
10 13 20 RAYNA MOSSReally...
10 13 21 VOICE (off-camera)This is just one more example...
10 13 22 RAYNA MOSS One more example of how we’re discriminated against -- by nature itself!
10 13 29 RAYNA MOSSIs Father Dave here; can he convert me, like on the spot?!
10 13 33 COMMENTARYMeir learns that the Interior Minister has banned Mordechai from leaving Israel for a year. There are further restrictions: for instance, Mordechai will need written police permission to have contact with foreigners or move around Israel -- all in the name of state security.
10 13 53 SABBY SAGALLHe must not talk to the Israeli media, and here I’m not sure, is that a blanket ban on talking to the media? That’s not been mentioned
10 14 04 REV. DAVID B. SMITHI don’t want to do anything that will put Mordy and his own volatile situation at further risk. But I can’t imagine coming all this way and not actually being able to touch him.
10 14 18 MEIR VANUNUYou will see him, I guarantee. You will hug him, I promise you.
10 14 34 CAPTION24 hours till release
10 14 46 COMMENTARYMordechai's supporters are preparing for a vigil outside the prison on the eve of his release. They want Mordechai to know he has friends waiting for him; they want Israel and the world to know they honour what he's done.
10 15 05 COMMENTARYAshkelon prison is down the coast. They've organised buses; the buses don't come.
10 15 12 RAYNA MOSSPeople, we have a major problem right now. The bus company is not answering phones now although I had written confirmation of our order today. What we’re going to have to do is go into a bit of emergency procedures now; that doesn’t mean that we need to panic. And that doesn’t mean that we need to be rushed; what we will need is a lot of money. OK, my idea is this. People who can afford it share a taxi. Get in 4 or 6 for a taxi. I’m still going to try to get us buses. Our main goal now is to get to Ashkelon. Right? Are we agreed on that?
ERNEST RODKER No, Pat's changed, because we need someone who knows the way...
10 16 02 RAYNA MOSSAre there a group of four people that can share 300 shekels for a private taxi?
10 16 10 RAYNA MOSSPeople help me, I’m not holding it together here.
10 16 12 ERNEST RODKERAnd you give the money to me, Adeline, yeah. OK.
10 16 17 COMMENTARYRayna's made contact with a bus company that's used regularly by Israeli anarchist groups; they'll send a bus right away.
10 16 28 RAYNA MOSSA bus can carry 50 people. I need to separate and visually see 50 people standing to one side.
VANUNU SUPPORTER (counting)Who's 43?
10 16 38 COMMENTARYNo one has any doubt the first bus company was frightened off by the security services.
VANUNU SUPPORTER (still counting)Ole, do you have a number?Yes, 46
10 16 47 COMMENTARYThey know this phase of the battle has only just begun.
10 17 01 COMMENTARYMost of the people here have spent years protesting outside Israeli embassies. Now they're inside the lions' den. They're right up against the Israeli state.
10 17 46 MAN IN SUIT (subtitles)Given the wave of global terrorism...
10 17 47 these people should understand that Israel especially...
10 17 51 needs weapons to defend its existence
10 17 54 When they help Mordechai Vanunu...
10 17 56 they're actually helping terrorist groups around the world
10 18 01 SUSANNAH YORK...gross violation of human rights...
10 18 04 NAME SUPERSusannah YorkCampaign to free Vanunu
10 18 05 SUSANNAH YORK18 years he’s been imprisoned here; he’s been refused parole 3 times at least so he has paid every single inch of...
10 18 21 VOICE (off-camera)Many people are calling him a traitor.
10 18 24 MEMBER OF PUBLICTraitor perhaps yes, I call him traitor
10 18 26 ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC (subtitles)He's bringing shame on Christianity. You're naive to think he's a hero
10 18 31 He's destroying the state of Israel
10 18 34 Sir! People like yourself have destroyed the state of Israel
10 18 41 No! Sharon will destroy the state of Israel
10 18 43 How dare you!
10 18 45 Have you no shame?
10 18 47 You're alive, thanks to him
10 18 51 MAN IN GREEN T-SHIRT (subtitles)I hope he won't be released
10 18 54 They need to neutralise him before he comes out
10 18 57 I really hope they'll do something to him...
10 19 00 like they did to Rantisi
10 19 03 I also hope he'll be killed
10 19 05 Exactly! In an Arab country...
10 19 06 he wouldn't have lasted five days
10 19 14 MAN IN SUITAll this talking that you see now is making a very big damage because it’s starting a discussion. Maybe Israel should get rid of its nuclear weapons...
10 19 26 INTERVIEWERIn effect, you’re saying that Israel does have nuclear weapons.
10 19 29 MAN IN SUITI didn’t say it; I won’t sleep very well if I know that we don’t have.
10 19 34 VANUNU SUPPORTER (sings)In the Middle East, Peace Salaam Shalom, Peace Salaam Shalom...
10 19 46 COMMENTARYThe man on the right is doing interviews as Mr Ordinary Israeli. The man on the left is a television producer. Is he...giving instructions?
10 19 55 NAME SUPERRami HeilbronnCampaign to free Vanunu
10 19 55 RAMI HEILBRONNPeople used to say 'police state, police state'. It’s much more subtle. You look at people - I was born here, I grew up here - you look at people and you don’t know who is who. Who are local roughnecks and who are secret service personnel to protect whatever their instructions are. So it’s very difficult to know what is going on, who is doing what to whom.
10 20 23 ERNEST RODKERWe’ve sustained no damage. The hecklers and anti people have gone away. No one responded. It was very good. They were very angry. And I think they wanted to start some sort of confrontation but we didn’t get involved; and we’re carrying on with the vigil. There’s been a huge press presence here and they’re doing interviews with almost all of our celebrities.
10 20 52 COMMENTARYBut as evening approaches, the angry people reappear.
10 20 58 ANGRY MAN (subtitles)We should do what's good for us, not for the world!
10 21 03 They will bring the Holocaust back in a second, this trash!
10 21 08 They're all trash!
10 21 11 We're going to burn Vanunu now
10 21 15 Send him up in smoke
10 21 17 This is how he's going to burn, god willing
10 21 42 CAPTIONThe day of Mordechai’s release
10 22 01 COMMENTARYThese doves are to be set free outside Ashkelon prison -- 18 doves, to symbolise Mordechai's 18 years of suffering.
10 22 10 WOMANThey’re really dirty. Can we do anything about that?
10 22 15 MANIf you’ve got a nice little rag we can wipe them off, yeah; I’ll wipe them off.
10 22 20 WOMANOK, so I’ll get a cloth.
10 22 25 MANA nice washcloth.
10 22 26 MANYou’re being accused of being dirty.
10 22 28 INTERVIEWER (off-camera)So, they’ll be home tonight.
10 22 30 HAL CARLSTADThe ones that are any good at it will probably be home in an hour; the others that haven’t been trained are going to be lost and will become part of the pigeon population...
10 22 37 NAME SUPERHal Carlstad
10 22 42 INTERVIEWER (off-camera) ...in the Ashkelon area
10 22 45 HAL CARLSTAD...in Ashkelon. They might make their home there.
10 23 30 VANUNU SUPPORTER WITH LOUDSPEAKERThere are hundreds of people in cities around the world today who are joining us in celebrating Mordechai’s release.
10 23 54 ANTI-VANUNU DEMONSTRATOR (subtitles)Vanunu is dead! 'Death to the spy!'
10 24 01 MAN CARRIED AWAY BY POLICE (subtitles)Disgusting -- let me speak!
10 24 05 What sort of a democracy is this?
10 24 08 COMMENTARYThe peace line is becoming surrounded -- there are protesters in front of them, and at the back. The police take a decision that wrecks the Vanunu supporters' plan to be the first thing he sees.
10 24 22 ERNEST RODKEROver here at the barriers please, over here. Please will you come towards the barrier and turn away from the people who are causing trouble.
10 24 37 ANTI-VANUNU DEMONSTRATORS (subtitle)Death! Death! Death!
10 24 43 COMMENTARYThe police have positioned the people baying for Vanunu's blood in front of his supporters -- between them and the gate.
10 24 54 ANTI-VANUNU DEMONSTRATORS (subtitle)He's a traitor!
NAME SUPERHilary WestlakeCampaign to free Vanunu
10 25 03 HILARY WESTLAKEWe were concerned that they’d be behind and rushing, but now there’s nobody behind, they’ve all gone in front of us and that’s going to be the first sight he sees after 18 years of incarceration.
10 25 15 COMMENTARYWith minutes to go, a few Israeli anarchists push through the antis, and stand right beside the prison gate.
10 25 23 VANUNU SUPPORTERS (subtitle)He's a hero!A hero, a hero, a hero!
10 25 28 COMMENTARYBut the Vanunu delegation is still in its line at the back.
10 25 32 VANUNU SUPPORTER (WOMAN)My feeling is that there are three of us over there, very much a minority. If three or four of us are holding flowers and singing...
10 25 39 ERNEST RODKERIf you want to go, I can’t stop you going over there. If you want to go over there, Yasmin, you go - I can’t stop you.
10 25 44 WOMANIt’s a contrast from their shouting and yelling.
ERNEST RODKERWe knew this was going to happen.
WOMANI just think...
ERNEST RODKERI know what you just think, but you’ve just got to put up with it. Look, no-one's waited longer than me -- 18 years. It’s going to be a mess. We’ve got to think as clearly as we can. If we follow our emotions we’re going to get into a real battle.
10 26 08 VANUNU SUPPORTERS (subtitle)He's a hero!A hero, a hero, a hero!
10 26 24 COMMENTARYSomewhere in this melee, there's a small saloon car taking Mordechai Vanunu away from Ashkelon prison.
10 26 32 VANUNU SUPPORTERS (chanting)Mordechai is free. Mordechai is free.
10 27 46 COMMENTARYMordechai Vanunu found refuge in Arab East Jerusalem. He's under the protection of the Anglican Cathedral, whose bishop is Palestinian. It seems entirely appropriate.
10 27 59 MORDECHAI VANUNUWhen I was in prison I received the prison conditions like a Palestinian. So, I was one of them, equal to them in spite that I was alone, separate, they was in the prison with me. So I feel a solidarity with them and they also try to send their sympathy to me. They used to leave for me in the courtyard some tea, coffee -- and later I demand to live with them. The prison authorities didn’t want to let me live with the Palestinians, but we knew each other and support each other.
10 28 35 COMMENTARYNine months after his release, Mordechai Vanunu was still living at St George's Cathedral. He's out of prison -- he’s not yet free.
10 28 44 MORDECHAI VANUNUI am the same man as I used to be in the prison, defending my right to freedom of speech. That was my fight for 18 years, all the time demanding the right to speak. That’s what I did and continue to do now that I’m free. The Israel government continue to pursue me, don’t want to let me go free after 18 years. I don’t have any more secrets, so the Israeli government should realise this case is over, dead --they should let me go.
END CREDITS
Thank you to all the delegates from the
Campaign to free Vanunu
and for a nuclear-free Middle East,
from Australia, Holland, Hungary,
India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Norway,
Palestine, the UK, the USA
Special thanks to:
Artists for Palestine
Sandy Balfour
Paul Gardner
Christo Hird
Ernest Rodker
Ossi Ron
Afif Safieh
Philip Seymour
Abbas Shiblak
Vanunu in Jerusalem filmed by
Adeline O'Keeffe
Vanunu's interview filmed by
b.h. Yael
Thanks to both of them for
allowing the use of their material
Trumpet
Ben Inman
Translations
Ossi Ron
Stills
Peter Hounam
Polaris/eyevine
Post-production
Final Cut Post
Dubbing mixer
Kevin Pyne
Editor
Johnny Burke
Filmed, directed and produced by
Jenny Morgan
© 2005 Jenny Morgan
For information about distribution of this film:
For information about the Vanunu campaign:
www.vanunu.freeserve.co.uk
10 00 52 RAYNA MOSS We’re looking forward to seeing Mordechai; we’re looking forward to watching him walk out.
10 00 58 NAME SUPERRayna MossCampaign to free Vanunu
10 00 59 RAYNA MOSSI think Mordechai appreciates that we’ve always supported him, always been there, and I hope that he’s as anxious to meet us as we are to meet him.
10 01 10 COMMENTARYMordechai Vanunu spent eleven-and-a-half years of his sentence in solitary confinement, in a cell without windows. What had he done to be treated this way?
10 01 32 COMMENTARYVanunu had worked at Israel's nuclear reactor, Dimona; in 1986, he proved to the world that Israel was secretly manufacturing nuclear weapons. To this day, Israel denies it. Mordechai was kidnapped from Rome, smuggled back to Israel, found guilty of espionage, and treason. But for much of the world, he's a hero.
10 02 00 TITLE WAITING FOR MORDECHAI
10 02 16 COMMENTARYThis hostel in Jaffa is where Mordechai's international supporters will gather to welcome him; in their vanguard is the organiser of the British campaign, Ernest Rodker.
10 02 27 ERNEST RODKER You’re joking. Oh, I see. Sorry. I’m not that quick at the moment.
10 02 32 COMMENTARYWithout people like Ernest, Mordechai might not have survived. Their plan is to keep up the pressure until he walks through the prison gates. But the Israelis are detaining supporters at the airport.
10 02 45 ERNEST RODKEROK. She’s still there? She’s still being held? Disgraceful. I hope she’s not frightened.
10 02 54 COMMENTARYSome of Mordechai's closest supporters are flying halfway across the world to greet him in person. They believe the information he provided is more vital than ever.
10 03 05 NAME SUPERRev. David B. Smith
10 03 05 REV. DAVID B. SMITHNuclear weapons can’t be a local, national secret. You can’t detonate one without it affecting everybody.
10 03 15 NAME SUPERSabby SagallCampaign to free Vanunu
10 03 15 SABBY SAGALLIf Bush and Blair want to find weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, Mordechai Vanunu told them where to go.
10 03 23 COMMENTARYThough he's campaigned for Mordechai for many years, Ernest Rodker has never met him -- never even heard his voice. But the police at Tel Aviv airport treated him as if he was contaminated.
10 03 35 ERNEST RODKERThey frisked me. They all put on plastic gloves. They all put on these very fine plastic gloves; it was like a surgical operation. This young man goes with both hands down my arms and down my legs – excuse me, he says – then he goes down my legs. They’re treating us like terrorists. This is all for a man who is coming out of prison.
10 04 01 COMMENTARYYou'd think people would appreciate being told their government has a secret nuclear bomb factory -- but Israelis don't feel grateful to Mordechai.
10 04 09 SABBY SAGALLThe majority, unfortunately, see Vanunu as a traitor. So everything depends on the kind of pressure that we in the international campaign put on the authorities here in our attempt to mobilise what we can of Israeli opinion on our side.
10 04 29 COMMENTARYIn the flea market around the hostel in Jaffa, most of the stallholders are Jews from the Arab world, Oriental Jews with hardline Zionist attitudes. Mordechai himself is of Moroccan Jewish origin -- but this is hardly the place to start mobilising support for Mordechai. Jaffa was a Palestinian city, but during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, at least 90% of the Palestinian inhabitants were forced to flee. The neglected graves of the old Jaffa families show they were never allowed to return. There is a small Palestinian community in Jaffa; they have the legal status of Israeli citizens; but like Mordechai Vanunu, they're treated with suspicion and hostility.
10 05 29 YUSUF ASFOURTo be Arab inside of Israel, you are an enemy in front of the Israelis. If you as an Arab try to raise your voice or throw a stone...
SABBY SAGALL (off-camera)...inside Israel
YUSUF ASFOUR...they will kill you.
10 05 44 COMMENTARYFor Palestinian teacher Yusuf Asfour, what made Mordechai exceptional, before the nuclear revelations, was his involvement with Palestinian students at university.
10 05 56 YUSUF ASFOURFor the Arab community inside of Israel, it was amazing -- suddenly a man from the right wing support the Arabs. That was the first time that an Oriental Jew, or Arab Jew, stand and said, 'this is a racist country'.
10 06 17 COMMENTARYIn the months preceding Mordechai's release, some politicians in Israel have been urging the government to keep him in prison. Rayna Moss, an Israeli who's campaigned for Mordechai since he was kidnapped, thinks the pressure to prolong his detention has failed.
10 06 33 RAYNA MOSSOh, he’s coming out. Yes, I do believe so. I mean, maybe it’s silly but even the prime minister said that he wants the world to see Mordechai walk out as a free man so they’ll stop pestering the Israeli government about their treatment of him. He’s not a prime minister who has been known to consistently tell the truth but maybe on this issue we can be confident that the law will prevail, and justice will prevail, and he will walk out.
10 07 07 COMMENTARYSome ninety hours before Mordechai is due to be released, the Israeli army assassinate a Palestinian Islamist leader, Abdel Aziz al Rantisi, in his car in Gaza City. This is a demonstration of impunity that’s not lost on Vanunu's supporters...
10 07 32 CAPTION72 hours till release
10 07 34 ERNEST RODKER AND HOSTEL EMPLOYEERoom 23...No, room 24...
10 07 40 RAYNA MOSSIs something wrong or is this just a change of plan?
10 07 44 COMMENTARYThe campaigners hope to protect Mordechai by generating media coverage of their presence in Israel. But his supporters still aren't being allowed in.
10 07 54 ERNEST RODKERThere are 11 people being held at the airport for no reason that we know of. A famous actress, Susannah York, and Colin Breed, a British MP, and we would like you to find out what’s happening.
10 08 02 COMMENTARYErnest's on the phone to the British Embassy.
10 08 06 ERNEST RODKERWe’ve had nothing but harassment from the authorities here in Israel and it’s an absolute disgrace that our Embassy has not taken a firmer role in assuring that its citizens come through the passport office; they’re peaceful citizens, they have no threat of Israel and they’re being constantly harassed by the authorities at the airport.
10 08 27 COMMENTARYIsraelis are encouraged to hate Mordechai because he 'gave away' their 'nuclear secret'. But he broke ranks in another way, too -- he converted to Christianity. This is Father Dave, an Anglican priest who befriended Mordechai when he was travelling in Australia before he exposed the nuclear story.
10 08 46 REV. DAVID B. SMITHI think for Mordy, his decision to part with the story and his decision to convert to Christianity were very much tied together. There’s no doubt about that. When he eventually came to the front of the church he prayed: now I give my life to Jesus, now I do what I must do. So, they’re one and the same thing. Yeah, the secret had to be made known. And I think Mordy, rightly, recognised that the issue itself was bigger than he was, and was something which was appropriate to lay down his life for if need be.
10 09 18 COMMENTARYWhether or not God called Mordechai, his immediate fate rests with the Shin Bet, the security police.
10 09 26 RAYNA MOSSI’m Rayna Moss and I’m not sure where I am any more, and this is my son Tov. The Shin Bet have announced that the brothers are invited on Tuesday to pick up Mordechai’s belongings, and he’ll be released at 11 o'clock in the morning Wednesday.
10 09 51 VOICE (off-camera)Do we believe them?
RAYNA MOSS...I think in a long time, the first good news that we’ve had, and a confirmation that he will walk out on Wednesday.
10 10 00 VOICE (off-camera)May I propose a toast to Mordechai and his future and the future of the anti-nuclear movement.
10 10 12 CAPTION48 hours till release
10 10 15 COMMENTARYWhen Mordechai was imprisoned, it was his brother Meir who started the international campaign for his release; for years, he devoted all his energies to Mordechai. The battle isn't over yet. Today's newspapers are full of a recent interrogation of Mordechai, taped by the security services in prison, and leaked when it can do most damage.
10 10 46 COMMENTARYThe papers quote Mordechai saying Jews don't need a Jewish state, that Judaism and Islam are backward religions.
10 10 56 MEIR VANUNU (subtitle)The security services must have passed it on.
10 11 01 COMMENTARYMordechai was asked leading questions, and his answers -- published of course without his knowledge or consent -- are being used to make him even more of a hate figure. What’s more, the tape of the interview will be broadcast tonight on national television. This incitement against Mordechai shows such malign intent the campaigners worry what else the authorities will do.
10 11 26 SABBY SAGALLIt’s entirely possible that they will either smuggle him out through the back door, bypassing all his supporters, and whisk him away to some safe house; or else, that they release him early. All our experience indicates to us that they are an extremely hard nut to crack, the Israeli authorities.
10 11 48 COMMENTARYWhat’s even more worrying is that the address of the flat that Mordechai will stay in has also been leaked. The campaign prepares a press release to demonstrate that people outside Israel are watching what happens.
10 12 02 ERNEST RODKER AND SABBY SAGALLHave you got...? You can put Melvyn Bragg (SS: Oh yes, Melvyn Bragg), Emma Thompson... You've got Harold Pinter?... Ken Livingstone (SS: Yup, yup)
10 12 20 COMMENTARYIt doesn't help Mordechai that today is Holocaust Day.
10 12 30 ARNONHostel ownerI know why you came here, this group; I don’t approve of your activity. In some way we are all Holocaust survivors. So for us, probably the only nation that was under a real threat of extermination, having nuclear weapons I see as absolutely legitimate, more than anybody else.
10 13 09 RAYNA MOSS I want to say this, objectively, you’ve observed me over a few days. How much have I actually eaten?
10 13 11 VOICE (off-camera)Not much, not enough.
10 13 13 VOICE (off-camera)Just the bomb!
10 13 14 RAYNA MOSSWhat is the cosmic injustice going on here? I mean, where’s the justice?
10 13 18 VOICE (off-camera)Jews are always persecuted.
10 13 20 RAYNA MOSSReally...
10 13 21 VOICE (off-camera)This is just one more example...
10 13 22 RAYNA MOSS One more example of how we’re discriminated against -- by nature itself!
10 13 29 RAYNA MOSSIs Father Dave here; can he convert me, like on the spot?!
10 13 33 COMMENTARYMeir learns that the Interior Minister has banned Mordechai from leaving Israel for a year. There are further restrictions: for instance, Mordechai will need written police permission to have contact with foreigners or move around Israel -- all in the name of state security.
10 13 53 SABBY SAGALLHe must not talk to the Israeli media, and here I’m not sure, is that a blanket ban on talking to the media? That’s not been mentioned
10 14 04 REV. DAVID B. SMITHI don’t want to do anything that will put Mordy and his own volatile situation at further risk. But I can’t imagine coming all this way and not actually being able to touch him.
10 14 18 MEIR VANUNUYou will see him, I guarantee. You will hug him, I promise you.
10 14 34 CAPTION24 hours till release
10 14 46 COMMENTARYMordechai's supporters are preparing for a vigil outside the prison on the eve of his release. They want Mordechai to know he has friends waiting for him; they want Israel and the world to know they honour what he's done.
10 15 05 COMMENTARYAshkelon prison is down the coast. They've organised buses; the buses don't come.
10 15 12 RAYNA MOSSPeople, we have a major problem right now. The bus company is not answering phones now although I had written confirmation of our order today. What we’re going to have to do is go into a bit of emergency procedures now; that doesn’t mean that we need to panic. And that doesn’t mean that we need to be rushed; what we will need is a lot of money. OK, my idea is this. People who can afford it share a taxi. Get in 4 or 6 for a taxi. I’m still going to try to get us buses. Our main goal now is to get to Ashkelon. Right? Are we agreed on that?
ERNEST RODKER No, Pat's changed, because we need someone who knows the way...
10 16 02 RAYNA MOSSAre there a group of four people that can share 300 shekels for a private taxi?
10 16 10 RAYNA MOSSPeople help me, I’m not holding it together here.
10 16 12 ERNEST RODKERAnd you give the money to me, Adeline, yeah. OK.
10 16 17 COMMENTARYRayna's made contact with a bus company that's used regularly by Israeli anarchist groups; they'll send a bus right away.
10 16 28 RAYNA MOSSA bus can carry 50 people. I need to separate and visually see 50 people standing to one side.
VANUNU SUPPORTER (counting)Who's 43?
10 16 38 COMMENTARYNo one has any doubt the first bus company was frightened off by the security services.
VANUNU SUPPORTER (still counting)Ole, do you have a number?Yes, 46
10 16 47 COMMENTARYThey know this phase of the battle has only just begun.
10 17 01 COMMENTARYMost of the people here have spent years protesting outside Israeli embassies. Now they're inside the lions' den. They're right up against the Israeli state.
10 17 46 MAN IN SUIT (subtitles)Given the wave of global terrorism...
10 17 47 these people should understand that Israel especially...
10 17 51 needs weapons to defend its existence
10 17 54 When they help Mordechai Vanunu...
10 17 56 they're actually helping terrorist groups around the world
10 18 01 SUSANNAH YORK...gross violation of human rights...
10 18 04 NAME SUPERSusannah YorkCampaign to free Vanunu
10 18 05 SUSANNAH YORK18 years he’s been imprisoned here; he’s been refused parole 3 times at least so he has paid every single inch of...
10 18 21 VOICE (off-camera)Many people are calling him a traitor.
10 18 24 MEMBER OF PUBLICTraitor perhaps yes, I call him traitor
10 18 26 ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC (subtitles)He's bringing shame on Christianity. You're naive to think he's a hero
10 18 31 He's destroying the state of Israel
10 18 34 Sir! People like yourself have destroyed the state of Israel
10 18 41 No! Sharon will destroy the state of Israel
10 18 43 How dare you!
10 18 45 Have you no shame?
10 18 47 You're alive, thanks to him
10 18 51 MAN IN GREEN T-SHIRT (subtitles)I hope he won't be released
10 18 54 They need to neutralise him before he comes out
10 18 57 I really hope they'll do something to him...
10 19 00 like they did to Rantisi
10 19 03 I also hope he'll be killed
10 19 05 Exactly! In an Arab country...
10 19 06 he wouldn't have lasted five days
10 19 14 MAN IN SUITAll this talking that you see now is making a very big damage because it’s starting a discussion. Maybe Israel should get rid of its nuclear weapons...
10 19 26 INTERVIEWERIn effect, you’re saying that Israel does have nuclear weapons.
10 19 29 MAN IN SUITI didn’t say it; I won’t sleep very well if I know that we don’t have.
10 19 34 VANUNU SUPPORTER (sings)In the Middle East, Peace Salaam Shalom, Peace Salaam Shalom...
10 19 46 COMMENTARYThe man on the right is doing interviews as Mr Ordinary Israeli. The man on the left is a television producer. Is he...giving instructions?
10 19 55 NAME SUPERRami HeilbronnCampaign to free Vanunu
10 19 55 RAMI HEILBRONNPeople used to say 'police state, police state'. It’s much more subtle. You look at people - I was born here, I grew up here - you look at people and you don’t know who is who. Who are local roughnecks and who are secret service personnel to protect whatever their instructions are. So it’s very difficult to know what is going on, who is doing what to whom.
10 20 23 ERNEST RODKERWe’ve sustained no damage. The hecklers and anti people have gone away. No one responded. It was very good. They were very angry. And I think they wanted to start some sort of confrontation but we didn’t get involved; and we’re carrying on with the vigil. There’s been a huge press presence here and they’re doing interviews with almost all of our celebrities.
10 20 52 COMMENTARYBut as evening approaches, the angry people reappear.
10 20 58 ANGRY MAN (subtitles)We should do what's good for us, not for the world!
10 21 03 They will bring the Holocaust back in a second, this trash!
10 21 08 They're all trash!
10 21 11 We're going to burn Vanunu now
10 21 15 Send him up in smoke
10 21 17 This is how he's going to burn, god willing
10 21 42 CAPTIONThe day of Mordechai’s release
10 22 01 COMMENTARYThese doves are to be set free outside Ashkelon prison -- 18 doves, to symbolise Mordechai's 18 years of suffering.
10 22 10 WOMANThey’re really dirty. Can we do anything about that?
10 22 15 MANIf you’ve got a nice little rag we can wipe them off, yeah; I’ll wipe them off.
10 22 20 WOMANOK, so I’ll get a cloth.
10 22 25 MANA nice washcloth.
10 22 26 MANYou’re being accused of being dirty.
10 22 28 INTERVIEWER (off-camera)So, they’ll be home tonight.
10 22 30 HAL CARLSTADThe ones that are any good at it will probably be home in an hour; the others that haven’t been trained are going to be lost and will become part of the pigeon population...
10 22 37 NAME SUPERHal Carlstad
10 22 42 INTERVIEWER (off-camera) ...in the Ashkelon area
10 22 45 HAL CARLSTAD...in Ashkelon. They might make their home there.
10 23 30 VANUNU SUPPORTER WITH LOUDSPEAKERThere are hundreds of people in cities around the world today who are joining us in celebrating Mordechai’s release.
10 23 54 ANTI-VANUNU DEMONSTRATOR (subtitles)Vanunu is dead! 'Death to the spy!'
10 24 01 MAN CARRIED AWAY BY POLICE (subtitles)Disgusting -- let me speak!
10 24 05 What sort of a democracy is this?
10 24 08 COMMENTARYThe peace line is becoming surrounded -- there are protesters in front of them, and at the back. The police take a decision that wrecks the Vanunu supporters' plan to be the first thing he sees.
10 24 22 ERNEST RODKEROver here at the barriers please, over here. Please will you come towards the barrier and turn away from the people who are causing trouble.
10 24 37 ANTI-VANUNU DEMONSTRATORS (subtitle)Death! Death! Death!
10 24 43 COMMENTARYThe police have positioned the people baying for Vanunu's blood in front of his supporters -- between them and the gate.
10 24 54 ANTI-VANUNU DEMONSTRATORS (subtitle)He's a traitor!
NAME SUPERHilary WestlakeCampaign to free Vanunu
10 25 03 HILARY WESTLAKEWe were concerned that they’d be behind and rushing, but now there’s nobody behind, they’ve all gone in front of us and that’s going to be the first sight he sees after 18 years of incarceration.
10 25 15 COMMENTARYWith minutes to go, a few Israeli anarchists push through the antis, and stand right beside the prison gate.
10 25 23 VANUNU SUPPORTERS (subtitle)He's a hero!A hero, a hero, a hero!
10 25 28 COMMENTARYBut the Vanunu delegation is still in its line at the back.
10 25 32 VANUNU SUPPORTER (WOMAN)My feeling is that there are three of us over there, very much a minority. If three or four of us are holding flowers and singing...
10 25 39 ERNEST RODKERIf you want to go, I can’t stop you going over there. If you want to go over there, Yasmin, you go - I can’t stop you.
10 25 44 WOMANIt’s a contrast from their shouting and yelling.
ERNEST RODKERWe knew this was going to happen.
WOMANI just think...
ERNEST RODKERI know what you just think, but you’ve just got to put up with it. Look, no-one's waited longer than me -- 18 years. It’s going to be a mess. We’ve got to think as clearly as we can. If we follow our emotions we’re going to get into a real battle.
10 26 08 VANUNU SUPPORTERS (subtitle)He's a hero!A hero, a hero, a hero!
10 26 24 COMMENTARYSomewhere in this melee, there's a small saloon car taking Mordechai Vanunu away from Ashkelon prison.
10 26 32 VANUNU SUPPORTERS (chanting)Mordechai is free. Mordechai is free.
10 27 46 COMMENTARYMordechai Vanunu found refuge in Arab East Jerusalem. He's under the protection of the Anglican Cathedral, whose bishop is Palestinian. It seems entirely appropriate.
10 27 59 MORDECHAI VANUNUWhen I was in prison I received the prison conditions like a Palestinian. So, I was one of them, equal to them in spite that I was alone, separate, they was in the prison with me. So I feel a solidarity with them and they also try to send their sympathy to me. They used to leave for me in the courtyard some tea, coffee -- and later I demand to live with them. The prison authorities didn’t want to let me live with the Palestinians, but we knew each other and support each other.
10 28 35 COMMENTARYNine months after his release, Mordechai Vanunu was still living at St George's Cathedral. He's out of prison -- he’s not yet free.
10 28 44 MORDECHAI VANUNUI am the same man as I used to be in the prison, defending my right to freedom of speech. That was my fight for 18 years, all the time demanding the right to speak. That’s what I did and continue to do now that I’m free. The Israel government continue to pursue me, don’t want to let me go free after 18 years. I don’t have any more secrets, so the Israeli government should realise this case is over, dead --they should let me go.
END CREDITS
Thank you to all the delegates from the
Campaign to free Vanunu
and for a nuclear-free Middle East,
from Australia, Holland, Hungary,
India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Norway,
Palestine, the UK, the USA
Special thanks to:
Artists for Palestine
Sandy Balfour
Paul Gardner
Christo Hird
Ernest Rodker
Ossi Ron
Afif Safieh
Philip Seymour
Abbas Shiblak
Vanunu in Jerusalem filmed by
Adeline O'Keeffe
Vanunu's interview filmed by
b.h. Yael
Thanks to both of them for
allowing the use of their material
Trumpet
Ben Inman
Translations
Ossi Ron
Stills
Peter Hounam
Polaris/eyevine
Post-production
Final Cut Post
Dubbing mixer
Kevin Pyne
Editor
Johnny Burke
Filmed, directed and produced by
Jenny Morgan
© 2005 Jenny Morgan
For information about distribution of this film:
For information about the Vanunu campaign:
www.vanunu.freeserve.co.uk