Obama and Holder make many mistakes in terror trial discussion

By Shoshana Bryen

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Was there ever an administration that cared so much how it sounded to itself, but so little how it sounded to the American people? The President’s tin ear was on full display as he tried to reassure the public about the soundness of the decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a New York civilian courtroom-after he tried to pass it off as Attorney General Holder’s idea, to which he, the President, was unable to object.
 
MSNBC reported that in an interview with NBC News, President Obama said those offended by the legal privileges given to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian trial rather than a military tribunal won’t find it “offensive at all when he’s convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him.”
 
Americans are offended by the civilian trial NOT because we are concerned that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will not be convicted-although the President surely tripped over his allegedly silver tongue by convicting and sentencing him before the jury did-but rather are offended because an act of war is properly tried in a military court. Congress took seriously the mandate to construct a military tribunal that comports with American law and even Mr. Holder plans to try others there. Americans are offended because the administration is offering Constitutional protections to someone who a) is not an American; b) is a terrorist-not entitled even to the more limited protections of the Geneva Convention; and c) spit on our country in word and deed. Americans are offended because the court will be required to look for a “jury of his peers”-and we don’t think we qualify.
 
Attorney General Holder was, if possible, worse. Testifying before Congress, Mr. Holder was asked what would happen if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the others are acquitted. He replied, “Failure is not an option. These are cases that have to be won. I don’t expect that we will have a contrary result.”
 
Announcing the verdict before the trial is in the best tradition of Star Chambers, Soviet show trials, kangaroo courts and banana republics. And if the government should somehow be faced with a verdict it doesn’t like, well…  Mr. Holder told Congress that even if there is an acquittal, “that doesn’t mean that person would be released into our country.” Oh, really? What do you propose to do with someone the court sets free?
 
He continued, “We need not cower in the face of this enemy. Our institutions are strong, our infrastructure is sturdy, our resolve is firm, and our people are ready….I’m not scared of what Khalid Sheik Mohammed has to say at trial-and no one else needs to be either.” 
 
Thank you for the pep talk, Mr. Holder. But Americans are not scared of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or what he will say-he’s done the worst he can do, we are still here and here we will remain. But if your posturing is intended to prove that the current administration is more moral than any other, then the cavalier attitude you and the President are taking toward an independent judiciary and the rule of law makes it hard not to worry about you. 
 
This is a very bad decision for precedent and security reasons, but we believe America’s institutions are strong enough to withstand a trial where the verdict is not given to the judge by the government-even if you and the President don’t.

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Bryen is special projects director for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. (JINSA). Her column is sponsored by Waxie Sanitary Supply in memory of Morris Wax, longtime JINSA supporter and national board member.

ACLU, Americans United demand public school graduation ceremonies be moved from Cathedral

ENFIELD, Connecticut (Press Release) – The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Connecticut and Americans United for Separation of Church and State on Wednesday demanded that school officials in Enfield stop holding high school graduation ceremonies at a Christian church and instead hold them at any of a number of secular locations available in the area.

In a letter sent  to the attorney for the Enfield Public Schools, the ACLU and Americans United say that graduating students, their families and other guests are unconstitutionally and “coercively subjected to religious messages as the price of attending high school commencement,” and that “students and family members of minority religions, as well as those who do not subscribe to any religion at all, are immersed in a religious environment of a faith not their own.”

The ACLU and Americans United plan to sue the district if it refuses to change the location of its graduations.

“In our constitutional system, public schools should not be in the business of embracing particular faiths or religious viewpoints,” said Daniel Mach, Director of Litigation at the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. “The graduation ceremony is a significant event in the lives of students and their families, and no one should feel like a second-class participant during this important celebration.”

Despite significant opposition from both students and parents, the graduation ceremonies for both Enfield High School and Enrico Fermi High School have been held for several years at The First Cathedral in Bloomfield, CT, a 120,000 square foot facility that is steeped in Christian symbols and iconography. Approximately 75 percent of Enfield High School’s 2008 graduating class and 90 percent of the school’s 2009 graduating class voted against graduating at The First Cathedral, and a significant percentage of students at Enrico Fermi have also opposed the venue.

“America is incredibly diverse when it comes to religion,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United Executive Director. “Our public schools should respect that diversity when making decisions about where to hold important events such as graduation. Students and their families should never be made to feel unwelcome at a school event on account of religion.”

The ceremonies have been held at The First Cathedral despite the existence of at least a dozen secular alternatives in the surrounding area, including some that are both less expensive and closer to Enfield.

“Students and their families should not have to choose between attending graduation and being subjected to proselytizing religious messages,” said Alex Luchenitser, Senior Litigation Counsel for Americans United. “Yet that is exactly the choice that the Enfield Schools impose on students and their families.”

The facade of The First Cathedral features five large Christian crosses, and another large cross towers over the cathedral’s roof. There is a fountain in the shape of a cross surrounded by a frame in the shape of a tomb in the church’s lobby, and upon entering the sanctuary where the graduations take place, students and parents pass underneath large banners on which biblical scriptures are written. During the graduation ceremony, students are seated underneath a giant cross in a window at the front of the sanctuary and, to the left of the cross, hangs a banner that reads, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” There are also a number of large-screen televisions throughout the sanctuary that display the message, “This is God’s House Where Jesus Christ Is Lord,” while students and guests wait for the ceremony to begin.

“The shared American value of religious liberty is best served when the government stays out of religion,” said David McGuire, staff attorney with the ACLU of Connecticut. “Regardless of intent, when Enfield Public Schools host graduation at The First Cathedral they devalue the faith of students and families in the religious minority.”

Four other area public schools — East Hartford High School, South Windsor High School, Windsor High School and the Metropolitan Learning Center Magnet School — also have been using The First Cathedral for their graduations. The ACLU and Americans United recently sent Freedom of Information Act requests to those schools, as well as to the Enfield Schools, about their choice of a venue for graduation, and plan to follow up with those schools separately.

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Preceding provided by American Civil Liberties Union

 

Protect woman’s right to abortion in health bill —Saperstein

WASHINGTON, D.C.(Press Release)– Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, recently sent a letter to the full Senate in support of comprehensive health insurance reform legislation that protects women’s reproductive health. The full text of Rabbi Saperstein’s letter follows:

Dear Senator:

On behalf of the Union for Reform Judaism, whose more than 900 congregations across North America encompass 1.5 million Reform Jews, we urge you to support health insurance reform legislation that ensures high-quality, affordable care for all and removes the dangerous, anti-choice provisions included in House bill in the form of the Stupak-Pitts amendment.  (Amended (in part) to H.R. 3962, Division A, Title II, Subtitle F, Sections 258 & 259 and inserted, new, Section 265).

Health insurance reform has been a priority issue for the Reform Jewish Movement for decades.  Just last week at the Union for Reform Judaism’s Biennial conference in Toronto, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously in support of the House health bill, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Our nation is now closer than ever to addressing the challenges presented by our broken health system. Rising costs have left a growing number of people without adequate care, including the nearly 90 million Americans who went without health insurance at some point last year. Today, an estimated 23 million families spend more than 10% of their annual income to obtain health insurance; because of high premiums and co-pays, many under-insured Americans are forced to choose between feeding their families and paying for necessary health care. Moreover, the costs of health care threaten the financial well-being of millions of individuals and families, as well as the long-term financial stability of our nation.

The solution to the challenges of the uninsured and spiraling costs is to provide universal, comprehensive coverage.  To be truly comprehensive, health insurance reform must prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, a practice that encumbers countless Americans with undue financial and health burdens. Reform must include long-term community services, support for people with disabilities and the elderly, and end Medicaid’s institutional bias by incorporating the Community First Choice Option. Health care must also be affordable: subsidies to assist low-income families in purchasing quality care must accompany limits on premiums and out-of-pocket health costs. A strong public insurance option through which the government will compete alongside private insurers would do much to hold down costs and also set standards for quality of care.

Quality care means access to care for both men and women.  The Reform Movement’s commitment to women’s reproductive health is related to our longstanding commitment to universal health care.  The anti-choice provision of the House bill (H.R. 3962) (introduced by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Joe Pitts (R-PA)), if included in the final bill, would effectively deny coverage for abortion services to women covered by the new federal health care plan. This provision would leave millions of American women with less adequate coverage than before reform. Women receiving federal funds to subsidize their health care expenses would lose their right to use those funds to access needed care.  Instead of advancing health care, the House bill as passed with this anti-choice amendment, rolls it back in violation of the spirit of the rights enshrined in Roe vs. Wade.  The Senate must pass health insurance reform that meets the needs of all Americans and repudiate dangerous anti-choice amendments that restrict access to reproductive health care services.

Jewish tradition is emphatic on the subject of health care: communities are responsible for providing health care for their vulnerable members. When individuals in our society fall ill, our responsibility expands to ensure that medical resources are available at an affordable cost to those who need them. Tradition also teaches that women are commanded to care for the health and well-being of their bodies above all else; health insurance reform should not inhibit women’s ability to fulfill that mandate.  These teachings inspire our belief in the importance of health insurance reform that expands coverage.  As Americans, we also believe deeply in the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, none of which are fully realized when 90 million Americans suffer the burden of being uninsured.

We look forward to working with you to pass meaningful, comprehensive health reform this year.”

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Preceding provided by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

 

Oldest synagogue building in Wales to become condos

MERTHYR TYDFIL, Wales (WJC)–The oldest synagogue of Wales, in the United Kingdom, is to be converted into apartments provided planning permission is granted, the ‘Jewish Chronicle’ reports.

The synagogue in Merthyr Tydfil, a town with 30,000 inhabitants, was built in the 1870s. It is currently empty and has been a target for vandals. The neo-Gothic building has been used as a Christian community center and a gym since the synagogue closed in 1983. It is thought to be the only synagogue with a Welsh dragon as part of its architecture.

Now, Warwickshire company Choice Circle plans to turn the building into eight apartments, leaving the outside of the building intact as a historic landmark. One of the conditions of planning permission is that the synagogue’s Magen David-stained glass windows are maintained.

The Jewish population in Wales is currently just over 2,000, having almost halved since the beginning of the 20th century. Only a dozen Jews live in Merthyr Tydfil. The Hebrew Congregation in Swansea closed earlier this year after having less than 20 active members.

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Sanctions against Iran may come ‘within weeks’ —Obama

SEOUL, South Korea (WJC)–United States President Barack Obama has warned Iran of the consequences of its rejection of the proposed package on uranium enrichment. Obama said a new measures against Iran could be agreed within “within weeks”.

Obama said at a press conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul: “Iran has taken weeks now and has not shown its willingness to say yes to this proposal… As a consequence, we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences.” He added that Iran would not be given an unlimited amount of time, likening the Iranian nuclear issue to the years of stop-and-start negotiations with North Korea about its nuclear ambitions. “We weren’t going to duplicate what has happened with North Korea, in which talks just continue forever without any actual resolution to the issue.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mottaki rejected talk of further sanctions, saying the West had learnt from “failed experiences” of the past. “Iran raises its readiness in order to have further talks within the framework which is presented,” he said. “It is not our proposal to have a swap. They [the Western nations] raised such a proposal and we described and talked about how it could be operational.”

Mottaki rejected the deal on the table, brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency, under which Iran would send 70 percent of its nuclear material to Russia for re-processing. He suggested Iran would agree to exchange all its uranium at once for an equivalent amount of enriched nuclear fuel, but only on its own territory.  As this proposal is fundamentally different to the IAEA package, it equals a rejection by Tehran of the offer.

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Germany accuses Adolf Storms of killing 58 Jewish laborers

DUISBURG, Germany (WJC)–A 90-year-old former SS member has been charged by German prosecutors with the killing of 58 Jewish forced laborers in the final days of World War II. Adolf Storms is accused of murdering the workers in Deutsch-Schützen, a village in eastern Austria, at the end of World War II. The victims’ remains were found in a mass grave in 1995. They were forced to kneel by a mass grave and then shot. Storms is also accused of shooting dead another laborer who collapsed during the march.

The German state court was told that on 29 March 1945, the accused and some accomplices brought at least 58 Jewish slave laborers to a forest “where they had to give up their valuables and kneel by a grave”. “The accused and other SS members then cruelly shot the Jewish forced laborers from behind,” a spokesman for the prosecution said.

Prosecutors began investigating the case last year when they were alerted by a 28-year-old Austrian university student who had been researching the massacre. Prosecutor Andreas Brendel told the news agency AP that three former members of the Hitler Youth had provided testimony in Austria. A fourth former Hitler Youth member, now living in Canada, is being interviewed this week, Brendel said.

A court in Duisburg, where Storms lives, now has to decide whether the trial of the man is to go ahead. The defendant has two weeks to present evidence him, or to appeal against the case proceeding.

The indictment of Storms comes two weeks before the start of the trial of former US citizen Ivan Demjanjuk, 89, a suspected Nazi death-camp guard accused of helping to murder 27,900 Jews in the Nazi death camp Sobibor.

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Canadian appeals court stays SS man’s deportation

OTTAWA (WJC)–The Federal Court of Appeal has ordered the Canadian Government to revisit its decision to strip a suspected Nazi war criminal, the Ukrainian-born Helmut Oberlander, of his Canadian citizenship. In a 2-1 decision, the court told the Cabinet in Ottawa to reconsider the issue of whether Oberlander was a willing member of an SS mobile killing squad.

The 85-year-old retired real-estate developer from Ontario is alleged to have been a member of a Nazi death squad that executed thousands of civilians – mostly Jews – in German-occupied Ukraine during World War II. Oberlander has claimed that he was conscripted and that the penalty for desertion was execution. He has been fighting attempts to strip his citizenship and deport him since 1995. Oberlander says he never participated in any killings.

Wartime documents reveal that Oberlander was an ethnic German from the vicinity of Zaporizhia in Ukraine. He served in the Nazi Security Police and SD (the Security Service of the SS) from 1941 until at least 1944. His unit, Special Detachment 10a of Einsatzgruppe D, was composed of 100 to 120 men and responsible for annihilating all persons in its areas of operation who were considered “undesirable” by the Nazi regime, particularly Jews, Sinti and Roma. After immigrating to Canada with his wife Margaret in 1954 Oberlander became a Canadian citizen in 1960.

The president of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), Mark J. Freiman, criticized the ruling by the Federal Court of Appeal, saying: “It is frustrating that two judges of the Court of Appeal have seen fit to delay yet again a case involving a member of an Einsatzgruppe that goes back almost 15 years, this time on a hyper-technical point  of interpretation… The Court of Appeal has now decided to send this matter back to Cabinet for reconsideration based on its view that Cabinet was unreasonable in not assessing essentially this very same excuse under the rubric of ‘compulsion’, a concept that Mr. Oberlander himself did not see fit to raise in his own defense.”

Bernie Farber, chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said the ruling would bog down a process that had already taken far too long. “It is deplorable that they’ve come out with a decision that once again delays what should have happened more than 10 years ago,” he said.

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Multitalented Lucas Richman’s versatility reminiscent of Leonard Bernstein

By Eileen Wingard

SAN DIEGO– When my daughter Myla Wingard first encounted Lucas Richman at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, she excitedly informed me that this young man, with prodigious musical talents, was sure to become recognized as a second Leonard Bernstein. Like Bernstein, Richman was a gifted pianist, composer and conductor.

Although Lucas Richman is not yet a household name, Myla’s assessment may prove correct. 

Richman was in San Diego during the first week of November for premiere performances of Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, his orchestral setting of Children’s Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky’s book of whimsical poems. The half hour composition, with the celebrated poet narrating, proved to be a hit with the young audiences at the four youth concerts and the Sunday Family Festival Concert, all under the enthusiastic direction of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra’s Assistant Conductor, Philip Mann.
    
My ten-year-old granddaughter Adira commented, “I enjoy music with narration. It makes it much more interesting. I especially liked the way the music used sandpaper to sound like the Ballpoint Penquins writing, and I liked the bell that sounded for the Pop-Up Toadsters.” Richman’s clever orchestration mirrored Prelutsky’s imaginative texts and gave the young listeners a wonderful taste of the varied textures of orchestral sounds.

Richman has had his music performed by over two hundred orchestras in the last decade and his works written for children have been featured in young people’s concerts by orchestras such as the Atlanta Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, where he served for six years as assistant, then resident conductor, and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, where he has been Music Director since 2003.
    
He is especially proud of the Music & Wellness Program he has developed in Knoxville, bringing instrumental music into hospitals and convalescent homes. The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra has recorded “We Share a Bond,” his song for breast-cancer awareness.
    
Richman’s choral work, Arise Triumphant, O Blessed Muse!, was premiered in 2005 with the great soprano Frederica von Stade as soloist. His Concerto for Oboe was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony and premiered in 2006, and the Knoxville Symphony presented his Concerto for Percussion in March, 2009.     

Lucas Richman has appeared as guest conductor with numerous orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has also conducted many award-winning film scores in Hollywood.Richman’s compositions include works of Jewish inspiration such as a setting of Kol Nidre for voice, two violins, cello and harp.
    
Raised in the San Fernando Valley, Lucas Richman is one of five children of actor Peter Mark Richman, currently appearing at the Pico Playhouse in The Value of Names.
    
When my daughter Myla was working at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, Richman and she played in a klezmer band which once came down to San Diego for a rousing performance at the 54th Street Jewish Community Center.
    
For two summers, during which Richman was the Music Director and Conductor for the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra Summer Camp in Los Angeles, my niece, Avlana Eisenberg, was his assistant conductor. He was a wonderful mentor, allowing her ample opportunity to work with the young musicians and conduct a work at each culminating concert.
    
During his stay in San Diego, I had the pleasure of having lunch with the brilliant musician and his eleven-year-old son Max, and Myla’s family took Lucas, his wife Debbie and his son to Legoland. It was a joyful reunion.

Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, commissioned by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, will have additional performances throughout the community, including a January 29 performance at 10:00 a.m. at the Lawrence Family JCC sponsored by the Nierman Preschool.  For ticket information, call 858-362-1150.  
      
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Wingard is a freelance writer and former violinist with the San Diego Symphony.

Is President Obama the new George McGovern?

By Ira Sharkansky

JERUSALEM–Remember George McGovern? His clone is sitting in the Oval Office.

 

The 2008 campaign differed in several ways from 1972 that explain Obama’s victory. His speaking ability excels that of other politicians, including McGovern. Obama was running against a ticket with an intellectually handicapped vice presidential candidate, whereas McGovern was embarrassed by his first choice for a vice presidential candidate. The racial scene changed to something much closer to neutral, and in some places favorable to a Black candidate. Gone were the prominent issues of busing and crime in the streets.

 

Once in office, Obama has demonstrated why so many centrists voted for Richard Nixon. Like McGovern, he acts as if Christian values prevail in international relations. They are not prominent in domestic American politics (leaving aside what can be said about Christian values and abortion or same sex marriages), but they are further removed from international politics. National interest rank higher than doing what the American president wants.

 

The Middle East is one case in point. The President got no more than polite words from Palestinian and other Arab leaders when he asked for something he could offer the Israelis. In response to the President’s latest tirade about construction in settlements, Shimon Peres has responded that Gilo is Israel. When the senior statesman of the Israeli peace camp speaks that forcefully against President Obama, Americans should know that something is wrong in the White House. Obama has brought on himself the ridicule of the Israeli center, and expressions of dismay from the Israeli left. Without those populations on board, he has no hope of bringing Israel to support his ideas. And he should know that no one has ever brought the Palestinians to anything like an accommodation.

 

Hamid Karzai has been sworn in after an unsurprisingly flawed election in Afghanistan. He is pledging reconciliation and a fight against corruption. Only a George McGovern, or a clone, could expect Karzai and other Afghan elites to give up the drug money and war lord alliances that allow them to preserve their fortunes and their lives.

 

The Iranians are twisting the President in the wind. Why should they agree to export their partially enriched uranium when they are sure that Russians, Chinese, and Western Europeans will continue trading with them, and provide the Americans with nothing more than a few words of worry about the Iranian nuclear program?

 

Another test is coming for the President out of Ft Hood. The administration is doing all that it can to downplay the influence of Islam. Surely the United States should not do anything more to incite all those Muslims. The few million living in the United States are manageable (leaving aside 9-11 and Ft Hood), but greater problems can come from those in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, and other places important to the White House.

 

One does not have to accept the claims of those who see Islamic evil under every bed to accept the indications that Major Hasan was plugged into to extremists. Members of Congress are pressing for candor, but the White House is resisting. We can hope for reality based thinking in the White House, but we’ll have to see what happens. 

 

Health care and economic stability are the brightest hopes on the President’s horizon. Shouts about socialism, rationing, and death committees indicate that madness is not far from American culture and the public relations budgets of health insurance companies. Claims about costs are more reasonable objections to what the President’s program includes, or does not include on account of what physicians and others find unpleasant. Some time after a bill signing and applause, the costs may feed into the next economic crisis.

 

Life is uncomfortable at the summit of the world’s greatest power, and the ringing rhetoric of innocence will not make it better.

 

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Sharkansky is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University

Jordan-Israel border area shows environmental impacts of differing land use

HAIFA, Israel (Press Release)–Is a border line simply a virtual line appearing on the map? If so, why is it that Israeli rodents are more cautious than Jordanian rodents? Why is it that there are more ant lions in Israel than in Jordan? And how come there are more reptile species in Jordan than in Israel?

A series of new studies at the University of Haifa’s Department of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology and the University of Haifa-Oranim’s Faculty of Sciences and Science Education are exploring the answers.

“The boundary is indeed a virtual marking that appears on the map and is not capable of keeping these species from crossing the border between Israel and Jordan; but the line does stop humans from crossing it and thereby contains their different impact on nature,” says Dr. Uri Shanas, a participant in the research.

The series of studies, which have been carried out in cooperation with Jordanian researchers, has examined a variety of reptile, mammal, beetle, spider and ant lion species on either side of the border in the Arava region. The Israeli team includes Dr. Shanas and research students Idan Shapira and Shacham Mitler, who set out to reveal whether the border – unknown to the species – could affect differences between them and their numbers on either side of the frontier, even though they share identical climate conditions.

The first study inspected the reptile population and revealed that the number of reptiles is similar on both sides, but the variety of species in the sandy areas of Jordan is significantly higher than the variety found in the sands of Israel. A second study revealed that Israeli gerbils are more cautious than their Jordanian friends, while a third study showed that the funnel-digging ant lion population in Israel is unmistakably larger than in Jordan.

According to the researchers, the differences between Israel and Jordan are primarily in the higher level of agriculture and the higher number of agricultural farms in Israel as opposed to Jordan’s agriculture that is primarily based on nomadic shepherding and traditional farming. The agricultural fields on the Israeli side of the border not only create a gulf between habitats and thereby cause an increase in the number of species in the region, but they also hail one of the most problematic of intruders in the world: the red fox. On the Jordanian side, the red fox is far less common, so that Jordanian gerbils can allow themselves to be more carefree. The higher reproduction rate of ant lions on Israel’s side is also related to the presence of another animal: the Dorcas gazelle. This gazelle serves as an “environmental engineer” of a sort, as it breaks the earth’s dry surface and enables ant lions to dig their funnels. The Dorcas gazelle is a protected animal in Israel, while hunting it in Jordan is permitted and compromises the presence of the Jordanian ant lions’ soil engineers.

“The current studies clearly display the influence that man has on nature – for better and for worse. Over the past years, advanced agricultural technology has been transferred from Israel to Jordan; and we must strengthen our understanding of the influences that modern agriculture has on nature, so that we can assist in preserving the large variety of species in the Arava region,” Dr. Shanas concludes.

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Preceding provided by University of Haifa