Right-wingers attack Arab MK at Vanunu release

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http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1082518206727

Apr. 21, 2004 12:53 | Updated Apr. 21, 2004 15:16

Right-wingers attack Arab MK at Vanunu release

By JPOST.COM STAFF

A large contingent of right-wing extremists led by activist Baruch Marzel protested Mordechai Vanunu's release Wednesday from Ashkelon's Shikma prison by attacking Arab MK Issam Mahoul (Hadash), screaming profanities at Vanunu supporters and interrupting their media interviews, and scuffling with police.

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Over 200 Vanunu supporters began assembling in the early morning hours chanting slogans and holding banners aloft. Soon after, right-wing anti-Vanunu demonstrators began arriving, holding banners of their own, and provoking other demonstrators.

A large number of journalists and nearly 60 television camera crews were spread out to cover the release, which was transmitted live on all media outlets in the country and several abroad.

The event was orchestrated by the Israel Prisons Authority, who went so far as to provide a camera crew of their own and a live feed from inside the prison walls as Vanunu prepared to leave. Police however acted too late to stop right-wing demonstrators from creating havoc within the gathering, threatening journalists and spokespeople.

After Vanunu's release, right wing extremists flocked towards camera crews and protested vehemently whenever a pro-Vanunu spokesman was interviewed, barging the interviewee and journalist, thus preventing any interviews from being completed. Baruch Marzel was quoted on TV as saying that his 'people' would not let Vanunu rest, "to the end of his days".

Dozens of right-wing demonstrators shouting "death to all Arabs" and "Vanunu is a son of a *****" physically attacked Arab MK Issam Mahoul (Hadash), who was there to show solidarity with the released prisoner. Police managed to extricate a shaken Mahoul from the fracas.

The right-wingers were there, they claimed, to protest the release of Vanunu while Noam Federman remains incarcerated.

Hebron resident Noam Federman was detained for suspected involvement in a terrorist cell responsible for the deaths of seven Palestinians, and the planting of a bomb at an Arab girls' school in Jerusalem. Federman was transferred to Shikma prison, where he was punished for speaking to Vanunu. Vanunu later claimed that Federman had been "making life a hell for him", cursing him and inciting other prisoners against him.

Vanunu's release was held up Wednesday morning when the famous prisoner refused to give his new address following the publication of details of his new home in Jaffa.

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So, does Israel have WMD's or not? I can't seem to find anything that says they do, but I also can't find anything from their government that says they don't.