Thursday, May 27, 2004

Shin Bet plays hardball

So last night the Shin Bet arrested British reporter Peter Hounam, who broke the Sunday Times' story some 20 years ago of Mordechai Vanunu's account of Israel's nuclear program in Dimona.

Hounam has made the most of the Vanunu story, covering it for years, and has been in Israel for the past several months so he could cover Vanunu's release from prison in April. (Pictured in this photo taken in April is Hounam on the right hugging Vanunu after his release from jail.)

His arrest must mean that the security establishment is worried about a story Hounam was planning to release. Reports in recent months have said that Israel is more concerned about details being released regarding Vanunu's abduction from Rome and imprisonment than any new revelations about its nuclear program.

The whole thing seems a bit too heavy handed to me, and I think that if the Mossad abducts Israeli citizens from abroad, the Israeli public has a right to know more about such tactics.