Knesset Member Issues Hiroshima Day Appeal to Pardon Vanunu
August 9 2001 Marking the 56th anniversary of the August 6 and 9 nuclear bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Knesset Member Issam Makhoul appealed to Israeli
President Moshe Katzav to pardon nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu and
release him from prison, where he has spent the last 14 years.
Makhoul, a member of the Hadash party (Democratic Front for Peace and
Equality), brought the nuclear issue to the front and center of Israeli
public attention in February 2000, when he initiated the Knesset's
first-ever debate on Israel's secret nuclear arsenal.
In his letter of August 8, 2001 to President Katzav, Makhoul wrote:
"The memory of the hundreds of thousands of Japanese victims of the atom
bomb must continue to be engraved on the conscience of all humanity, as
inspiration to halt the manufacture, proliferation and stockpiling of
nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction... and for creating
nuclear-free zones and zones free of all weapons of mass destruction,
including in the Middle East.
"This is an opportunity for the President of the State of Israel to raise
awareness in Israel to the terrible significance of the generations-long
suffering in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to raise awareness to the
importance of the humane, conscientious and moral struggle against the
crime of manufacturing and stockpiling nuclear weapons, including by
Israel.
"Mr. President, from this historic viewpoint, and in this humanitarian
context, I appeal to Your Excellency, and propose to seize the opportunity
of this 56th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the
President of the State of Israel to take a historic step, and announce a
pardon for prisoner of conscience and prisoner for humanity, Mordechai
Vanunu. This step would send forth a meaningful humane, democratic and
moral message.
"Respectfully,
by Rayna Moss
KM Issam Makhoul"
