WAWA/WeAreWideAwake is my Public Service to America as a muckracker who has journeyed seven times to Israel Palestine since June 2005.
WAWA is dedicated to confronting media and governments that shield the whole
truth.
We who Are Wide
Awake are compelled by the "fierce urgency of Now" [Rev MLK, Jr.] to raise
awareness and promote the human dialogue about many of the crucial issues of our
day: the state of our Union and in protection of democracy, what life is like
under military occupation in Palestine, the Christian EXODUS from the Holy Land,
and spirituality-from a Theologically Liberated Christian Anarchist
POV.
"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all...and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave...a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils." George Washington's Farewell Address - 1796
"My aim is to agitate & disturb people. I'm not selling bread, I'm selling yeast." Unamuno
"Imagine All the People Sharing All the World." John Lennon
"If enough Christians followed the gospel, they could bring any state to its knees." Father Philip Francis Berrigan
"You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down." Tom Petty
"If I can't dance, it's not my revolution." Emma Goldman
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Only in Solidarity do "We have it in our power to begin the world again" Tom Paine
"Never doubt that a few, thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
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Photo of George shown here and in web site banner courtesy of Debbie Hill, 2000.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that, among these, are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it. -July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence
March 11, 2012: 60 MINUTES, Mossad, AEROSMITH and Stupid is as Stupid Does
March 11, 2012: 60 MINUTES, Mossad, AEROSMITH and Stupid is as Stupid Does
Last night’s "60 Minutes",
featured a Lesley Stahl interview with Meir Dagan, who admitted that bombing
Iran now is "the stupidest idea" he'd ever heard.
A few other ‘stupid ideas’ this little muckraker would
have asked the former Mossad chief and "60 Minutes"
to address follow; because ‘stupid is as stupid
does’ and failures of intelligence are always rooted in failures of
imagination.
And regarding what the Whistler Blower of Israel's
WMD Program informed me of on March 26, 2006:
“Many journalists come here to the American Colony, from CNN and NY Times. They
all want to cover my story, but their EDITORS say no.
“CNN wants to interview me; but they say they can't do it because they don't
want problems with the Israeli censor. BBC is doing the same thing.
"Sixty Minutes from the United
States from the beginning they wanted to do a program, but because of the
censor situation they decide not to do it. Also big media from Germany,
France, Italy, Japan. None of them wants problems with the Israelis."
What followed that conversation was the taping of “30 MINUTES WITH VANUNU”
A DVD copy of that interview was mailed to “60 MINUTES” in 2006 but as of
this writing no response has yet been received.
LEARN MORE about that at The "Big Get"
Don Hewitt and "60 Minutes" Didn't GetRead more...
When I last saw Vanunu in June 2009, he told me, “The Central Commander of the
General Army testified in court that it is OK if I speak in public as long as I
do not talk about nuclear weapons.”
However, on July 6, 2009, Supreme Court President
Dorit Beinish continued to deny Vanunu the right to leave Israel, claiming his
"case is still generating great interest, like any other security-related
case. The media's attention he gets is proof of that."
IF ONLY that were true Vanunu would now be free and
Insha’Allah [God willing] America would also hold Israel to the same standards
it demands of Iran:
Open up all nuclear facilities to IAEA inspections and
establish a Nuclear Free Middle East.
A Little Important History:
In 1963, Shimon Peres was Israel's
Deputy Minister of Defense when he met with President John F. Kennedy at the
White House.
Kennedy told Peres, "You know that we follow very closely the discovery of
any nuclear development in the region. This could create a very dangerous
situation. For this reason we monitor your nuclear effort. What could you tell
me about this?"
Peres replied, "I can tell you most clearly that we will not introduce nuclear
weapons to the region, and certainly we will not be the first."
By September of 1986, Peres was convulsing over Mordechai Vanunu, who had been
employed as a lowly tech in Peres’ progeny; Israel’s clandestine underground
nuclear weapons center in the Negev called the Dimona.
Peres ordered the Mossad, to "Bring the son of a bitch back here."
Vanunu's kidnapping included a
clubbing, drugging and being flung upon an Israeli cargo boat and shipped back
to Israel for a closed-door trial.
After 18 years in prison, nearly 8 more
under 24/7 surveillance by Mossad on top of 78 days back in solitary
confinement in 2010 because he spoke to foreigners [who happened to be media]
in 2004; I ask, how stupid can stupid be to continue to deny Vanunu the right to
fade into the world instead of continuing to make headlines in light of what Vanunu
wrote in 2009: “THE ISRAEL STUPID SPIES WILL NOT GET ANY THING FROM HERE.”
And so, I wonder how stupid can stupid be in light
of what Israeli media also reported in 2004:
"This
is the secret that hasn't yet been told in the affair: the story of the
security fiasco that made it possible for Vanunu to do what he did, and the
story of the subsequent attempts at cover-up, whitewashing and protection of
senior figures in the defense establishment, who were bent on divesting
themselves of responsibility for the failure. The 18-year prison term to which
Vanunu was sentenced is almost exactly the same period as that in which Yehiel
Horev has served as chief of internal security in the defense establishment
[who has been] involved in the affair as deputy chief of security at the
Defense Ministry, and also after Vanunu's abduction and arrest, as a member of
an investigative commission.
"Shortly after taking office as chief of security at the Defense Ministry,
Horev began to take punitive measures to hobble Vanunu. He is responsible for
the harsh conditions in which Vanunu was held, which included years in solitary
confinement, and the sharp limitations on the number of visitors he could
have…[and has fought] a rearguard battle to prevent Vanunu from leaving Israel
and to place him under supervision and restrictions that will be tantamount to
house arrest.
“Horev has always been considered the strictest of all the security chiefs in
Israel, especially in regard to the protection of institutions such as the
Dimona facility and the Biological Institute. He is apprehensive that if Vanunu
goes abroad, he will continue to be a nuisance by stimulating the public debate
over Israel's nuclear policy and the nuclear weapons he says Israel
possesses…all the hyperactivity being displayed by Horev and those who support
his approach is intended only to divert attention from what has not yet been
revealed: the security blunders and their cover-ups."-Yossi Melman,
for Haaretz.
"Everybody understands that Vanunu
has no more secrets. What can a technician know after 18 years in jail, during
which technology has advanced with giant steps?
"But gradually it becomes clear
what the security establishment is really afraid of. Vanunu is in a position to
expose the close partnership with the United States in the development of
Israel's nuclear armaments.
"This worries Washington so much,
that the man responsible in the State Department for 'arms control',
Under-Secretary John Bolton, has come to Israel in person for the occasion.
Vanunu, it appears, can cause severe damage to the mighty super-power.
"The Americans, it seems, are very worried.
The Israeli security services have to dance to their tune. The world must be
prevented by all available means from hearing, from the lips of a credible
witness, that the Americans are full partners in Israel's nuclear arms program,
while pretending to be the world's sheriff for the prevention of nuclear
proliferation."- Uri Avnery, April
24, 2004.
And how stupid can stupid be, not to
imagine a little one such as me- who happened to be writing my first historical
novel in 2005 and researching in Israel Palestine- when I met Vanunu for the
first time, would as a matter of CONSCIENCE become a reporter because Vanunu told me:
"President Kennedy tried to stop Israel from building atomic weapons.
Kennedy insisted on an open internal inspection.
"When Johnson became president, he made an
agreement with Israel that two senators would come every year to inspect.
Before the senators would visit, the Israelis would build a wall to block the
underground elevators and stairways. From 1963 to ’69, the senators came, but
they never knew about the wall that hid the rest of the Dimona from them.
"Nixon stopped the inspections and agreed to ignore the situation. As a
result, Israel increased production. In 1986, there were over two hundred
bombs. Today, they may have enough plutonium for ten bombs a year." [1]
And I wonder how stupid can a Government, SECURITY
Establishment and a Supreme Court be in light of what Vanunu wrote on November 24,
2006:
“My lawyer succeeded to reveal a few very
important facts: This General of the Army was not allowed to see all the
secrets that he is required to protect by these restrictions that they claim I
know them. So, he gave orders of restrictions without knowing what he is
protecting or that he is also following orders blindly, and Mossad Sheen Bet
using its authority for just punishing me.
"He testified that it is not a crime
for me to talk with foreigners in general anywhere. He testified that I can
speak freely to any Israeli citizens about anything; it is not his concern what
I am saying to them. These Israelis can give this information to any
foreigners. It was difficult for the Judge to understand why this dichotomy
exits between foreigners and Israelis. It means that it is not about secrecy
but about something else." [IBID]
That something else is of utmost import for all who believe freedom of
conscience and speech is a right that no government or any corporate interest
has any ‘right’ to impinge upon and was revealed on February 22, 2006, during Vanunu’s court appearance as he wrote:
"Microsoft obeyed the orders and gave them all the details…three
months before I was arrested and my computers were confiscated. It is
strange to ask Microsoft to give this information before obtaining the court
order to listen to my private conversations. It means they wanted to go through
my emails in secret, or maybe, with the help of the secret services, the
Shaback, Mossad.
"The State came to the court with two special secret Government
orders; Hisaion [documents or information that are deemed confidential by the
government and kept from the court, the defendant, and lawyers.] This allows
the prosecution to keep documents related to my court hearing secret. One was
from the Minister for Interior Security and one from the Minister of Defense.
"The policeman did not have any answers and said that he brought
all the evidence to the court. When Sfard asked him again about any material
related to the espionage [charge] Peterburg had no answers.
"Sfard proved that the police had misled
the judges who gave the orders to arrest me: to search my room, to go through
my email, to confiscate my computers and [that they] misled Microsoft to
believe they are helping in a case of espionage."
And how stupid can stupid be in light of what
Vanunu wrote on May 5, 2011 to:
MK Mr. Eli Yishai
Minister of Interior
The State of Israel
Re: Revoking my Israeli Citizenship
I am Mordechai Vanunu that was
kidnapped from Rome on September 30, 1986 by The Israeli Secret Services.
I was tried by The Jerusalem District
Court and convicted of Aggravated Espionage, High Treason and Assisting the
Enemy and I was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment. This followed an interview
I gave to The London Sunday Times regarding the secret production of nuclear
weapons materials in Israel.
I fulfilled the democratic principal of
the right of the public to know.
I have served 18 years in Ashkelon
Prison, mostly in solitary confinement.
I was released on 21 April 2004 with
severe restrictions imposed by the Israeli Government.
Seven years past and the restrictions
had been renewed again and again relying on The Emergency Laws from 1945.
Since my release I have lived 6 years
in East Jerusalem and since September 2010 I live in Tel Aviv.
On June 1986 I was baptized to the
Anglican Church.
Recently, (28.3.2011), the Knesset
passed a new law that revokes the citizenship of anyone who was convicted of
espionage or treason.
25 years I am demanding and waiting to
have my full freedom restored.
This law should be applied to my case
and I am willing for my citizenship to be revoked and canceled.
I am writing to you today asking the
state of Israel to cancel my citizenship.
This desire is not new and is not
recent, but now it is supported by the new law to revoke citizenship .
I am asking and expecting the
enforcement of this law to its letter and revoke my Israeli citizenship.
This law applies to me and I am ready
for my citizenship to be canceled.
I don't have another citizenship but I
would be able to get one easily during my forced stay here and for sure at the
moment that I am allowed to leave.
In any case I here declare that my wish
was and still is to cancel/revoke, in fact, my Israeli citizenship.
After all the 'treatment' that I have
received from the State of Israel and its citizens, I do not feel, here, as a
citizen or how a citizen should feel, I feel as an unwellcome citizen and
treated as such by the state of Israel and its citizens.
I am called and shouted at as a spy,
'The Atom Spy', and a traitor by the Israeli media and in the streets of
Israel.
I am harassed and persecuted as the
enemy of the state for 25 years.
I feel I am still imprisoned, still
held as a hostage, by the state and its government.
After 25 years of ongoing, many and
very hard punishments by the State of Israel, I wish the end to all punishments
and my suffering, and wish the realization of the basic human right of freedom.
I would like to exercise my right to
freedom of conscience, my right to choose not to be a citizen of Israel.
I have no interest in Israeli
citizenship; I do not want to live here. I ask you to cancel/revoke my citizenship
here and now. I ask you to let me be free from Israel
as our dislike is mutual.
I HAVE NO SECRETS!
EVERYTHING I KNEW THAN, I HAVE PASSED
ON TO THE ENGLISH PAPER IN 1986!!
IT IS TIME TO ALLOW ME TO LEAVE ISRAEL
AFTER A QUARTER CENTURY OF IMPRISONMENT!
Mordechai Vanunu.
May 5th 2011
Tel-Aviv
Copies to Prime M, Netanyho.
Foreign M, Liberman.
Defence M Barak.
Justice M, Neaman.
President Peres.
###
And how stupid stupid can be when on November
29, 2011, Vanunu also wrote:
"Now the judge decided they will hear the
case when? The clerics will tell as very soon. I saw what they wrote, they
wrote very short, repeating again and again that this law is new and my case is
20 years ago, so it can not be use for my case.
"I spoke with Feldman my lawyer, I told him it does not matter this Law, I am
asking them to revoke my citizenship, with this law or without this Law, as I
asked them in 1998.
"At that time they answer I need to have other different citizenship. But with
this new law they can take any citizen his citizenship even if he don't have
other citizenship. So it will take more months until the court will decide."
Vanunu’s next historic trial is scheduled for July 2012, but how stupid can
stupid be to not allow Vanunu the right to fade away into the world, instead of
continuing to make history?
But because if I can't laugh and "if I can't dance it's not my revolution" [Emma Goldman] I am most grateful to "60 MINUTES" for ending their show with Dagan with an interview with AEROSMITH, because I last danced along with those bad boys from Boston while in Alabama in July 2009, and wrote:
To all the Sharp Dressed Soldiers Shipping OutRead more...
I am Eileen Fleming of US HOUSE of Representatives and I approve of all of my messages.
And as I was born
and bred in New York City and I am NOT getting off the Nuclear Train
until the time's a'change and bring in a FREE VANUNU and establish a
NUCLEAR FREE MIDDLE EAST; here's hoping "60 MINUTES" will want to learn more about that at the Facebook Call for Public Action for Vanunu's FREEDOM 21 April 2012
"HOPE has two children.The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it."-St. Augustine
"He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust." - Aquinas
Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
" In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."-Mother Teresa
“You cannot talk like sane men around a peace table while the atomic bomb itself is ticking beneath it. Do not treat the atomic bomb as a weapon of offense; do not treat it as an instrument of the police. Treat the bomb for what it is: the visible insanity of a civilization that has ceased...to obey the laws of life.”- Lewis Mumford, 1946
The age of warrior kings and of warrior presidents has passed. The nuclear age calls for a different kind of leadership....a leadership of intellect, judgment, tolerance and rationality, a leadership committed to human values, to world peace, and to the improvement of the human condition. The attributes upon which we must draw are the human attributes of compassion and common sense, of intellect and creative imagination, and of empathy and understanding between cultures." - William Fulbright
“Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death.” - Rev. MLK
Establishment of Israel
"On the day of the termination of the British mandate and on the strength of the United Nations General Assembly declare The State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion it will guarantee freedom of religion [and] conscience and will be faithful to the Charter of the United Nations." - May 14, 1948. The Declaration of the Establishment of Israel