Adopting Mordechai

National Catholic Reporter, Nov 24, 2000 by Claire Schaeffer-Duffy

"Vanunu is no person up on a pedestal," said Nick. "He is just like you and me."

Some consider the actions of the ordinary man to be extraordinarily significant. Sam Day, coordinator for the U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, said that the photos Vanunu gave to The Sunday Times "confirmed to the world for the first time that Israel did indeed have a secret nuclear weapons program. And [a] much bigger [program] than anyone expected. Vanunu's act," Day said, "launched the first opening of public debate about what was going on behind the backs of the Israeli public in its government's production of secret weapons of mass destruction." Day sees Vanunu as an "example for others involved in nuclear production. He demonstrates the kind of acts of conscience that can be done to blow the whistle."

In February of this year, Israel's parliament, the Knesset, held an unprecedented public debate on Israeli nuclear policy. Prior to the February forum, Israel's nuclear issues were resolved behind closed doors in the Knesset's foreign affairs and defense committee and the government maintained a policy of nuclear "ambiguity," neither confirming nor denying the country's nuclear arsenal.

In November of 1999, Yediot Ahronot, Israel's largest daily, published excerpts from transcripts of Vanunu's trial, which revealed a thoughtful and conscientious Vanunu and facilitated the possibility of the Knesset debate. The day after the transcripts were published, the newspaper's military analyst wrote a piece headlined "The Death of the Ambiguity."

Vanunu's 18-year sentence ends in September 2004. Since his release from solitary in March 1998, he has spent an additional four months in isolation as punishment for minor infractions. The Eoloffs know Vanunu will need a lot of assistance recovering from the trauma of his incarceration and, like any good parents, they want to provide a stable base for his new beginnings. Anticipating some of his practical needs upon his release, Nick has already opened a bank account for him in St. Paul, Minn. Meanwhile, in between the bi-annual visits to Ashkelon, which Vanunu has requested, the Eoloffs tirelessly tell his story and support his cause, global nuclear disarmament.

Asked how this seventh child had changed her, Mary quietly mused, "In my mind, I believe we are all one. This adoption concretizes it."