Eucharist: (Gr. eucharistia, thanksgiving). The name given to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar its twofold aspect of sacrament and Sacrifice of Mass, and in which Jesus Christ is truly present under the bread and wine. Other titles are used, such as "Lord's Supper" (Coena Domini), "Table of the Lord" (Mensa Domini), the "Lord's Body" (Corpus Domini), and the "Holy of Holies" (Sanctissimum), to which may be added the following expressions, and somewhat altered from their primitive meaning: "Agape" (Love-Feast), "Eulogia" (Blessing), "Breaking of Bread", "Synaxis" (Assembly), etc.; but the ancient title "Eucharistia" appearing in writers as early as Ignatius, Justin, and Irenæus, has taken precedence in the technical terminology of the Church and her theologians.

Born into a working-class Sephardic Jewish family in arid Negev, Vanunu witnessed persecution of the native Palestinians, and he felt compassion for them. This brotherly compassion for goyim, frowned upon in the Jewish tradition, brought him to Christ. He could not continue working at Dimona, the place where Israel makes weapons of mass destruction. He openly broke with Jewish omerta, denounced evil, and made his fellow citizens and the world aware of huge nuclear arsenal accumulated in the underground storages to threaten the world peace.

A Christian has some qualities of Christ, and witness of Vanunu made him a Christian martyr. Jews are not a forgiving lot, and they are not likely to forgive a man who broke free. In order to make this religious meaning of his trial clear to all, the judges sentenced Vanunu for 18 years, ‘to be immured alive’, for ‘18’ means ‘alive’ in Hebrew. Many Jews wear the sign of 18, or ‘Chai’ on their necks, where Christians wear cross.

‘Do you know what this sign means?’ – Daniel McGowan of Deir Yassin Remembered was asked by a policeman, and replied: ‘It is the sentence you gave Vanunu’. TOP

But 18 years passed, and today Vanunu came back to life. It was a moment of supreme elation reminiscent of Resurrection Sunday, when the white doves flew over the white prison, and crowds chanted in front of the gate of heavy iron bars guarding the entrance to Ashkelon jail.

He turned to the TV crews and spoke to them, at first in his heavily accented Sephardic Hebrew, then in English:

“I want to tell you something very important. I suffered here 18 years because I am a Christian, because I was baptised into Christianity. If I was a Jew I wouldn't have all this suffering here in isolation for 18-years. Only because I was a Christian… Vanunu Mordechai says we don't need a Jewish state. Vanunu Mordechai doesn't want to live in Israel and doesn't need a Jewish state. I am a symbol of the will of freedom. You cannot break the human spirit.”

‘Kill him!’ – yelled the Jewish crowd, braying for blood like in Mel Gibson’s film. They raised their signs declaring ‘Kill the traitor’. But the prey escaped them: in a minute, his car took him into safe sanctuary of St George cathedral, the Anglican Neo-Gothic building in East Jerusalem, where kind Bishop Riah expected him. TOP

Thus Vanunu confirmed in his own words and deeds: Christ is the symbol of compassion to our fellow men and thus of rebellion against the Jewish rule, the symbol of unvanquished human spirit that is akin to God. Probably the bravest man alive, he reminded me that ‘God became Man so a Man can become God’ (in words of St Athanasius). I thought of my friend Gilad Atzmon in London and of other good people who rebelled against the archaic spirit of dominance; of endless arguments whether Christ is relevant for our struggle in Palestine, arguments Vanunu answered so eloquently.    

In 1986, when Vanunu was arrested, I wrote in the socialist newspaper Al Hamishmar, ‘Vanunu was my spy, for he spied for me the dark secrets of the Zionist establishment’. But he returned with even more important message, that of spirit. Years ago, he revealed to us the weapons of our enemies; now he revealed our secret weapon in the battle for Palestine, that of Christ. And this battle goes on; while white doves flew over the prison, the Jewish tanks bombarded towns of Gaza, a few miles away, killing innocent civilians. TOP

He also revealed complicity of the American and European pseudo-Christians in the plot. Vanunu told us he was trapped not by Mossad but by a CIA agent for his revelations were mightily embarrassing for the US, for the country that forced the world to disarm while turning its blind eye to Dimona nuclear facility. Even now the US authorities promised ‘to keep an eye on Vanunu’ so he won’t embarrass them even more. Italy’s Berlusconi, this great friend of Sharon and Bush, did not move a finger to save the man kidnapped on Italian soil. This question should be discussed in the election campaign in the US: it is not too late for Americans to reject the accomplices of the Zionist warmongers.

Yes, Vanunu is right: “The time has come to end this silence and secret cooperation by the West, the United States, Canada and all Europe helping Israel and co-operating with Israel's secrets...”

It is not too late for us, the Israelis to listen to this man and to agree with him: we do not need a Jewish state. We need a state of compassion.

TOP