Customer Reviews

The Woman from Mossad: The Story of Mordechai Vanunu and the Israeli Nuclear Program

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(3)

 

 

I preface my comments below by saying I truly enjoyed reading this book.

However, the editing in this book is terrible. I wouldn't attribute this to the author, as he seems like a phenomenal writer, but the typos are just annoying and sometimes led me to think I should discount the credibility of the book.

As for the substance, I think the author clearly writes this book from a viewpoint sympathetic to Vanunu; he writes as an advocate and not as an impartial objective journalist. To his credit though, he does make this agenda subtly but painstakingly clear on page one.

One thing I don't think is well-established is the author's assertion that Vanunu was acting purely for humanitarian reasons. This is taken as fact and without scrutiny by the author. He does not critically or sufficiently analyze Vanunu's alternative options in arriving at the conclusion that Vanunu had altruistic motives. Why DIDN'T he go to the IAEA first?? To me this would have been an obvious option, which even if it wasn't, the reason for discarding this option is not spelled out well enough other than for a lone short paragraph in the book. Given that this is the international body/watchdog set up specifically for the purpose of nuclear monitoring, I thought more analysis of the purported futility of this option was required.

Which brings me to my next point. One of the author's main criticisms of the treason charge was that Vanunu did not disclose the sensitive information to a foreign country, which is an element of that crime. Au contrare. While that claim is technically accurate, by publishing in a major international newspaper, the author glosses over the fact that in doing this Vanunu enabled disclosure of that information to EVERY (not just one) enemy of his country and that was a despicable, nation-abandoning act that deserves an even harsher punishment than he actually received (because he in fact committed **countless** acts of treason - one for every Arab and other enemy of Israel that benefited from this information). To me, that is the very definition of treason - a criminal charge whose purpose is intended to prevent individuals from harming the national security of the country to which the offender is a citizen. Vanunu did just that, and by the worst means possible, not only harming Israel's national security, but also damaging it diplomatically with its major allies.

To those who claim Israel was skirting international agreements by pursuing these weapons, that is in fact true. But you need look no further than a map of the Middle East and history books of that period describing bellicose declarations of the hostile Arab countries surrounding this small Jewish state to understand Israel's need for these weapons as a deterrent force, and know that their intended purpose was and still is defensive. This was the only way Israel could get them, and I think it speaks volumes, as an implied acknowledgement of this assertion as well as an attestation to the trust placed in Israel, that the civilized world's then-superpowers willingly turned a blind eye while having overt knowledge that these weapons were being developed by Israel. These countries welcomed Israel in The Nuclear Club because they knew it could be trusted as a responsible partner in harmonizing the Middle East's balance of power and serve as a long-term deterrent for other nations to think about seeking, producing and possibly detonating a nuclear bomb in the Middle East. Just look at what's happening today with Iran and you can clearly see the different attitudes expressed to their pursuit of the same, in light of that country's long and conceded history of terrorism-sponsoring (Hezbollah) and declarations of their pursued destruction of the Jewish State. To think that "equal opportunity" is the proper framework in which to analyze the propriety of a given country's pursuit of nuclear weapons is, I think, not only naive but incredibly outrageous.

I agree, if the author's assertions are in fact true, that Vanunu did not seem to be looking for money. But he damned well wanted notoriety, another human vice that unfortunately escapes an in-depth analysis by the author. (I think Vanunu knew full well that his offer to remain anonymous would have been a non-starter, for the reasons the author articulates very well.) He had revenge on his mind, too.

Those criticisms aside, I think this book has a fantastic discussion of the shocking game that is nuclear politics.

Last, I agree with the author that the later shameless decision by The Sunday Times to abandon Vanunu by not covering his legal defense costs is unequivocally an outright stab in the back and a black eye on this paper's otherwise internationally credible reputation. When someone gives you a scoop like this, as a paper I think you must undertake to unqualifiedly attempt to exonerate that individual no matter what the legal cost, and no matter how long that legal process may drag on and no matter what technicalities may not legally require you to do so. The fact that a contract was never signed to this effect also seems a little suspect to me, perhaps the result of deliberate oversight (a possibility not even remotely entertained by the author) rather than innocent scheduling conflicts as the author suggests, for the very reasons cited above.

(...) Hounam's book is a fine introduction. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about nuclear politics, and about nuclear weapons proliferation in the Mid East. Hounam's research has added some pieces of the puzzle, for example, how rogue parts of the US government supplied Israel with nuclear technology (for the control room of the Dimona reactor, in triplicate) in violation of official US policy. In other words the left hand of the US government hasn't known what the right hand has been up to. This insanity has helped produce the current crisis in the Middle East. For surely if anything has inspired Saddam Hussein and the leaders of Iran to acquire nukes and other weapons of mass destruction it is the Israeli example; which is one of deception and contempt for the international community.

Recently I received a letter from the nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu (who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year since 1987). In it Morde asked me to send him a copy of Hounam's book. This tells you everything you need to know. Get it. You won't be disappointed. (...)

This book shows how dangerous the Israeli foreign policy is towards the United States and how they want to use the USA to destroy all the Islamic and Catholic countries because Israel fears they do not support the zionist movement. I'm not against the Jewish people most jewish people are also a victim of the zionist movements goals because they give the Jewish people a bad name with their global domination agendas. Sad what has been done in history for the zionist cause and all the damage it has done towards the Jewish people.

This is a great story if all you care about is money as the publisher and author seem to be interested in. Any news media which jeporadizes the security of any country must be a greedy lot. I liked reading the story just to see how far the Media would go. No suprises! No I will not be joining this author in his attempt to discredit Israel.Woman from Mossad: The Story of Mordechai Vanunu and the Israeli Nuclear Program

Get book and story. Its amazing what goes on in the secret world of government spying.

An informative book, especially for Middle Eastern readers. The author's attempt to justify Vanunu's act is pretty much sympathetic, but convincing. I personally think that Morde had done the wrong thing for the right reason. What he had done was obviously an act of "treason," but I wonder: if goals justify the means, and if what he had done was solely to promote world peace, then should he be forgiven? In any case, no country, especially a country in a state of war, should be authorized to develop weapons of mass destruction. If Israel's Dimona was established for peaceful purposes, as claimed, then there should be no reason to keep it secret. And if other countries start asking, "But why can't we have nuclear weapons? Israel has'em .." I guess the world shouldn't act surprised.

First off, Mr Peter Hounam should get his facts streight. He's covering a story he seems to know nothing about. The books is horribly written, lie after lie, and he's promoting Vanunu a world class trader. Do not waste your money on this book as it's worthless.

Peter Hounam's stated purpose in writing this book was for us (the reader) to sympathize with Mordachai Vanunu the traitor that exposed Israeli's ambigious nuclear arms program. I for one did not fall for it! The Authors attempts to rationalize his activities as a rightious act but keeps the reader in a very narrow context historically, to me is paramont to imposing his view on others. I would of liked to seen a better geopolitical explamation of why he thought Israel should build such an impressive deterrent or not. Good book for those of us that can look beyond the author's narrow view points and left wing positions. If, I do anything on Mordachai's part it will to make sure that he stays in jail for his entire life and not embrace Peter Hounam's Mordachai Vanunu campaign to free him!

Woman from Massad was written poorly, full of innuendos without facts, anti-israeli; a waste of my time.

all facts are either published already or invented by the author. I really didn't read many good books about Israeli espionage, and the reason is probably that these guys are so devoted and secret, nobody can infiltrate them.
I'm waiting for Tom Clancey to write a good one about the Mosad.