DEAR PEOPLE,

I WAS VERY SAD TO HEAR Sam Day, coordinator of the U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu HAD DIED.

I MET SAM DAY BRIEFLY SOME YEARS AGO (AROUND 1996 OR '97), WHEN HE WAS VISITING/ WORKING IN AUSTRALIA FOR THE LIBERATION OF MORDECHAI VANUNU.

A SYDNEY-BASED JEWISH GROUP HAD RENTED A ROOM IN THE "HAKOAH" CLUB, A JEWISH CLUB IN BONDI (EASTERN SYDNEY, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS A MAJOR SURFING ETC. BEACH). THE PURPOSE OF THE MEETING HAD BEEN WELL ANNOUNCED: TO DISCUSS THE VANUNU CASE. SAM WAS TO BE THE MAIN SPEAKER.

THE BOOKING HAD BEEN CONFIRMED, AN AUS $ 100 DEPOSIT ACCEPTED.

WHEN WE ALL, INCLUDING SAM DAY, SHOWED UP FOR THE MEETING, WE WERE MET IN THE LOBBY BY A HIGHLY EMBARASSED CLUB MANAGEMENT, BACKED BY SOME TOUGH LOOKING SECURITY GUARDS, WHO TOLD US THEY HAD CANCELLED THE MEETING.

WE ALL WERE TOLD THAT THE HAKOAH CLUB, FOR REASONS THEY COULD NOT STATE, HAD DECIDED THERE WOULD BE NO "VANUNU" MEETING.

SAM LED US OUTSIDE, WHERE THE MEETING, QUITE SUCCESSFULLY, WAS HELD ON THE SIDEWALKS OF SYDNEY, BEFORE MOVING INTO A NEIGHBOURING RESTAURANT.

I APPRECIATED HIM!