Invitations for Vanunu: Concert, Conferences, and the Knesset

From around the world, invitations are being extended and inquiries made for Mordechai Vanunu to attend, speak, and be honored at various events following his release from prison April 21.

In Israel, Israeli Arab Knesset member Issam Makhoul will invite Mordechai to lecture at the Knesset immediately after his release, to " voice his views on the abolition of nuclear weapons."

Other members of the legislative body vow to prevent such an appearance.

The whistleblower has also been invited to join nuclear abolitionists at the Nonproliferation Treaty Review conference at the United Nations in May, and a nuclear-free future conference in October in Austria.

And while the prisoner looks forward to freedom and the chance to meet and celebrate with his supporters, the question remains: Will Israel let him to leave the country, once he leaves prison?

Canada's leading pianist, Anton Kuerti, hopes so. Kuerti and premier cellist Kristine Bogyo have invited Mordechai Vanunu to their performance on Sunday, May 9, in Toronto, in a concert to celebrate his release, and raise funds to help him reestablish a life for himself.

The pianist, renowned for his performances of Beethoven, has corresponded with Vanunu and wrote about his case after noting a parallel between what Vanunu says and the words of Florestan, the hero in Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio. Florestan sings: "In the springtime of my life, my happiness has fled. I bravely ventured to tell the truth, and these chains are my reward....my heart's sweet solace is that I have done my duty."

Vanunu has written, "I did what I did from a deep internal conviction and I would do it all again....[I] stood up to the entire Israeli establishment to say what I believed. I acted out of concern for this society even though Israel likes to portray me as public enemy number one."

Kuerti and Bogyo's performance will feature the music of Beethoven, including the Sonata in A Major for Cello and Piano.

More information and tickets, call Stephen Dankowich at (905)849-5501 or Ian Cameron, (416)484-6738.