Whistleblowers and the Bomb: Vanunu, Israel and Nuclear Secrecy (rev. upd. ed. 2005)

Mordechai Vanunu was a technician working at a nuclear arms research project who revealed to the world in 1986 that Israel was secretly producing nuclear armaments. After the disclosure of the affair by the Sunday Times, Vanunu was kidnapped by Mossad, tried behind closed doors and imprisoned for 18 years for treason. He was finally released in 2004.

This authoritative account of the Vanunu affair uses first-hand material from the trial, and draws on an interview that the author has had with Vanunu since his release. The evidence presents a vivid account of the problems of nuclear secrecy in a democracy. It also provides a rare glimpse into official attitudes to nuclear secrecy in Israel.

Yoel Cohen assesses the strategic significance of Vanunu's disclosures and analyses the unsuccessful international campaign to free him. Offering a critique of the Sunday Times’ role in the affair, Cohen examines the impact of Vanunu's eventual release, and assesses Israel's ongoing attempts to hide their nuclear programme. 

This is a new edition of a book that was hailed as an authoritative account of the Vanunu affair on its original release. It is now thoroughly revised and updated, to offer a timely reassessment of a world-famous whistleblower and the questions he has brought to light.

(book title of previous editions: « The Whistleblower of Vinona - Israel, Vanunu, and the Bomb », 1st publ. by Sinclair-Stevenson, London, in 1992; rev. updated ed. 2005 was 1st publ. in Hebrew by Babel Publishers, Tel Aviv)