Mossad mulled killing Vanunu
By Reuters
The Mossad spy agency considered killing nuclear whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu in 1986, but decided instead to abduct him for trial on treason charges, a former Mossad director told Reuters yesterday.
Shabtai Shavit, who masterminded the "honey trap" that snaked Vanunu after he told a British newspaper about his work at Dimona atomic research center, said he feared the ex-technician intends to spill more secrets on his release from prison in April.
"I would be lying if I said the thought [assassination] did not go through many of our minds," Shavit said, recalling Mossad debates after the Sunday Times interview that blew away Israel's official policy of ambiguity about its nuclear capabilities. "But Jews don't do that to other Jews. He was a traitor, so in accordance with Jewish morality and Jewish law he paid for it with imprisonment," Shavit said.
Vanunu, 49, embraced Christianity and anti-nuclear activism after being fired from the Dimona reactor. He spoke to the newspaper on the promise of undisclosed payment. In jailhouse letters he has vowed to keep campaigning to expose Israel's non-conventional capabilities.
Vanunu's revelations, and 60 accompanying photographs, led independent experts to conclude Israel had between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads - making it a military superpower.
Israeli officials, who point out that most Arab countries are still formally in a state of war with Israel, make no apologies for the assumed arsenal though they never confirm its existence.
Fearing more secrets could become public knowledge when Vanunu winds up his 18-year jail term on April 21, Shavit has been calling for him to be legally silenced.
"I propose gagging this man," said Shavit, who retired from Mossad in 1996 and now chairs the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center.
According to security sources, the Justice Ministry might confiscate Vanunu's passport to prevent him leaving the country, and subject any press interviews he gives to military censors. Any attempt by him to discuss state secrets could mean a new trial.
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