Peoples of Israel Post #1- Mordechai Vanunu & Military

Mordechai Vanunu is the most infamous whistle-blower in modern Israeli history. Ynetnews attempts examine whether he was a “nuclear whistle-blower or peace activist fighting against a worldwide nuclear armament race.”

According to the article, he began working at the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission’s Negev facility, as a nuclear technician. In 1985, Vanunu was fired from IAEC but prior to leaving he was able to obtain two (2) film rolls of the compound layout. He immigrated to Australia, converted to Christianity and then began contacting several media outlets. In September 1986, Vanunu went to Londay to give the Sunday Times the photos he had collected of the facility and gave information about Israel’s nuclear weapons program.

Once the Israeli defense establishment learned of the pending publication, a Mossad tracking unit was set forth where Vanunu was lured and captured in Rome. The Sunday Times published the story after Vanunu’s disappearance and reported that Israel was in possession of hydrogen and neutron bombs.

Vanunu was sentenced to 18 years in prison, all to be served in solitary confinement for espionage and treason.

Vanunu’s clear motives for whistle-blowing are unclear. Groups dedicated to stopping a worldwide nuclear race came to his aid over the years to better his confinement & release. They believe that he told his story for the greater good of the public. Yet other spectators believe his motives were monetary & revenge as the article states “he was promised a hefty fee of $75,000 by the Sunday times; and the animosity he had toward the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission for firing him.”  Vanunu, himself, claims that it was “pure ideology” to bring acknowledgment to Israel’s nuclear policies and to stop the nuclear race.

According to Richard T. DeGeorge’s Business Ethics, whistle-blowing can be defined in such a way that it is always “morally permissible or always morally obligatory.” Initially, however, we can probably believe as “morally neutral the act of an employee making public a firm’s internal operations, practices, or policies that affect the safety of a product” (DeGeorge, 302). In some cases, “whistle-blowing may be morally prohibited, in some cases it may be morally permissible, and in others it may be morally mandatory” (DeGeorge, 302).

The view that whistle-blowing is always morally prohibited is the more widely held view. There is a strong tradition within “American mores” against telling or ratting-out on others. There is the phrase “Don’t wash your dirty linen in public” and though a person may whistle-blow to the public/media, that person is generally ostracized, not only by the management of the firm but also by fellow employees. This whistle-blower is perceived “as a traitor, as someone who has damaged the firm-the working family-to which he or she belongs” (DeGeorge, 303). In so doing, he or she has hurt and offended most of those within the firm.

Rosenthal writes that "nothing unites this contentious country [Israel] more than a belief in the importance of the army” (Rosenthal, 49). The reason for this is because “Israelis have always lived in a state of war, or semiwar, in a country that has never had permanent borders. Israel has the world’s highest percentage of veterans, with most Jewish and Druze men having fought in two or three wars” (Rosenthal, 50). With a country always living in "war-like" conditions or having a fear of war, there is a great trust/belief in the country's military as well as the government. To many Israelis, Vanunu is considered one of the biggest traitors in modern Israeli history for exposing its country's secrets to the press. Though he said his motives were for the greater good, he has offended many of Israel's citizens who have a strong sense of nationalism and loyalty to the state of Israel.