Mordechai Vanunu was released from Ashkelon prison to open air captivity in east Jerusalem on April 21, 2004, after 18 years, mostly all in solitary confinement.
In 1986, Vanunu had been clubbed, drugged, bound and kidnapped from Rome by the Mossad because he told the truth and provided the photographic proof of Israel’s clandestine seven-story underground WMD facility in the Negev.
After returning Vanunu to Israel, the whistleblower was treated as a traitor and locked away, while few protests were heard from the United States despite the significance of his evidence regarding Israel’s undeclared arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Vanunu, who had been a technician in Israel’s Dimona nuclear facility, denied that he was a "traitor" to Israel.
Religion of any stripe can be used to promote kindness, charity, and interfaith respect...or the most horrendous types of hatred, bigotry, and slaughter.
Let us hope the "adults in the room" in positions of leadership in Islamic and Coptic Christian communities work to nurture that respect.
And even if the timing of this announcement is this is just a PR stunt on the part of the Egyptian government,remember: the work on this started almost a decade ago.
There are people in the Muslim world, like Dr. Hawass and his archeological team, who understand that Egypt has been host to a number of other religious traditions, including Judaism, and Christianity.