Stoning soldiers - chemical warfare tricks teen troops at roadblock

Who stoned those roadblocks?
Getting security forces to gobble a cake laced with cannabis and lose their edge is a new twist in the Arab-Israeli conflict, according to a report in Checkpoint Jerusalem by Dion Nissenbaum. Tempting hungry border police to snack at the Al-Zaim checkpoint near Maale Adumim, just outside Jerusalem, proved easy enough. Civilians often cheer up the bored adolescents in uniform who stand guard at road checkpoints by bringing them nibbles and nosh. It's not quite clear if the hashish cake--which soldiers said was delicious-- was left by Israeli peace activists or by Palestinian pranksters, but the IDF definitely is not amused. The hungry sentinels violated regulations to eat it, and several were taken to hospital. No one laughed it off:

A military source said: “this is a serious incident that needs to be investigated conclusively. Today it’s hash, and tomorrow it could be the start of a poison attack against our troops, the likes of which we’ve never seen before. What we have to do now is to get on the tracks of the person who brought the cake.”

Typical checkpoint near Maale Adumim settlement

Breakdown & Rehab insurance devised for blissed-out Israeli backpackers who vanish

It's become a rite of passage. Israeli youth, who are required to serve two to three years in the army, take time off afterward to backpack around the world and just "chill". You'll easily spot these fit young Sabras unwinding-- mainly in Asia or
Latin America. Often Israelis stick together during their months-long holidays and they are apt to bargain fiercely to save the odd rupee and turn up their noses at spicy local cuisine to insist on Israeli-style snacks. Budget guest houses in Goa, India or Ko Samui, Thailand cater to them with signs and menus lettered in Hebrew. Adventures and new freedom sometimes tempt Israeli youth to go astray, by experimenting with cults or drugs, and every year thousands bliss out or simply vanish, much to their family's dismay. The backpackers compound post traumatic stress syndrome from army service with sensory overload and culture shock. Adulterated drugs, bad company, and bad judgment play a role, too.
According to journalist Conal Urquhart,

Now an Israeli insurance company is offering a unique policy to parents to cover a professional search team, repatriation and psychiatric rehabilitation for their missing children.

About 50,000 Israelis a year go trekking after their military service and before university or work. The Israeli charity War on Drugs estimates that 90 per cent take drugs at least once on their travels. Some two-thirds go to the Far East and about a third to South America. The charity estimates that each year 2,000 travellers suffer
mental illness brought on by drug abuse or spiritual confusion and between 600 and 800 are admitted to psychiatric wards.

Phoenix Insurance Israel offers a £100 policy to parents to cover most of the costs of rescue and treatment over 90 days. Repatriation alone can cost as much as £8,000...

The new policy was initiated by Hilik Magnum, who has operated a search and rescue company for 13 years. 'We started by providing search and rescue services in the Himalayas and other mountains, but what started as a pure search and rescue operation became an intelligence operation,' he said. 'Young people get involved in some kind of drug abuse in their travels and they lose contact with their parents, they contact us and we help get them back to their family.'

Magnum says deals regularly with psychotics, and returns them to Omri Frisch's therapy center for off-the-rails Israelis, located in the seaside town of Caesaria. It's called Kfar Izun, or Village Balance.
'Most of our patients are well-educated or served in high-profile units in the army such as intelligence and combat. We offer treatment instead of hospitalisation. A recent study found that 94 per cent of our patients achieve some degree of improvement,' Frisch told the London Observer.

Last December, Israel's government announced plans to open its own drug rehab centre in Goa, India, to treat youthful budget travellers. Officials estimate that 2,000 out of the 40,000 Israelis who visit India every year dabble in illegal drugs, mostly hashish, ecstasy, opium, or heroin.

Annually, some 600 Israeli backpackers return from India with physical damage caused by drugs. A Goan centre called Beit Ha Haam (the warm house) now has backing from the Israel Drug Authority. Most families prefer to have their kids repatriated back to Israel, no matter what the cost.

Is cannabis Kosher?

In the lead-up to Passover celebrations, observant Jews are expected to ritually clean their households and give away offending foodstuffs. On their front page, the Jerusalem Post today highlights the current confusion over whether keeping hemp products in the house violates any religious traditions of kitnyot, practiced by most devout Ashkenazies. (Marijuana and hashish are clearly classified as illegal by Israeli police, although enforcement of this law can be patchy.)


Now, the Aleh Yorok (Green Leaf) Party spokesperson, Michelle Levine, wonders whether a seasonal prohibition of marijuana implies that during the rest of the year, cannabis is kosher. The party, activists for legalizing hashish, is awaiting a Rabbinical consensus on this quandary before its leaders issue a joint statement.

Weed-whiffers in Israel, after all, are not exactly enjoying high times these days. The Green Leaf Party did not fare well in the Knesset elections. Some Israeli potheads blame the problems on that nasty Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and his minions: after the summer war destroyed prime croplands with rockets, mortars and tank treads and further blocked smuggling routes for any Lebanese Blonde which was harvested, prices surged 800 per cent. (Already, smokers were concerned that their indulgence might constitute high treason, since some traffickers' profits allegdly went to Hizbollah's coffers. Or should that be coughers?)
At any rate, tossing out such high-priced spliffs in order to keep kosher strikes some smokers as unfair. Others argue that it's just a token sacrifice.

Late addendum: Keeping kitnyot was effectively quashed when legume-eating was ruled kosher, according to Ynet news. This may give a whole new slant to the high holy days.