Brig. Gen. (res.) Yuval Shimoni is a sensitive, thoughtful man. Or that’s what he would like us to conclude from his recent written assessment concerning former Israeli nuclear spy Mordechai Vanunu: “His desire to leave Israel is completely comprehensible to me, and on a personal level, I can even identify with it.”
Shimoni is the chief of the Defense Ministry’s security department, known by its Hebrew acronym, Malmab. He based his opinion on a 75-minute conversation with Vanunu.
Their meeting was held at the recommendation of Supreme Court Justice Ofer Grosskopf, who is hearing a petition Vanunu filed via his attorney, Avigdor Feldman. But that didn’t stop Shimoni from writing, “I’m holding this conversation with an open mind and a willing heart, with the goal of getting a personal, unmediated impression from what he says.”
But then come several sentences that completely contradict his “identification” and “open mind.” Shimoni said that under no circumstances should Vanunu be permitted to leave Israel, and that all the restrictions imposed on him should remain in place, for the sake of safeguarding national security.
The restrictions, which have been eased slightly over the years, were imposed immediately upon his release from prison in 2004 after serving a 16-year sentence. Vanunu, a former technician at the nuclear reactor in Dimona, was convicted of grave security offenses after providing information about his work to the British newspaper Sunday Times in 1986. On the...
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