Vanunu Exposes Israel's Nuclear Arsenal to the World
Mordechai Vanunu worked as a nuclear technician at Israel's Dimona reactor in the Negev desert for nine years. After leaving in 1985, he converted to Christianity and traveled to London, where he gave the Sunday Times 57 photographs showing Israel had produced enough plutonium for roughly 200 nuclear warheads. The story ran on October 5, 1986, shattering Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity. Before publication, Mossad agents lured Vanunu to Rome with a female operative, drugged him, and smuggled him back to Israel by boat. He was convicted of treason in a closed trial and spent 18 years in prison, 11 of them in solitary confinement. His photographs remain the most detailed evidence of Israel's nuclear weapons program ever made public.
October 5, 1986
40 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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