An Israeli arrested and imprisoned in Libya last March while photographing Jewish sites was to return to Israel yesterday after being freed in a complicated deal engineered by Israel’s foreign minister, officials said.
Rafael Rafram Haddad, an Israeli-Tunisian dual national, was in Libya on behalf of an organization dedicated to documenting and preserving the history of Libya’s vanished Jewish community when he disappeared in March.
His whereabouts were unknown until Sunday, when Israeli officials announced that he had been freed by Libyan authorities after prolonged negotiations and flown to Vienna.
The strange details of the case, which was subject until Sunday to a gag order from Israel’s military censor because of fears that publication could endanger Hadad, involved international efforts and was linked to Israel’s treatment of a pro-Palestinian ship sponsored by Libya that tried to run the blockade of Gaza last month.
“The Foreign Ministry and the foreign minister worked for a long time to have him freed, along with other international bodies, and we thank all involved for their help,” the ministry’s spokesman, Andy David, said yesterday.
Official comments
David, who gave the first official Israeli comment on the affair, declined to provide further details. Libyan authorities have not commented.
Libya and Israel are enemies, and Israeli nationals are banned from visiting the north African country. Hadad was traveling on his Tunisian passport when he was arrested.
Israeli officials said the efforts to free Hadad involved Italy, which has close ties to Libya and is home to a Libyan Jewish exile community, as well as France, the US and Tunisia. The officials said the final deal was arranged by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and an Austrian-Jewish businessman Martin Schlaff.
Hadad was flown to Vienna on Schlaff’s private jet, the officials said, and was greeted at the airport by Lieberman.
As part of the deal, the officials said, Israel allowed 20 prefabricated houses from the Libyan-sponsored ship, which tried to reach Gaza in July, to be delivered after the ship was diverted to Egypt.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because the details had not officially been made public.
Whistleblower
Meanwhile, Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli whistleblower who spent 18 years in jail for exposing Israel’s nuclear capabilities, was released on Sunday after completing a further three-month sentence.
Vanunu, 56, a former technician at a secret nuclear plant near the desert town of Dimona, was convicted after handing over details of Israel’s nuclear arsenal to a British newspaper in 1986.
The revelations led to the belief that Israel held a sizable nuclear arsenal — a claim Israel has neither confirmed nor denied under its policy of “ambiguity.”
Vanunu served much of his 18-year sentence in solitary confinement.
His latest three-month sentence came after the Moroccan-born whistleblower was convicted of holding unauthorized meetings with foreigners — banned under the conditions of his release — including journalists and his Norwegian girlfriend in 2007.
Since his release in 2004 Vanunu’s movements have been subject to strict conditions, including a ban on leaving Israel, but it is not the first time that Vanunu has been arrested and imprisoned for breaking them. Despite the length of time Vanunu has spent in prison, Israeli security agencies say he still holds information that could threaten national security.
After his release, Vanunu said: “All this harassing me and arresting me again and again is Israel’s problem, not my problem.”
Vanunu was originally sentenced to six months for breaking conditions again, although this was reduced on appeal. He refused the option of community service, voicing fears that he could be attacked.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was