The Southern Israelite. (Augusta, Ga.) 1925-1986, November 14, 1986, Image 1
Southern Israelite
The Voice of Atlanta's Jewish Community Since 1925
Vol. LXII
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, November 14, 1986
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Nuclear secrets in Israel? -
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No charges likely against Vanur °
by Yaacov Ben Yosef
Special to The Southern Israelite
NEW YORK—The Israelis
admitted this week that they are
holding Mordechai Vanunu, the
nuclear technician who sold the
Sunday Times of London what he
claimed were Israeli nuclear se
crets.
Until that admission, Israel
had taken almost no official notice
of the missing Vanunu’s approach
to the British newspaper. When
reports appeared in the press that
he had been abducted by Israel
and returned to the Jewish state,
denials were quickly forthcom
ing from Jerusalem.
But now with the Israel ac
knowledgement that Vanunu is
being held in custody in the wake
of a court order the intriguing
question is being asked: does that
admission mean that Israel, in
eventually charging Vanunu with
some type of alleged crime, will
also have to acknowledge that
nuclear secrets exist?
Probably not. It seems unlikely
that Vanunu would be charged
with revealing state secrets because
that might force Israel to indicate
what those secets were in order to
prove Vanunu’s guilt. Even to do
so in a secret trial would entail
the risk for Israel of those secrets
being leaked to the press.
It appears more likely that
Vanunu would be charged with
some other crime such as discuss
ing with the Sunday Times the
simple fact that he was employed
at the Dimona facility. In that
way, the details presented in evi
dence at the trial would be in
nocuous from Israel’s point of
view.
According to published reports,
Vanunu provided the Sunday
Times with pictures and details
of Israel’s nuclear reactor center
in Dimona in the Negev for a
story that ran Oct. 5. Vanunu
had been employed as a techni
cian for 10 years at Dimona
before his dismissal as part of
belt-tightening.
The Times estimated that Israel
had stockpiled 100 nuclear
Yaacov Ben Yosef
weapons and had the capacity as
well as the components to build
atomic, neutron and hydrogen
weaponry.
Precisely how Vanunu returned
to Israel remains a mystery though
various reports have it that he
was either lured onto a yacht
rented by the Israeli Mossad in
the Mediterranean or put into a
suitcase in London.
In announcing that they have
Vanunu, the Israelis also took
pains to ease any discomfort
British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher might feel over the way
the former nuclear technician was
removed from British soil. The
Israelis noted in their official
statement that “All the rumors to
the effect that Vanunu was ‘kid
napped’ on British soil are totally
without foundation, and it fol
lows that there is likewise no
basis to the report that Mr.
(Shimon) Peres contacted Mrs.
Thatcher in order to inform her
about something that never took
place.”
While Israel has clearly been
reluctant to go public with its
role in dealing with Vanunu, there
was little way that the secret
could be kept for good. Even if
the trial will be secret, almost a
certainty, Vanunu is entitled to
an attorney and to see his family
who live in Beersheba. The secret
could not stay one for long.
Meanwhile, Israel was appar
ently involved in another murky
matter this week as reports indi
cated that the U.S. had e
the Jewish state to prov
to Iran as part of a deal that
would set free the American hos
tages in Lebanon.
Interestingly, President Rea
gan’s secret dealings with Iran,
revealed this week, have aroused
strong feelings among those who
believe the administration vio
lated its own oft-stated policy of
not dealing with those who spon
sor terror (such as Iran). It is
unlikely that Israelis would voice
similar criticism toward the gov
ernment in Jerusaelm if only
because Israel and Iran have had
continuing contacts for years, even
after the rise of Khomeini to
power in Teheran. Israel’s deal
ings with Iran are based in part at
least on Iran’s opposition to Iraq
which remains an implacable
enemy of the Israelis.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Sha
mir’s government sounded at ease
with its apparent decision to
provide arms to Iran on behalf of
See Vanunu, page 27.
Atlanta relatives to participate
Holocaust survivors gathering to honor pair
Atlanta residents Susan Rein
gold and her sister Gail Medwed
are traveling to New York this
week to join in honoring a Catho
lic Polish couple, who, 44 years
ago, saved six members of their
family from almost certain death
at the hands of the Nazis.
There did exist during the
Holocaust in Europe a handful
of non-Jews who harbored and
kept safe the objects of the Nazi
extermination efforts. But, it is
rare that years later, those Jewish
survivors would one day be able
to find and to thank those peo
ple, who took such a great risk to
help them.
Such is the case with Mrs.
Reingold’s and Mrs. Medwed’s
three aunts, all living in New
York, each in their 50s, who sur
vived a remarkable ordeal thanks
to this non-Jewish couple who
hid them, their parents and a
cousin from the Nazis.
This weekend in New York
City, Jozef Macugowski, 75, and
his wife, Stephania, 74, will be
conferred as the “Righteous Among
the Nations” by the State of
Israel for saving the lives of Sarah
Weiner, Zahava Burack and M iriam
Oginski as well as their parents,
Louis and Gitla Radza, who are
deceased, and their cousin, Sarah
Bok, who lives in Israel.
It was mid-1942 when Louis
Radza, fearing for the lives of his
family, asked the Macugowskis
for their help. And at tremend
ous risk to their own lives and
those of their children, the Macu
gowskis agreed.
A makeshift shelter was dug
under the floorboards of their
Nowy Korczyn, Poland, home.
And what was intended to be a
place of temporary refuge became
a cramped, dark hiding place for
two and a half years. But, there
they stayed because, as fate would
have it, the Nazis chose the Macu-
gowski’s home as their headquar
ters.
“My aunts always said they
could hear the extermination re
ports being wired out,” said Susan
Reingold, a niece of the three sis
ters. “They understood a little
German, so they knew what was
going on.”
Mrs. Reingold and her sister.
Gail Medwed, both live in Atlanta
with their families. Mrs. Rein
gold’s voice quavered as she re
called the stories her aunts had
told her.
“The Macugowskis were only
able to give them bread and
water about twice a week and
occasionally a raw potato,” Mrs.
Reingold told The Southern Is
raelite. “They all lived in such
fear during this time.”
Constantly fearing detection
by the Nazis, who had comman
deered the Macugowski home,
the Radza family dared not speak
above a whisper. At the end of
two and half years, their vocal
chords had atrophied.
There are actually four sisters
in the Radza family. The fourth,
who was not kept hidden in the
Macugowski home, is Rita Nuss-
baum, Mrs. Reingold’s mother.
“My mother was pulled out of
the line by the Nazis because she
was older,” Mrs. Reingold said.
“She was sent to the concentra-
tion camp at Bergen Belsen.”
See Survivors, page 27.
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