Vanunu on Israeli Prime Time Television

by Rayna Moss

On March 20, a documentary film about Mordechai Vanunu, entitled "Who's Afraid of Vanunu," was broadcast on Israeli television. The film was made in the framework of Ha'ayin Ha'shlishit, Einat Fishbein's series of documentaries that focuses on human rights and social issues.

Featured in the film were Yaron, who was in jail with Mordechai; Avigdor Feldman, his lawyer; Peter Hounam, reporter from the London Sunday Times; Asher Vanunu, Mordechai's brother; Efraim Sneh of the Labor Party and former Minister of Defense; and Nick and Mary Eoloff, Mordechai's adoptive American parents.

An older journalist who had participated in the smear campaign against Mordechai in 1986 halfheartedly admitted that he had acted against journalistic ethics.

For people involved in the campaign for Mordechai's release there was no new information, but for the general public it was a good presentation of his case, and many questions were raised.

The closing shot was of the journalist Einat Fishbein against the background of Dimona, saying that not many people wanted to be interviewed for the film, because the name Vanunu makes people silent. She said that other people told her that because the film would be censored, there was no point in talking, since the truth would not come out anyway. "And they knew what they were talking about," she ended.