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Ahmadinejad defies Khamenei on appointment as vice president of inlaw friendly to Israeli people
TEHERAN (WJC)—Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has openly defied the country’s supreme leader by refusing an order Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to dump his hand-picked new vice-president Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. The latter is despised by hard-liners in Tehran for insisting last year that Iranians had no quarrel with the Israeli people.
Ahmadinejad finds himself under increasing pressure from fellow conservatives who appear eager to reap political rewards after leading a weeks-long crackdown against opposition protests. Ahmadinejad surprised many observers by defending Mashaei.
Reports say that Khamenei himself sent a letter to Ahmadinejad on Monday asking for the removal of Mashaei, an in-law of the president's. However, Ahmadinejad insisted on state television that Mashaei "will continue his job." Mashaei, who served as head of a state tourism organization during Ahmadinejad's first term, tried to defend himself in a lengthy interview published on Tuesday. "What I said has nothing to do with the Zionist regime," he said. "My remarks were a kind of psychological war against the usurper regime."
European court deals rebuff to anti-Israel Séclin, France, mayor
STRASBOURG, France (WJC) —The European Court of Human Rights has upheld a French court ruling that it was illegal and discriminatory to boycott Israeli goods, and that making it illegal to call for a boycott of Israeli goods did not constitute a violation of the right to free speech. The court in Strasbourg, which is part of the Council of Europe (CoE), rules on human rights cases brought from the 47 CoE member states.
Last week, it ruled by a vote of 6-1 that the French court had not violated the freedom of expression of the Communist mayor of the northern French town of Séclin, who in October 2002 announced at a town hall meeting that he intended to call on the municipality to boycott all Israeli products.
A prosecutor filed a complaint against him for "provoking discrimination on national, racial and religious grounds." The mayor was first acquitted by the Lille Criminal Court, but that decision was overturned on appeal in September 2003 and he was fined €1,000.
His appeal to a higher French court was unsuccessful, and as a result he petitioned the European Court of Human Rights, saying his call for a boycott of Israeli products was part of a legitimate political debate, and that his freedom of expression had been violated. The ruling is now applicable across Europe to all countries where similar laws are in place.
Israeli heart device recipient no longer barred from airline travel
NEW YORK (Press Relase) – EL AL, Israel’s national airline, recently carried a recipient of a partial artificial heart on a trans-Atlantic flight, the first time this feat has ever been reported possible due to the special necessary technical requirements.
Seventy-one year-old Israeli Gershon Gefen wanted to visit his daughter in the U.S.A. after fully recovering from his heart device implantation procedure last year. Gefen turned to many airlines to assist with his challenging transport and was repeatedly refused. So EL AL, with the assistance of the airline’s chief electronics officer, provided Gefen with a device to connect his heart to an in-flight power line which
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resulted in a successful test run. Gefen returned to Israel following a wonderful three-week visit to the U.S.A. and praised EL AL saying, “Without the help of EL AL, I would never have gotten off the ground.”
To better accommodate EL AL passengers traveling to Israel for special medical treatment at the internationally respected Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, the airline has partnered with S.P.A. Travel which provides special services to ensure maximum comfort and convenience. As the trend of traveling abroad for more affordable yet high quality healthcare in international medical facilities increases, this is another unique service option EL AL is offering.
Travelers seeking more information can contact the EL AL Medical Desk at 1-800-223-6700. Specially trained EL AL representatives work with passengers to minimize the stress of travelling to Israel to fulfill their medical requirements.
Haifa University develops
medical clowning curriculum
HAIFA, Israel (Press Release)—A new and exclusive academic program has been established at the University of Haifa that provides studies in medical clowning. The program is intended for students who do not practice in the field of medical clowning or who are non-professionals in the field and interested in making this their career. The dual-major degree will focus on fields of knowledge related to therapy, such as nursing, developmental psychology and the history of medicine, as well as theatrical skills that are necessary for clowning, such as comedy acting, improvisation, street theatre and juggling.
In 2006, the Department of Theatre began a special B.A. program for a group called the "Dream Doctors" – a group of medical clowns who wanted to enrich their occupation with B.A. studies, focusing on topics from the areas of nursing, therapist-patient communication, pain patient psychology, and more. Subsequent to the success of this program and the many requests that came in from people who do not yet practice in this field of medical clowning, the Department of Theatre decided to take up the challenge and to open a new program that will qualify academic medical clowns.
"The new program is intended to afford an academic education and professional qualification. Unlike the previous program, this one includes practical studies in clowning, medical clowning, acting skills and, of course, the history of theatre, the history of clowning and other courses that give the clown a wealth of knowledge and encompassing comprehension of the field. However, unlike clowning alone, graduates of this program will also possess basic tools for providing therapy and will know what the effects of their work as medical clowns will be," explains Dr. Ati Citron, Head of the Department of Theater at the University of Haifa.
According to Dr. Citron, the main goal of academically institutionalizing medical clowning is to make it a recognized profession, in the same league as physiotherapy, speech therapy and so forth. Academic recognition is one of the primary conditions necessary to make that happen. To this end, the program includes required courses that are necessary for continuing studies in the University's Graduate School of Creative Arts Therapies. This way, a student who wishes to continue studying toward a master's degree can do so directly upon completing his or her B.A. studies.
"This academic training will contribute to setting standards that will determine who can provide therapy. There is a tendency to view the clowning profession as something insincere, something temporary; but medical clowning requires consistency and investment. Academic education and training will testify that this is not a momentary thrill; it will advance the professionalism of medical clowns and will enable therapists to confidently apply clowning tools as effective therapy tools," Dr. Citron emphasizes.
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