By Dan Williams
Ashkelon, Israel - "Die, atomic spy!"
"They should have put you up a chimney like the Jews at Auschwitz!"
Hundreds of Israelis went ballistic on Wednesday as Mordechai Vanunu emerged from prison voicing no regrets for exposing the Jewish state's nuclear secrets.
The heckling mounted against cheers by Vanunu fans who had flocked in from all over the world, reaching a crescendo as the 49-year-old former technician flashed them a V-for-victory sign.
And though the hubbub in Ashkelon died down after Vanunu was whisked away in a car, supporters fear it could foreshadow a very real threat to him as a free man on Israel's streets.
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"To judge by the mood here and the country in general, I'd say his life is at risk," said Issam Mahoul, an Israeli Arab lawmaker who last year survived a bomb attack suspected to be plotted by an ultra-nationalist Jew now in police custody.
"If vigilantes get to Vanunu, the government will be to blame," said Mahoul, among the supporters at the prison gate.
Vanunu is barred indefinitely from leaving Israel out of concern he intends to spill more secrets about his past work at the Dimona atomic reactor after a 1986 British newspaper interview that exposed the country as a nuclear power.
'They should have put you up a chimney like the Jews at Auschwitz!'
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He says he has nothing to add, but will go on campaigning against Israel's policy of "nuclear ambiguity".
Wary of sparking an arms race, Israel has never acknowledged its nuclear capability.
"My message to all the world is open the Dimona reactor for inspections," he told reporters at Shikma Prison.
Such sentiments stoke resentment in Israel, where polls show most citizens see the country's assumed nuclear arsenal as a vital means of warding off numerically superior regional foes.
"If he just wanted to go off and live quietly, that would be one thing," said an anti-Vanunu protester draped in an Israeli flag, who gave his name as Victor.
"But he declares his enmity openly. There is a death sentence for traitors, isn't there?"
Vanunu's restrictions include monitoring by the Israeli domestic intelligence service. By definition covert, Shin Bet agents are not responsible for the security of those they watch.
"Vanunu is entitled to police protection, of course. But I strongly recommend he, or his fans, hire private bodyguards if they feel his life is at risk," said a senior security source.
Israeli media said Vanunu, who wants to emigrate, will spend his probation living at an exclusive and highly secured apartment block in Jaffa port, which has a large Arab community.
According to a former Mossad chief, Israel considered killing Vanunu as a reprisal for his interview but instead had the spy agency abduct him for trial in a honey trap operation.
"Jews don't kill other Jews," Shabtai Shavit said.
Born in Morocco to a religious Jewish family, Vanunu converted to Christianity, and has questioned Israel's right to exist. "There is no need for a Jewish state. There should be a Palestinian state," he said in one jailhouse interview.
According to the senior security source, rule of law should not be Israel's only concern in making sure Vanunu is unharmed.
"If an enemy of the state gets hurt inside the state, then it is pretty clear where the blame ends up. Another Vanunu scandal is the last thing we need," the source said.
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