Sovereignty, suzerainty, statehood and peoplehood In palestine - Wallace Brand

by Wallace Brand

"It is right that Palestine should become a Jewish state, if the Jews, being given the full opportunity, make it such. It was the cradle and home of their vital race, which has made large spiritual contributions to mankind, and is the only land in which they can hope to find a home of their own;"

David, King of the united Kingdom of Israel and Judea following the civil war with Saul, created a strong and unified Israelite monarchy, reigning from c. 1000–961 BCE. Solomon, David's successor, maintained the unified monarchy, c. 961-922.

David  established Jerusalem as its national capital in 1006 BCE.

Following Solomon's death in c. 926 BCE, tensions between the northern part of Israel containing the ten northern tribes, and the southern section dominated by Jerusalem and the southern tribes reached a boiling point. Solomon's successor  dealt tactlessly with economic complaints of the northern tribes.  In about 930 BCE (there are difference of opinion as to the actual year) the united Kingdom of Israel and Judah split into two kingdoms: the northern Kingdom of Israel, which included the cities of Shechem and Samaria, and the southern Kingdom of Judah, which contained Jerusalem; with most of the non-Israelite provinces achieving independence.  The Kingdom of Israel (or Northern Kingdom, or Samaria) existed as an independent state until 722 BCE when it was conquered by the Assyrian Empire, while the Kingdom of Judah (or Southern Kingdom) existed as an independent state until 586 BCE when it was conquered by the Babylonian Empire. (From Wikipedia - Biblical version)

In that initial period the Jewish People had absolute political self-determination except for the rule of YHWH duly noted in the Decalogue.  Later, under the rule of Herod, Rome was Judea’s suzerain.  Others occupying the role of suzerain over the Jewish People’s state included the Greeks, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Assyrians.

Suzerainty is a situation in which a region or people controls the foreign policy and international relations of a tributary vassal state while allowing the subservient nation internal autonomy.  The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a suzerain. The term suzerainty was originally used to refer to the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and its surrounding regions. It differs from sovereignty in that the tributary enjoys only some self-rule, often limited.

A vassal state would have been the status of Palestine if it had internal autonomy, but it did not.  Prior to 1964, none of the Arabs in the Palestine territory had ever claimed statehood, even the status of a vassal state.  At the beginning of the 17th century the Ottoman Empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states.   The territory of Palestine was simply land in one of these provinces.

So Palestine was not even a vassal state.  If there was any self-rule it was limited to tribal rule.  The Arabs in Palestine were not a unique “people” but an indistinguishable part of the Arab People.  They did not claim a capital in Palestine.  In comparison, The Jewish People had a sovereign state with a capital located within it for at least 400 years and governed as a vassal state for many more with its capital in Jerusalem.

This was the history faced by “The Inquiry”, a group of academics, assembled in 1917 by Col. House to help Woodrow Wilson in the Paris Peace Talks.   The same was found 50 years later by Count Folke Bernadotte, investigating for the UN Special Committee on Palestine in 1947 who wrote in his diary “The Arabs in Palestine have no interest in nationalism and never had.”    In the Hussein–McMahon correspondence, King Hussein Ibn Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, claimed he had been offered the entire Levant if he fought on the side of the British in WWI.  He had proposed a Pan Arab uprising to help the Allies in return for independence from the Ottomans.  Whether or not the British proposal included Palestine later became in dispute. According to Winston Churchill while Arabs in the Arabian Peninsula helped the British, the Arabs in Palestine and Syria did not.  Many Arabs fought for the Ottomans, including the infamous Haj Amin al-Husseini who later became a friend of Adolph Hitler and had suggested in November, 1941 that genocide for the Jews would be better alternative than deporting them to Palestine.   King Hussein had predicted a general uprising of Arabs throughout the Levant but never recruited more than about 5,000 regulars.

The so-called “Palestinians” were never a unique “people”.  Palestine was never a state, not even a vassal state.

That they were not a unique people was admitted by Zahir Muhsein, a member of the Executive Board of the PLO in 1977 who said 

“There is no such thing as the Palestinian People”.  He referred to the term “Palestinian People” as a political ploy.  You can find this in his interview by the Dutch newspaper Trouw in 1977. 

According to Professor Efraim Karsh, “As far back as 1978, Arafat told his close friend and collaborator, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, that the Palestinians lacked the traditions, unity, and discipline to have a successful state.”  Dr. Karsh also concluded:  “…it was the total lack of communal solidarity — the willingness to subordinate personal interest to the collective good — that accounted for the collapse and dispersion of Palestinian Arab society as its leaders tried to subvert partition.”

The Inquiry academics accompanied Wilson to Paris in 1919. For Palestine, they recommended that the dispersed Jewish People settle there and later, rule in Palestine.  Initial rule was to be carried out by a trustee.

American Proposal for Jewish Homeland, January 21, 1919

An excerpt from the Tentative Report and Recommendations of the Intelligence Section of the American Delegation to the Peace Conference, in accordance with instructions, for the President and the Plenipotentiaries, January 21, 1919*

[--]

It is recommended:

1) That there be established a separate state of Palestine.

2) That this state be placed under Great Britain as a mandatory of the League of Nations.

3) That the Jews be invited to return to Palestine and settle there being assured by the Conference of all proper assistance in so doing that may be consistent with the protection of the personal (especially the religious) and the property rights of the non-Jewish population, and being further assured that it will be the policy of the League of Nations to recognise Palestine as a Jewish state as soon as it is a Jewish state in fact.

4) That the holy places and religious rights of all creeds in Palestine be placed under the protection of the League of Nations and its mandatory.

Discussion.

1) It is recommended that there be established a separate state of Palestine.

The separation of the Palestinian area from Syria finds justification in the religious experience of mankind. The Jewish and Christian churches were born in Palestine, and Jerusalem was for long years, at different periods, the capital of each. And while the relation of the Mohammedans to Palestine is not so intimate, from the beginning they have regarded Jerusalem as a holy place. Only by establishing Palestine as a separate state can justice be done to these great facts.

As drawn upon the map, the new state would control its own source of water power and irrigation, on Mount Hermon in the east to the Jordan; a feature of great importance since the success of the new state would depend upon the possibilities of agricultural development.

2) It is recommended that this state be placed under Great Britain as a mandatory of the League of Nations.

Palestine would obviously need wise and firm guidance. Its population is without political experience, is racially composite, and could easily become distracted by fanaticism and bitter religious differences.

The success of Great Britain in dealing with similar situations, her relation to Egypt, and her administrative achievements since General Allenby freed Palestine from the Turk, all indicate her as the logical mandatory.

3) It is recommended that the Jews be invited to return to Palestine and settle there, being assured by the Conference of all proper assistance in so doing that may be consistent with the protection of the personal (especially the religious) and the property rights of the non-Jewish population, and being further assured that it will be the policy of the League of Nations to recognise Palestine as a Jewish state as soon as it is a Jewish state in fact.

It is right that Palestine should become a Jewish state, if the Jews, being given the full opportunity, make it such. It was the cradle and home of their vital race, which has made large spiritual contributions to mankind, and is the only land in which they can hope to find a home of their own; they being in this last respect unique among significant peoples.

At present, however, the Jews form barely a sixth of the total population of 700,000 in Palestine, and whether they are to form a majority, or even a plurality, of the population in the future state remains uncertain. Palestine, in short, is far from being a Jewish country now.  England, as mandatory, can be relied on to give the Jews the privileged position they should have without sacrificing the rights of non-Jews.

4) It is recommended that the holy places and religious rights of all creeds in Palestine be placed under the protection of the League of Nations and its mandatory.

The basis for this recommendation is self-evident.

--------------------------------------------------------

1. David Hunter Miller, My Diary at the Conference of

Paris, Vol. iv, pp. 263-264. Full text.

Scroll down to DOCUMENT 246 263 ♦26.

PALESTINE. *78

2. J.C. Hurewitz (ed.), The Middle East and North

Africa in World Politics: A Documentary Record, Vol.

2, British-French Supremacy, 1914-1945 (New

Haven: Yale University Press, 1979), p. 103.

3. www.eretzyisroel.org/~samuel/americandraft.html

It is clear from the San Remo Resolution, and the Palestine Mandate that the Allied Principal War Powers followed this view at San Remo.  SSRN.com/abstract=2679399

Wallace Edward Brand, JD Harvard 1957

Source:

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Israel's schizophrenia isn't working - David Friedman

by David Friedman

What do Israeli Arab citizens offer Israel in return for all the benefits they receive?

As a growing number of Arab Israelis – citizens of the State of Israel -- have brutally taken up arms against their fellow citizens who happen to be Jewish, with the full support of Arab elected officials holding positions as high as Member of the Knesset, those of us with a less nuanced view of democracy than the Israeli Government are having a hard time understanding the political landscape. In a democracy, the costs of citizenship are almost always outweighed by the benefits. That’s why democracies exist and flourish. But there are still some costs, the overriding one being loyalty to the state. Except in Israel.

The benefits of citizenship to Israeli Arabs are enormous. Apart from the right to vote in a free and uncoerced election, something found nowhere else in the Middle East, Israeli Arabs get the kinds of “free stuff” that even Obama can’t deliver to his constituents. Not only do Israeli Arabs receive free health care at the hands of first rate doctors (who scrupulously treat all patients the same regardless of religious or political belief), but they can, and in large numbers do, attend world class universities for next to nothing in tuition. And, of course, this educational opportunity is afforded to all Arab men and women – try finding that in another Arab nation.

Israel demands nothing of its Arab citizens in exchange for these services. Nothing.  The most serious obligation of citizenship – the obligation to serve in the defense of one’s country – is waived for Arab citizens. But Israel demands even less. It does not even require that Arab citizens, at a minimum, observe some level of loyalty to the State of Israel and renounce violent opposition. It does not prohibit Arab students from being taught the false narrative of their alleged victimization, perpetuating their hatred of Jews. It does not prohibit Arab citizens from observing the “Nakba” – their day of “tragedy” when the State of Israel declared its independence. It does not prohibit Arab citizens from holding celebratory rallies after events like September 11. And, while all this is happening, Arab members of the Knesset voice their encouragement of this seditious behavior.

You may ask, “isn’t all of this, no matter how offensive, permitted in a free and open 
society”?

The answer is no. In the United States, the greatest democracy in history, every new citizen and every elected official is required to confess their “faith and allegiance” to the government and to “support and defend” the Constitution “against all enemies foreign and domestic.” Moreover, notwithstanding the First Amendment and its sacrosanct protection of free speech, it is a federal crime, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, for anyone to simply advocate the overthrow of the government by force or violence. Remember, this is in America, which borders the docile nations of Canada and Mexico and is separated from the world’s hotspots, on either side, by three thousand miles of ocean.  

Israel’s enemies are on its doorstep and it is threatened from all directions and from within. Its policy of schizophrenia – of criticizing disloyal Arab citizens while simultaneously bestowing upon them the benefits of citizenship, simply isn’t working. As in every other democracy, including the United States, there is a modest burden of citizenship that accompanies the benefits. It is the burden of every citizen – and even more so elected officials -- to support the state and to refrain from the advocacy of seditious and violent behavior. It is a very small price to pay and it is high time that it be paid.     

David Friedman, President, American Friends of Beit El


Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/17849#.Vj901r-zddt

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Germany: Migration Crisis Becomes Public Health Crisis - Soeren Kern

by Soeren Kern

• German hospitals are increasing security to protect doctors and nurses from violent attacks by migrants who are unhappy with the medical treatment they are receiving.
• Critics are warning that German taxpayers will end up paying billions of euros to provide healthcare for a never-ending wave of asylum seekers. This is in addition to the billions of euros already being spent to provide newcomers with food, clothing and shelter.
• In addition to the massive economic and social costs, as well as the burden of increased crime, including a rape epidemic, Germans are now facing the risk of being exposed to exotic diseases — and tuberculosis.
• Roughly 5% of asylum seekers are carrying resistant germs. In real numbers, this works out to around 75,000 newcomers with highly infectious diseases. — Dr. Jan-Thorsten Gräsner, director of the Institute for Rescue and Emergency Medicine.
• Twenty types of vaccines are now in short supply, and 16 others are no longer available at all. Because of production bottlenecks, some vaccines will not become available until 2017.
• Muslim women refuse to be treated by male doctors, and many Muslim men refuse to be treated by females. — Max Kaplan, director of the Bavarian Medical Board.
• German media outlets are downplaying the extent of the healthcare problem, apparently to avoid spreading fear or provoking anti-immigrant sentiments.

The influx of more than one million asylum seekers from Africa, Asia and the Middle East is placing unprecedented strain on Germany's healthcare system.

Hospitals, clinics and emergency rooms across Germany are being filled to capacity with migrants suffering maladies of all kinds, and medical personnel, including thousands of volunteers, are increasingly complaining of burnout.

Diseases are also reappearing that have not been seen in Germany for years. German public health officials are now on the lookout for Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever, diphtheria, Ebola, hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, malaria, measles, meningitis, mumps, polio, scabies, tetanus, tuberculosis, typhus and whooping cough. As refugee shelters fill to overflowing, doctors are also on high alert for mass outbreaks of influenza and Norovirus.

Compounding the challenge, tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Germany — particularly migrant children — have not been immunized, and German doctors are finding that needed vaccines are not readily available due to a lack of supply. Some German parents are panicking that there are not enough vaccines to immunize their own children.

Many migrants are also suffering from a host of traumas and mental illnesses. According to the Chamber of German Psychotherapists (Bundespsychotherapeutenkammer), at least half of all migrants arriving in Germany have psychological problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and roughly 40% have contemplated suicide.

German hospitals are also being forced to hire a virtual army of interpreters so that doctors can communicate with asylum seekers, who speak dozens of languages, dialects and variants.

At the same time, German hospitals are increasing security to protect doctors and nurses from violent attacks by migrants who are unhappy with the medical treatment they are receiving.

Critics are warning that German taxpayers will end up paying billions of euros to provide healthcare for a never-ending wave of asylum seekers. This is in addition to the billions of euros already being spent to provide newcomers with food, clothing and shelter.

Many say the German government failed fully to consider the unforeseen consequences of opening the door to so many migrants. In addition to the massive economic and social costs, as well as the burden of increased crime, including a rape epidemic, Germans are now facing the risk of being exposed to exotic diseases.

German media outlets are downplaying the extent of the healthcare problem, apparently to avoid spreading fear or provoking anti-immigrant sentiments. But a growing number of German healthcare professionals are sounding the alarm.

In an interview with Die Welt, Dr. Michael Melter, the chief physician at the University Hospital Regensburg, said that migrants are arriving at his hospital with illnesses that are hardly ever seen in Germany anymore. "Some of the ailments I have not seen for 20 or 25 years," he said, "and many of my younger colleagues have actually never seen them."

Marc Schreiner, director of international relations for the German Hospital Federation (Deutschen Krankenhausgesellschaft), has echoed Melter's concerns:

"In the clinics, it is becoming increasingly common to see patients with diseases that were considered to have been eradicated in Germany, such as scabies. These diseases must be reliably diagnosed, which is a challenge."

Schreiner said that in cases of highly contagious diseases, including tuberculosis, patients must be quarantined, an expensive procedure, the costs of which are paid for by German taxpayers.

According to Schreiner, about 15% of the newly arriving migrants require immediate medical treatment. With 1.5 million asylum seekers expected to arrive in Germany in 2015, this means that 225,000 migrants will have an urgent need for medical attention.

Siegfried Hasenbein, director of the Bavarian Hospital Association (Bayerische Krankenhausgesellschaft), estimates that in 2015, between 25,000 and 30,000 migrants will be treated in Bavarian hospitals alone. In addition, this year between 75,000 and 90,000 migrants will receive ambulatory or outpatient care.

According to Hasenbein, these numbers appear insignificant when compared to the three million hospital visits that normally occur in Bavaria every year. The problem arises in that the migration crisis is straining the Bavarian healthcare system unevenly, with hospitals in migrant "hotspots" such as Deggendorf, Ingolstadt and Passau bearing the brunt of medical care.

Markus Beier, director of the Bavarian Association of Family Physicians (Bayerischer Hausärzteverband), says that doctors in areas with large concentrations of asylum seekers are being called upon all hours of the night and day, making it impossible for them to provide anyone with superior levels of care.

Max Kaplan, director of the Bavarian Medical Board (Bayerische Landesärztekammer), says that the challenges associated with medical treatment for migrants are exacerbated by language and cultural barriers, which are "tiresome, time consuming and sometimes impossible to overcome." Adding insult to injury, he says, many Muslim women refuse to be treated by male doctors, and many Muslim men refuse to be treated by females.

In an effort to prevent diseases from spreading, Kaplan has called on German public health officials to order medical exams for all asylum seekers at the initial point of entry into Germany, before they are sent to different parts of the country. "This is in the best interest of the refugees, and also of the native population," he said.

In a November 2 interview with Spiegel TV, Dr. Ralf Mütterlein, director of the Pulmonary Clinic (Klinik für Lungen- und Bronchialheilkunde) in Parsberg, estimated that between 8,000 and 10,000 asylum seekers in Germany have tuberculosis, but only a small fraction these are currently in quarantine.

Migrants who are taken to Mütterlein's clinic are held in quarantine for up to 18 months at a time to prevent the disease from spreading to the population at large. The costs to German taxpayers are astronomical: Between 10,000 and 12,000 euros per migrant per month. Over 18 months, the total cost often exceeds 200,000 euros per migrant.

A migrant from Africa is shown in a Spiegel TV news segment from this month, being treated in a special unit for the involuntary quarantine of tuberculosis patients, at Parsberg District Hospital #1, in Bavaria.

Meanwhile, a report by Die Welt describes efforts by German health officials to contain the spread of so-called resistant germs:

"Physicians are currently on high alert, because with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees, infectious diseases could enter the country. This is not hysteria. It is simply a challenge our healthcare system has not faced for many decades.
"There is a danger that a refugee is 'colonized' — as doctors call it — with dangerous germs. Every person carries bacterial germs in and on the skin. For healthy people they are harmless. They become a problem when they spread among critically ill and immunocompromised patients in a clinic.
"The problem: In the refugees' countries of origin, resistant germs may spread more often than in Germany. So a refugee is immediately tested upon admission to a German clinic. Only when it is certain that there is no danger, it the patient moved to a shared room."

Dr. Jan-Thorsten Gräsner, director of the Institute for Rescue and Emergency Medicine (Institut für Rettungs- und Notfallmedizin), estimates that roughly 5% of asylum seekers are carrying resistant germs. In real numbers, this works out to around 75,000 newcomers with highly infectious diseases.

The Berlin-based Robert Koch Institute, a key governmental agency for the safeguarding of public health in Germany, has advised healthcare professionals, as well as those who are working as volunteers in refugee shelters, to update their immunizations.

But the Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines (Paul-Ehrlich-Institut), an agency of the Federal Ministry of Health, has warned that 20 types of vaccines are now in short supply, and 16 others are no longer available at all. Because of production bottlenecks, some vaccines will not become available until 2017.

Stefan Derix, director of the Chamber of Pharmacists North Rhine (Apothekerkammer Nordrhein), said the shortage of vaccines is due to the massive influx of asylum seekers. He said the Ministry of Health normally orders vaccine supplies one year in advance, and that no one in the government had anticipated that Germany would be taking in so many migrants this year.

Dr. Wolfram Hartmann, president of the Cologne-based Professional Association of Pediatricians (Berufsverband der Kinder- und Jugendärzte), has warned that many of the vaccines needed to immunize both native German children and migrant children for diphtheria, polio, tetanus and whooping cough are not available, neither in Germany nor in any other European country. He also said that basic vaccines against measles, mumps, rubella and varicella are in short supply.

In a statement, Hartmann wrote:

"We cannot provide native German children and refugees alike with the basic vaccines. The vaccine shortage, which is the responsibility of the pharmaceutical companies, must urgently be made a top priority of the Health Minister! Children have a right to vaccinations, especially for chronically ill children who need timely vaccinations against flu, especially if they are housed in communal accommodations.
"The federal government must now act urgently and enforce the right of children to vaccination. The vaccine supply is just as much of a national responsibility as is the supply of physicians."

Kordula Schulz-Asche, a politician with the Greens Party, warned against holding migrants responsible for the vaccine shortage. "The current tense vaccine situation must not be misused to stir up public opinion against refugees," she said.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, hospitals are requiring their personnel to attend courses on how to treat patients with exotic illnesses hardly ever seen in Germany. Hospital workers in Bielefeld and Siegburg are said to be groaning under the strain of having to examine up to 80 migrants a day for tuberculosis. "The workload has increased tremendously," a worker told Westdeutscher Rundfunk, a public broadcaster. Other hospitals in the state lack sufficient personnel and equipment, including the x-ray machines needed to examine patients with tuberculosis.

In Lower Saxony, public health officials, fearful of a mass outbreak of influenza, are struggling with the logistics of vaccinating tens of thousands of asylum seekers housed in refugee shelters across the state. With more than 1,000 new migrants arriving in Lower Saxony every day, initial medical exams of newcomers are backlogged by weeks, a period during which undetected diseases can spread.

In Berlin, police were forced to apologize for recommending that asylum seekers suffering from scabies, a highly contagious skin disease, be required to wear armbands to distinguish them from migrants who are healthy. The plan was for them to wear armbands with the capital letter 'K' for Krätze (German for scabies); their immediate family were to have worn armbands with the capital letter 'A' for Angehörigen (German for next of kin).

Meanwhile, reports of health-related scares, especially those involving tuberculosis, have become a daily occurrence in Germany.

In Krefeld, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, a 27-year-old migrant was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He was being held in quarantine at a local pulmonary clinic. In Lünen, also in North Rhine-Westphalia, four migrants were diagnosed with tuberculosis.

In Nattheim, a town in Baden-Württemberg, asylum seekers at a refugee shelter underwent mass immunization after a child at the shelter fell ill with chickenpox. 

In Ellwangen, also in Baden-Württemberg, an asylum seeker diagnosed with tuberculosis escaped from a hospital. He remains at large.

In Gransee, a town in the eastern state of Brandenburg, a migrant was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

In Würzburg, more than 400 asylum seekers were mass immunized for chicken pox, diphtheria, measles, mumps, polio and tetanus. In Heidenheim, a town in Baden-Württemberg, public health officials are preparing for potential outbreaks of influenza and Norovirus at local refugee shelters this winter.

In Cologne, police cordoned off a refugee shelter housing more than 1,000 migrants in the Chorweiler district after a male refugee from Africa showed symptoms of Ebola. The man, who was coughing up blood for more than three days before anyone called a doctor, was rushed to a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with a gastrointestinal illness. Earlier, the same refugee shelter was the scene of an E. coli scare potentially affecting 800 migrants.

In Bochum, a 16-year-old migrant from Guinea showing symptoms of Ebola was placed in quarantine. In Saxony, public health officials are now testing all incoming asylum seekers for Ebola.

In Düsseldorf, a 30-year-old migrant from Algeria was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was being held in quarantine at a local hospital. Municipal health officials say that in 2014, there were 50 confirmed cases of tuberculosis in the city. In 2015, that number was surpassed in August, before migrants began arriving en masse in September and October.

In Tegernsee, a town in Bavaria, a 23-year-old migrant from Eritrea who was diagnosed with tuberculosis escaped from a refugee shelter. Local officials failed to inform the public about the incident for nearly one month, until they were confronted by a local newspaper, the Münchner Merkur. Wolfgang Rzehak, a local politician with the Greens Party, justified the media blackout: "We have to find a middle road between informing the public and not becoming a panic machine."

In Frankfurt, a 33-year-old migrant from Bulgaria who was diagnosed with tuberculosis escaped from a hospital and remains at large. Again, local officials kept quiet about the incident, until someone leaked information about it to the German newspaper, Bild.

In Berlin, a schoolteacher in the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district was diagnosed with tuberculosis; doctors say he was probably infected by one of his students. Also in Berlin, security guards at a refugee shelter in the Lichterfelde-Süd district locked nearly a dozen migrants in a bathroom after they were suspected of having tuberculosis. They were later transferred to a local hospital.

In Hamburg, public health officials quarantined a refugee shelter in the Jenfeld district after an outbreak of scabies. Also in Hamburg, a 17-year-old migrant from Sierra Leone was rushed to a local hospital and quarantined on suspicion that he had Ebola — just three days after arriving in Germany. Separately, at a refugee shelter in the Bahrenfeld district of Hamburg, firefighters wearing head-to-toe Ebola protection suits escorted migrants suspected of having Ebola to a local hospital.

In Bremen, after an asylum seeker was diagnosed with tuberculosis and doctors warned of the risk of contagion, all 200 migrants housed at refugee shelter on Steinsetzer Straße underwent chest x-rays to test for the disease.

In Munich, health officials are expecting more than 350 new cases of tuberculosis in 2015. The increase is being attributed to the large number of asylum seekers arriving in the city.

In Stuttgart, an average of 145 asylum seekers housed at the city's convention center seek medical attention every day. Common maladies include measles, chickenpox, flu infections, dysentery and scabies caused by mites.

In Rheingau-Taunus, a district in the state of Hesse, public health officials say they need more money and medical personnel to deal with the influx of migrants at 60 local refugee shelters. The health department expects to treat more than 1,500 newcomers this year, including a large number of children who lack proper immunization. The department has reported 60 cases of scabies and tuberculosis. According to Monika Merkert, a local health inspector: "The newly arriving asylum seekers bring diseases that occur only rarely in Germany."
 

 

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter. His first book, Global Fire, will be out in early 2016.

• Follow Soeren Kern on Twitter and Facebook

Source: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6838/germany-migration-health-crisis

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Obama may defy Congress again; close Gitmo via executive action - Rick Moran

by Rick Moran

Did you expect anything else?

President Obama is seriously considering defying Congress and closing the terrorist prison camp in Guantanamo, Cuba. He is casting about for a legal justification to bypass the legislature and close the facility via executive action.

By law, the president cannot use any funds appropriated by congress to close the facility or move the prisoners to the mainland. But when has the law ever stopped this president from doing what he wants?

The Hill:

The administration is expected to hand over a plan to Congress for shuttering the Cuban prison, in an attempt to fulfill a long-standing campaign pledge before Obama leaves office.
But even as Obama seeks cooperation from Congress, White House press secretary Josh Earnest has refused to rule out unilateral action to close the prison camp.
Earnest on Friday said Obama "certainly wouldn’t take off the table the ability of the president to use whatever authority is available to him."
There are 112 detainees left at the prison, including dozens that are considered “too dangerous to release” that would need to be transferred to the U.S. mainland.
Congressional Republicans are sending strong signals that any plan to close Guantánamo Bay is dead on arrival.
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) suggested that the president is breaking the law by even having Defense Department officials study possible U.S. alternatives to the Cuban prison.
“Look, the law is very clear. The law states no money shall be made available, shall be used, can be designated for the assistance of the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees,” he said.
Gardner added that he sent Obama a letter asking, “what basis in law does he believe he has to violate the law,” and hadn’t received a response.
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) has called Obama “damn stubborn” about closing the prison camp.
“It just raises all this dust in opposition,” he added. “It’s a bad idea, really a bad idea. I hope those of us in the Congress will maintain our vigilance.”
Roberts has already placed a hold on Obama’s Army secretary nominee, Eric Fanning, over Guantánamo, and is threatening to “place holds on any nominee necessary” to keep the prison open.
The administration's refusal to rule out circumventing Congress also appears to have antagonized Arizona Sen. John McCain, perhaps the biggest GOP advocate for finding a way to close the prison.
McCain said that the president “lies when he says that he really wants to close Guantanamo with the cooperation of Congress, because he’s never sent over a plan.”
McCain, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, added that if the White House goes it alone, lawmakers would attempt to reverse the decision including using “funding mechanisms.”

The principle involved has nothing to do with whether the terrorists would be adequately locked up in a supermax prison on the mainland, or the reputation of the US, or even a recognition of the opinions of foriegn governments. This is as clear a separation of powers issue that you will find in American history. Congress has denied the executive branch funding to close the prison camp. If the president finds other means to fund the transfer of prisoners to the US mainland - and there's probably a slush fund or two in the government that would be available - it would make congress irrelevant.

What should be most worrisome is that future presidents are going to have a plethora of precedents to use executive authority on a wide variety of issues. Any time they suffer a defeat in Congress on one of their pet issues, they can simply use their executive authority to ram it through the government anyway. Is this how dictatorships come about? It certainly appears that this is the direction we're headed.


Rick Moran

Source: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/11/obama_may_defy_congress_again_close_gitmo_via_executive_action.html

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Egypt's Annual Exercise and the Libyan Border - Dr. Shaul Shay

by Dr. Shaul Shay

The Egyptian Armed Forces carried out a major exercise, "Raad 24", in the Western Zone. Although it is a part of a series of exercises that are carried out periodically, Dr. Shaul Shay believes there is no doubt "Raad 24" was influenced by developments related to the western border with Libya

Egyptians cross from Libya to Egypt through the Salloum land port gate, background,Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011 (Photo: AP)

The Egyptian Armed Forces carried out a major exercise in the Western Zone at the end of October 2015. Attended by senior military commanders, most notably Sedky Sobhy, Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief and Defense Minister, the "Raad 24"(Thunder) exercise was carried out by the Western Zone military units in the framework of the annual plan to improve the Armed Forces’ combat training.

The Egyptian Army is administratively divided into 4 commands/zones (Western, Northern, Central, Southern command), in addition to two armies (2nd, 3rd army). The annual military exercise included simulated attacks on enemy's defenses with the help of formations of the Air Force that carried out cover-up and reconnaissance missions. The artillery forces were also deployed in the exercises to destroy enemy back-up troops, confuse, and destroy the enemy's command centers. Armored vehicles and mechanized infantry units also took part in the drills to break through and destroy the enemy's defenses under the cover of armed choppers and anti-tank projectiles.

In a speech, Wahid Ezzat Khafagi, commander of the Western Zone, said that the troops in this zone are “filled with the resolve and determination to sustain the highest levels of combat efficacy and preparedness and to dedicate themselves fully to all the tasks to which they are assigned in order to safeguard Egypt’s western borders and to protect the capacities of the Egyptian people.”

In the exercise there have been two main phases:

• Phase one – the special forces exercised the penetration of enemy forward-defense lines with the support of different air force units for reconnaissance, air cover and combat support for assault forces, and with artillery support to destroy reserves, confuse the enemy, and take out enemy control and command centers.
• Phase two – the mechanized infantry units developed assaults, broke through enemy defenses and engaged enemy forces. They were backed by artillery and anti-tank missile units and helicopters that intercepted enemy attacks and prevented the enemy from recovering defense positions at various points along the line.

The exercise was an occasion for all participating troops and branches of the military to display their field and combat skills. They demonstrated efficacy and precision in managing combat activities and rapidly executing coordinated combat and artillery tasks at specified times and places.

The various logistics, technical and medical-support teams also demonstrated their efficiency in rapid-performance medical relief and evacuation exercises, opening medical treatment points, bringing in water supplies and fuel and performing other logistical tasks.

The Challenge of the Libyan Border

The Egyptian-Libyan border is over 1,200 kilometers long. It is almost entirely open desert and virtually impossible to secure, especially given Egypt’s stretched military resources.         The border with Libya is one of Egypt’s major security concerns, particularly after the fall of Gaddafi's regime, the civil war and the growing power and influence of ISIS in Libya.

Should ISIS in Libya decide to attack targets within Egypt, their access would be difficult to block. Smuggling of weapons and munitions from Libya would be similarly hard to interdict. Unlike in the Sinai, there is no barrier like the heavily defended Suez Canal separating Egypt proper from a contested region.

On July 19, 2014, an Egyptian security post in Farafra in the heart of the Western Desert was ambushed, leaving 22 soldiers dead. The Farafra attack represented a bleak turning point for Egypt’s fragile security environment. Following the Farafra attack, the army announced that it would transfer a brigade from the Southern Military Zone to the attacked area, and there were also reports of a wide-ranging military operation to locate and capture the perpetrators.

Weapons and jihadist operatives have been smuggled into Egypt and then to the Sinai after infiltrating through gaps in the western border. According to Egyptian military sources, the military has moved to intensify efforts to close such gaps, deciding to install advanced border observation systems imported from the US.

The Egyptian Response

Egypt is responding to the challenges and threats from the Libyan territory by a combination of operational and technological measures and defensive and offensive tactics.

Improving Surveillance along the Border

Announcing approval of Egypt's request in June 2015, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said the US will procure and construct one commercial "Border Security Mobile Surveillance Sensor Security System," including mobile surveillance sensor towers, mobile command-and-control systems, and a regional command-and-control system to monitor Egypt's western border with Libya. The system will also include voice/data communications equipment, spare parts, support equipment, personnel training, training equipment, publications and technical documentation.

"This mobile surveillance sensor security system will provide Egypt with advanced capabilities intended to bolster its border surveillance capabilities along its border with Libya and elsewhere. This procurement is intended for Egyptian Border Guard Forces, which currently lack any remote detection capability along unpatrolled areas of Egypt’s borders," the DSCA said in its announcement.

The sale also requires periodic trips to Egypt by US government officials and contractors, for program and technical review meetings, testing and training for up to five years.

Air Strikes

On February 2015, Egyptian air force has conducted airstrikes against ISIS positions in Libya. The air strikes were triggered by a video released by ISIS in Libya a day earlier, depicting the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt. Within hours, the Egyptian Air Force responded with airstrikes against ISIS training camps and weapons stockpiles, in retaliation for the killings. Warplanes acting under orders from the Libyan government also struck targets in Derna, reportedly in coordination with Egypt.

The air strikes had allegedly killed up to 64 ISIS militants, including three of the leadership, in the coastal cities of Derna and Sirte.

Ground Forces

Egypt's army sometimes operates in Libya when pursuing illegal smugglers, Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed al-Dairi has revealed. In an interview published by London-based publication Al-Hayat, Dairi said, "Egyptian forces have no presence on Libyan soil, except for when they cross the border to pursue smugglers, something which happens in collaboration with Libya."

Egypt's Rapid Deployment Force (RDF)

On August 27, 2014, the Egyptian military held a large-scale military exercise in the Western Zone. This show of force, dubbed "Goliath 7", included elements of the mechanized infantry, armored units and artillery, air and air-defense forces, and Egypt's new rapid deployment force (RDF).

While the timing and size of "Goliath 7" is noteworthy, perhaps more consequential is the participation of the RDF.  El Sisi created it as one of his last moves as defense minister. Various Egyptian officials, including El Sisi himself, have hinted that Egypt has a right to secure its border with Libya and reduce the flow of terrorism across its borders through military means, the RDF is perfectly suited to lead a more concerted military effort in nearby Libya, should Egypt step up its involvement.

The border covers some 1,000 kilometres and has represented a serious threat to Egyptian security in recent years, with smugglers exploiting it to get weapons and militants in and out of Egypt. During his visit to New York, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi discussed the challenge that the influx of weapons and fighters from Libya presents to Egyptian national security.

Although this was the 24th round in the series of the "Raad" exercises that are carried out periodically, there was no doubt that this one was influenced by developments related to the western border with Libya. Exercise Raad 24 was a significant step to upgrade the readiness of the Egyptian armed forces in the Western front – including for the option of military intervention in Libya.

Dr. Shaul Shay

Source: http://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/content/egypts-annual-exercise-and-libyan-border

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IAI Unveils Radar System for Very Long Ranges - IsraelDefense

by IsraelDefense

"Terra" is a dual-band radar system, for optimization of early-warning, detection and accurate tracking of very long range targets such as ballistic missiles, satellites and air-breathing targets

Israel Aerospace Industries unveils "Terra" – a dual-band radar system, for optimization of early-warning, detection and accurate tracking of very long range targets such as ballistic missiles, satellites and air-breathing targets.

The TERRA, developed and produced by ELTA Systems Ltd., IAI's Subsidiary and Group, is comprised of the ULTRA UHF band radar (ELM-2090U), unveiled earlier this year, and the new ELM-2090S SPECTRA S-band very-long-range search and track radar. TERRA's enhanced performance is achieved through automatic handover and redundancy between the ULTRA and SPECTRA radars, combined with improved target load sharing, Electronic Counter-Counter Measures (ECCM) and severe-weather resilience.

The new SPECTRA Active Electronic Scanned Array (AESA) radar which can also perform as a standalone system, is a transportable ground-based or shipborne radar system designed to autonomously detect and simultaneously track multiple tactical ballistic missiles. The SPECTRA provides high-accuracy target tracking, and real-time launch point and impact point estimations. The high-power GaN AESA technology implemented in the radar includes thousands of transmit/receive modules that provide high efficiency, reliability and graceful degradation.

"Ballistic and cruise missiles present a significant global threat to nations worldwide, explained Mr. Nissim Hadas, IAI Executive VP & ELTA President. "The TERRA system provides outstanding performance for its users for very long range early warning, detection and highly accurate tracking. It is designed to confront the full range of modern threats, as the new SPECTRA radar is based on the most advanced modern technology, and provides unique capabilities and excellent operational results, placing it among the best radars worldwide".

IsraelDefense

Source: http://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/content/iai-unveils-radar-system-very-long-ranges

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

EU capitulating to worst elements of jihad - Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff

by Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff

At meeting with members of German Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid speaks out against the labeling of settlement products • Lapid calls labels a "continuation of boycott movement," which is "anti-Semitic and misguided."

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid | Photo credit: Dudi Vaaknin

During a meeting with members of the German Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee in Berlin on Saturday, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid spoke out against the impending European Union move to label products from settlements in the West Bank that are sold in European supermarkets.

Lapid called labeling settlement products a "wrong way to promote the diplomatic process," saying such a move would "only set the process back."

"The decision to label products is a boycott in every sense of the word," Lapid said.

In an interview with the Berlin-based DW television news network, Lapid said, "The EU is hiding behind legal jargon and trying to paint a picture that this is a legal matter. This is incorrect. It's a political issue. [The EU is] capitulating to the worst elements of jihad. The labeling of settlement products is a direct continuation of the boycott movement against Israel, which is anti-Semitic and misguided."

Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=29519

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Turkey's Stockholm Syndrome - Burak Bekdil

by Burak Bekdil

• AKP supporters celebrated their victory on November 1 with chants of "Allahu Akbar" ["Allah is the greatest"], an Islamist slogan, indicating that for them the political race in Turkey is in fact a "religious war."
• The Turkish "Sultan wannabe" runs an empire of fear. The November 1 vote will only help make him even more despotic.
• A recent study found that only a quarter of Turks were NOT afraid of Erdogan. According to the research, even some of his own supporters are afraid of him.
• "The rapidly diminishing choice of media outlets and restrictions on freedom of expression in general impacted the process and remain serious concerns." -- Ignacio Sanchez Amor, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
• The AKP's setback in last June's elections was because some nationalists disapproved of the AKP's peace process with the Kurdish minority. In July, the government scrapped the peace process and ordered the military relentlessly to bomb the strongholds of militant Kurds in northern Iraq.

Once again, after a brief pause, political Islam has won in Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), earned nearly one out of every two votes in the renewed parliamentary elections on November 1. The AKP won more than 4.8 million new votes since the June 7 elections, in which it had lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since it came to power in 2002. The November 1 election gave the AKP a mandate to rule until 2019; by then Turkey's Islamists will have been in power uninterruptedly for 17 years. There are happy smiles on the faces of half the Turks.

The AKP's unexpected landslide victory can be explained in numbers. The party won by 9 percentage points more on Nov. 1 than on June 7, just five months before. How did this happen?

1. The nationalist party, MHP, shares more or less the same voter base with the AKP. Votes often go from one to the other. In the June election, some AKP votes shifted to the MHP, which won 16.3% of the national vote. This was because some nationalists disapproved of the AKP's peace process with the country's restive Kurdish minority. After a new spiral of violence started in July, the government scrapped the peace process and ordered the military relentlessly to bomb the strongholds of militant Kurds in northern Iraq. With the AKP boasting its newfound nationalist spirit, the MHP lost 4.1 percentage points on Nov. 1, all of which apparently went to the AKP.
   
2. The summer-long violence between the autonomy-seeking Kurdish fighters and the Turkish military, which has killed hundreds, apparently wore down Kurds with more loyalist sentiments to Turkey, and caused a shift of votes at the magnitude of 1.4 percentage points from a pro-Kurdish party to the AKP.
   
3. Two splinter Islamist and nationalist parties that won 2% of the vote on June 1 disappeared from the political scene, winning just a combined 0.5% on November 1. From them the AKP earned another 1.5 percentage points.
   
4. In the face of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's lavish, expensive palace, new private jets, extravagant spending of public funds; his assertive intervention in party politics (he must remain non-partisan, according to the Turkish constitution), and growing allegations of corruption and nepotism, some traditionally AKP voters abstained from voting on June 7. Typically, half of those who abstained in June were AKP voters. Apparently, they returned to the ballot box in November, earning the AKP another good 2 percentage points (the turnout rate was nearly 4 percentage points higher in November than in June).
   

All of this makes exactly 9 percentage points: the difference between what the Islamists got in June and November. That is worrying for everyone in the civilized (and shrinking) parts of Turkey -- and the world. AKP fans celebrated their victory on November 1 with chants of "Allahu Akbar" ["Allah is the greatest"], an Islamist slogan, indicating that for them the political race in Turkey is in fact a "religious war." The only non-Turkish flags at the celebrations were the Palestinian and Ottoman. It is worrying that the party that won half of the national vote celebrates with religious slogans and Palestinian and Ottoman flags.

True, even if there is not yet credible evidence of vote-rigging, the election campaign was totally unfair to the opposition. Erdogan and the AKP massively used a powerful pro-government media machine, including the state broadcaster and a semi-official news agency.

"While Turkish citizens could choose between genuine and strong political alternatives in this highly polarized election, the rapidly diminishing choice of media outlets and restrictions on freedom of expression in general impacted the process and remain serious concerns," said Ignacio Sanchez Amor, the special coordinator and leader of the short-term observer mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

The head of the delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Andreas Gross, said: "Unfortunately, the campaign for these elections was characterized by unfairness and, to a serious degree, fear."

In fact, one could easily understand how democratic and fair the Turkish election campaign was from the words of Khaled Mashaal, head of Hamas's political bureau. He called both Erdogan and his prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, to convey the Palestinian group's congratulations on Turkey's "democratic electoral environment."

Turkish President (then Prime Minister) Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, meeting with Hamas leaders Khaled Mashaal (center) and Ismail Haniyeh on June 18, 2013, in Ankara, Turkey. Mashaal, last week called Erdogan to convey Hamas's congratulations on Turkey's "democratic electoral environment." (Image source: Turkey Prime Minister's Press Office)

In a way, this is Turkey's Stockholm Syndrome. A recent study found that only a quarter of Turks were NOT afraid of President Erdogan. As many as 68.5% said they were afraid of the president. It is interesting to note that according to the findings of this research, even some of his own supporters are afraid of him: If Erdogan's supporters make up 50% of Turkey and those who say they are afraid of him stand at 68.5%, this means a good 18.5% of his own supporters are also afraid of him.

The Turkish "Sultan wannabe" runs an empire of fear. The November 1 vote will only help make him even more despotic.

Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Source: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6823/turkey-stockholm-syndrome

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Planes diverted from LA airport due to secret military exercises - Rick Moran

by Rick Moran
  

Are exercises connected to test launch of missile? 

Authorities at Los Angeles International Airport announced a change in flight paths for planes on approach due to military exercises being conducted. Planes usually approach the airport from the Pacific Ocean. But the military has closed that airspace so aircraft must make their approach over populated areas like Inglewood.
ABC 7:

"We clearly understand that neighbors and communities east of the airport will experience noise and we apologize for that," said Nancy Castles, LAX public relations director.

The military is not saying what exactly is causing the change, and LAX claims it's also in the dark. Castles said all they know is planes can't be flying at low altitudes to our west.

Six years ago, ABC7 cameras captured a military operation in downtown LA. Helicopters were seen swooping between high-rises, close enough that residents were able to see armed soldiers in camouflage outside their window.

Authorities claimed it was part of a training exercise designed to ensure the military's ability to operate in urban environments and to prepare forces for upcoming overseas deployment.

What's going on this week is a mystery.

"And plus if it's a military thing it's a good thing, that means they're making it safer for us so I wouldn't let it bother me," said Steve Devosion of Inglewood. "I'd be more interested in them not doing something about what's going on than them doing something about what's going on."

Perhaps the exercises that forced the diversion of aircraft were part of a test launch of a Trident Missile from a US submarine:

A missile test flight from a submarine left hundreds of people from Southern California to Nevada and Arizona perplexed as it caused a bright light to streak across the sky Saturday night.

The Pentagon issued a statement that the Navy Strategic Systems Programs conducted a scheduled test of a Trident II (D5) missile from USS Kentucky, an Ohio class submarine.

The missile was not armed, according to the statement, and tests are conducted on a frequent, recurring basis to ensure reliability of the system.

Residents from Ventura to as far as Nevada and Arizona took photos and videos of the strange phenomenon around 6 p.m.

It is unclear if the flight diversions of Los Angeles International Airport planes over the Pacific has to do with the missile tests.

In the Chicago area, we occasionally have closed airspace over O'Hare airport. There is an air reserve station located on airport property and a few times a year, planes are diverted from the primary flight path to another. But I know that residents of suburbs that used to experience regular house rattling passes by commercial air liners aren't pleased when that happens as I'm sure most residents of Inglewood could tell you.

Rick Moran

Source: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/11/planes_diverted_from_la_airport_due_to_secret_military_exercises.html

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Zionist group: State's demolition policy is biased against Jews - Yori Yalon

by Yori Yalon

Head of policy at Regavim Meir Deutsch: There is no precedent for the state razing a religious structure, except in the Jewish sector • Activists barricaded in Ayelet Hashachar Synagogue in Givat Ze'ev promise "steadfast" fight against demolition forces.

Activists dance outside the Givat Ze'ev synagogue slated for demolition | Photo credit: Miri Tzahi

A ruling by the High Court of Justice that the Ayelet Hashachar Synagogue in Givat Ze'ev must be demolished by next Tuesday is a clear case of "selective enforcement," says Meir Deutsch, who heads the policy department of Regavim, a group that advocates for Zionist land policy.

"There is no precedent for the State of Israel razing a religious structure, except in the Jewish sector. ... There are hundreds of mosques that were built illegally, some on land privately owned by Jews. Not only does the State of Israel not enforce the law when it comes to them, this past year some 50 mosques and other religious buildings that were constructed illegally have been deemed legitimate," Deutsch said. 

Deutsch argued that "in the Arab sector there are hundreds or even thousands of structures against which judicial demolition orders have been issued in recent years, but for years not one of those buildings has been razed, because the police aren't ready to assist the enforcement entities. An entire sector can't enjoy immunity when the law isn't enforced equally." 

Over the Sabbath, dozens of worshippers remained in the Ayelet Hashachar synagogue. On Saturday evening they were joined by other civilians, who were preparing to face off with the demolition forces when they arrive. 

Yehuda Puah, spokesman for the group of activists who are battling to prevent the demolition, said, "We're sleeping in the synagogue, and there are barricades around it, as well as tires, to prevent access and hold up the demolition and evacuation forces. We will fight steadfastly. We don't mean to give up. Until the High Court reveals who owns the land [on which the synagogue is built], the use of the term 'private land' is ridiculous."

Yori Yalon

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=29517

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.