JPost: Health Minister German outlaws fluoridation of all tap water

Here is another in our series of posts regarding mandatory medical treatment.

An article by Judy Siegel-Itzkovich reports that the Israeli Health Minister, Yael German, has directed that Israel's water cupply should no longer be fluoridated.

But she added that instead of forcing all Israelis to consume fluoridated water to benefit children’s teeth, the delivery system should be changed so each parent can decide and take action individually if they wanted their child to get dental protection...

Prof. Arnon Afek, German’s director-general whom she recently handpicked and who is an expert in pathology and medical administration (but not dentistry or public health), told The Jerusalem Post Sunday that he personally supported the health minister’s decision to prohibit fluoridation. “Mandatory fluoridation is medical treatment. Individuals have the right to decide if they want it or not. The question is not if fluoride is beneficial but how it should be delivered. We cannot force people. It is legitimate that experts in the field oppose the health minister’s decision, but we have a policy,” said the director-general. “The ministry supported it for over 40 years, but this is a new era. The world has changed, and we can educate parents.”

Pelephone Rules Out Cyberattack- Class Action Filed

In what must be one of the fastest class-action filings ever, on Monday a law firm in Israel filed a NIS 450 million class-action against cellular phone company Pelephone for a four hour service outage that ended at 11 PM Sunday night. The JPost reported that the suit was filed on behalf of one Tom Lifshitz requesting "NIS 100 in damages and NIS 50 in emotional damages, citing the fact that mobile communications are an integral part of daily life and their absence left him unable to make personal or work-related calls, leaving him feeling 'helpless.'"

My wife was trying to call some people who use Pelephone yesterday and noticed that she could not get through. It was frustrating for her and it must have been even more frustrating for Israelis who have Pelephone as a provider, but a class action suit. Really? Emotional distress because your phone didn't work for four hours? Do you think this is the United States? If a car hit a power line and knocked out power to a whole city would that be grounds for a class action? I doubt it. I understand that people rely on their cellphones, sometimes to the exclusion of landlines but it doesn't seem like this is something that you can really sue for. You have to expect that even in our advanced technological age their will be some episodes of downtime every once in a while due to unforeseen circumstances. Besides, Pelephone is offering to compensate people with free minutes or data. That should probably be sufficient, instead of NIS 150 for each affected customer.

Oh, and totally coincidentally, I think we are switching to Pelephone tomorrow because we got a good deal for international calls and an American phone number on our cell phones and home phone. The recent outage gave me some pause, but not enough.

Man Attacks Estranged Wife in Hospital- New Law Should Prevent Re-occurrence

Apparently, violence in health care facilities is a problem in Israel worthy of its own law.

The JPost reported today that a man attacked his estranged wife and hospital staff in the maternity ward. In May they reported on 3 brothers of a woman who was placed in a emergency shelter for domestic violence victims who went to the social worker’s home with clubs and iron bars and beat up her husband and other family members. According to a report at the Health Policy Monitor:

A comprehensive study conducted in 2003/4 on violence in emergency rooms in Israel (Landau et al. 2004) revealed that 75% of the medical staff reported a violent incident in the past year. Most reports related to verbal violence, but 29% reported threats and 16% physical violence...

This problem receives growing media attention; it was debated in the parliamentary committee for work welfare and health in 2007. During 2008, several academic conferences were dedicated to the issue and discussed measures to address it.

Biometric Database Plan to Undergo Further Review

An article in the JPost reports that the Interior Ministry agreed to review its plan for a pilot biometric database to investigate some of the security concerns it has raised.


According to the article, Israel is the second democratic country (Spain being the first) to create a biometric database of its citizens. However, India, is also in the middle of collecting biometric data including iris scans, facial images, and fingerprints from its 1.2 billion citizens, although there are concerns about privacy there as well. (See the articles from the Economist, and NY Times.)  Morpho, a company involved in the Indian data collection process is also providing Israel's airports with security equipment and its explosive detection system is being used by the Prime Minister's Office. In France, the constitutional court ruled earlier this year that a law proposing a centralized national database containing biometric data was unconstitutional.


Relatedly, the Israeli Law, Information and Technology Authority (Israel’s data protection authority, “ILITA”), has issued a draft directive, regarding its stance on the Protection of Privacy Law, limiting the collection of people's teudat zehut or national identity numbers unless. Teudat zehut numbers should only be collected after the database owner whether such collection is necessary and for how long the data is required. Part of that examination entails considering whether there is a less intrusive means for identifying the data subjects. That means that when you register to join a store's customer list, they should not ask for your national ID number, instead they should provide registrants with a unique customer ID number. 

For some scholarly papers on the vulnerabilities of biometric database systems and their solutions see here, here, here and here. There is also a book published by the American Bar Association entitled The Practitioner's Guide to Biometrics, but it is basically a collection of papers on some of the problems with biometrics. I don't think it's worth the price.


One fear of biometric fingerprints is that a user can be forced to place his finger on the scanner or his finger can even be detached from his hand by malfeasants and used to gain access to sensitive information. According to one article, a German company has come up with a way to defeat the second scenario by imaging the change in skin color that occurs when a live finger is pressed against the scanner. But then there is always the problem illustrated by this (poor quality) clip from the movie National Treasure.

JPOST: Police recommend charging ex-head of Israeli Bar

I just saw this article from the JPost. It's never good when the head of the Bar Association is being charged with corruption.

I remember reading an article discussing whether the high rate of corruption in Israel is indicative of a rotting legal/political system or a strong press corps and government willingness to end corruption. Could it be both?

Police recommend charging ex-head of Israeli Bar

By YAAKOV LAPPIN 15/11/2011

Attorney Guy-Ron, senior Meuhedet Health Fund officials are suspected of fraud, corruption.

Police said evidence exists to charge senior officials from the Meuhedet Health Fund with corruption following the completion of an extensive investigation, and recommended that the former head of the Israel Bar Association, attorney Yuri Guy-Ron, also be charged in connection with the affair.

Guy-Ron, who owns a marketing company together with his wife, is suspected of receiving hundreds of thousands of shekels from Meuhedet without providing a  service in return. 

"We found evidence that Mr. Guy-Ron committed offenses [while head of the IBA] relating to corruption, conspiracy to commit a crime, and aggravated fraud," police said in an official statement.

The funds were sent to Guy-Ron's company by Yehuda Aliash, former deputy marketing director of the Meuhedet Health Fund. "The two men are friends. The transfer of large funds was not reciprocated by any service," a police source close to the investigation told The Jerusalem Post.

Responding to the allegations, Guy-Ron told Channel 2 News, "I received the news with surprise and shock. I can't understands the police's recommendation. The decision will rest with the prosecution, and I am convinced that it will find that I did not commit any offense."

The National Fraud Unit launched its inquiry following a report by the State Comptroller on the Meuhedet Health Fund, which raised concern over major irregularities.

Aliash is suspected diverting tens of millions of shekels from the advertising budgets towards marketing companies that employed his associates and relatives.

He is also suspected of paying bribes, money laundering, and fraud. "A basis of evidence exists to back up these suspicions," a police spokesman said on Tuesday.

Another suspect in the investigation is former Fund director-general Uzi Salant, who police suspect of illegally attempting to recruit new members to the fund. 

Police told state prosecutors on Tuesday that he too should be charged.