Audio Couple makes anti-nuclear stance a family affair (story audio) Photos "No one can prevent me from speaking on any subject" Family portrait Letters "home" View full slideshow (4 images) Resources Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest The U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, at Nonviolence.Org Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

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Couple makes anti-nuclear stance a family affair
by Jeff Horwich, Minnesota Public Radio
March 17, 2003

Nick and Mary Eoloff of St. Paul look over a heavily edited letter from their adopted son, Mordechai Vanunu. Vanunu is nearing the end of an 18-year sentence in Ashkelon, Israel, for nuclear espionage. (MPR Photo/Jeff Horwich)

Mordechai Vanunu is a convicted traitor, accused of jeopardizing Israel's national security. His smuggled photos exposed Israel's nuclear program to the world in 1986. He is also a hero to anti-nuclear activists around the globe, who say no one in the western world has spent longer in solitary confinement. Vanunu, called an international martyr by his supporters, is also the adopted son of a retired couple who have lived all their lives in St. Paul.

St. Paul, Minn. — Nick and Mary Eoloff sort through their latest package from Mordechai Vanunu. Return address: Ashkelon Prison, Israel.

"Oh, this is precious, isn't it?" says Mary, opening up a holiday card with a large "X" through the message inside. "He has no access to cards, so when he receives Christmas cards from people he crosses out the messages and then sends them on to us. 'To Mary, Nick and all the family, next Christmas in St. Paul. Love, Mordechai Vanunu.'"

	Family portrait

The Eoloffs are pacifist, anti-nuclear activists who describe themselves as "radical Catholics." Formally adopting a now 48-year-old Moroccan-born Israeli convicted of nuclear espionage would seem to fit the bill.

They are about the age Vanunu's actual parents might be. Mary Eoloff reads through his hand-written letter, at a point where Vanunu attempts to talk about his case.

"'So I appeared alone demanding to end the kidnapping secrecy.' And then they cut out the next part."

Letters Vanunu writes are reviewed, and then returned to him with highlighted passages he must then cut out himself. Three subjects are off-limits: His closed-door trial, the circumstances of his capture, and the alleged Dimona nuclear plant where Vanunu worked in the early '80s.

"For us, nuclear weapons are a moral issue. We're anti-nuclear just as much as Mord..." Nick stops himself. "Well, maybe not as much, certainly not as much, because we haven't been in prison. But nuclear weapons are a danger, and no country should have them or threaten to use them."

	"No one can prevent me from speaking on any subject"

"But also it was the horror of the situation in which he lived," Mary adds. "They couldn't treat a human being like that."

Vanunu is about to enter the 17th year of an 18-year sentence. He allegedly spent the first 11 and a half years in solitary confinement. The Eoloffs say canvas sheets were hung around his small exercise yard, to prevent him from seeing any grass.

Nick and Mary began writing to Vanunu in 1995, joining activists around the globe. But they wondered what more they could do. Adopting Vanunu would be a strong demonstration of their political commitment. They knew it would allow them into the prison for visits, helping Vanunu's spirits and mental health. And they hoped -- falsely, it turned out -- that it would give Vanunu American citizenship, which might create a diplomatic argument for his early release.

Adopting an adult in Minnesota is simpler than adopting a child, and the court waived some standard requirements. Vanunu doesn't have a birth certificate, and he couldn't be present for the hearing. The court asked only for his signed consent, which Vanunu was more than happy to provide. Nick and Mary visited for the first time in 1998.

	Letters "home"

"I expected a much younger man. I mean, he was in his 40s but he looked like he was in his 60s," Mary says. "He was so pale, and his hair looked gray to me. I think he looked so old because he was without life ... He came to the grill and put his fingers through, and we touched his fingertips."

The Eoloffs have six grown children of their own, some of whom also write to their adopted brother. Nick and Mary have visited nine times, and will visit again in May. The steel grate is gone now. The three sit around a table, with a guard present to take notes. Each time the visits get less political and more personal. So do the feelings of his new parents.

"He should say or do whatever the Israeli authorities want to let him out early, if he has to repent what he did or anything like that," says Nick. "But Mordechai is very determined that he will not do that."

The Eoloffs sound almost like any typical parent dealing with a petulant child.

Anybody can adopt Mordechai Vanunu. That, of course, does not change his status. He was convicted by an Israeli court under Israeli law. - David Roet, Israeli Deputy Consul General to the Midwest

"I said to him, you know, 'Do what your dad says,'" Nick laughs, but turns serious. "He says no. He says, 'You don't know what it's like to be in prison.' And that's true, I don't. So I back off on that."

The State of Israel, of course, takes a quite different view of the Vanunu case.

"Mordechai Vanunu basically tried to give Israeli government secrets to the international press and other organizations, and is considered by most Israelis to be a traitor," says David Roet, Israel's Deputy Consul General to the Midwest.

There are aspects of the Vanunu story on which Roet cannot comment, including the story activists tell about Vanunu's capture and "kidnapping" by Israeli security agents in Rome. Roet says Vanunu's trial was closed because of the sensitive information involved, but was not secret, rushed or unfair.

"Mr. Vanunu was given a fair trial with Israeli lawyers for an offense that, in the United States, would have gotten him a much more severe sentence than he actually got," Roet says.

Israel accepts the adoption, but Roet says it changes nothing about the case. Even after his scheduled release in May 2004, Vanunu's saga may not be over. Though he has served his time for the original offense, he shows himself eager to reoffend. Roet will not speculate on what actions might be taken, but leaves open the possibility that activists' hopes to bring a free Vanunu quickly to the United States may not be easily realized.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Vanunu has not shown any regret for what he did, nor any sign that he does not want to continue with propagating whatever information he has had," Roet says. "We will have to see if the courts decide any kind of restrictions."

"Free Mordechai" activists will be gathering next spring to prepare their legal and public relations strategies. No one fights harder than a parent for their child. In St. Paul, the Eoloffs are getting ready.

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