Monsey stabbing attack suspect declared unfit to stand trial

JERUSALEM POST STAFF

“I have stated from the very outset that, based upon my investigation, this was not an act of domestic terrorism,” said the suspect’s attorney.

A Jewish man walks near the area where 5 people were stabbed at a Hasidic rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York /  (photo credit: REUTERS)

The suspect accused of killing a man and stabbed four others with a machete during a Hannukah celebration in Monsey, NY has been declared mentally unfit for trial, according to The Journal News.

On Monday, US District Court Judge Cathy Seibel ordered that the suspect be treated at a suitable mental health facility to determine if he “will attain the capacity to permit criminal proceedings to go forward against him.” The treatment may not exceed four months and the Federal Bureau of Prisons will provide a report on any updates to the court within the first 30 days, according to the court order.

The suspect has not been cleared of the charges against him and will be held to see whether he will be able to understand the charges and assist in his own defense within the foreseeable future, The Journal News reported. The US Attorney’s Office in White Plains did not challenge the psychiatric evaluation of the suspect and agreed to the court order.

Federal prosecutors on Monday had filed a total of 10 hate crime charges against the suspect, saying he kept journals containing references to Adolf Hitler and “Nazi Culture.” The suspect pleaded not guilty to the charges. Each count carries a maximum prison term of life.

Josef Neumann, 72, who was critically injured in the machete attack last December, succumbed to his wounds last month.

Federal prosecutors have said Thomas targeted his victims because of their Jewish faith. In a criminal complaint filed in December, they cited journals they seized from the suspect’s home containing references to Adolf Hitler, Nazi culture and the Black Hebrew Israelites movement, identified by extremism experts as an anti-Jewish hate group.
The suspect’s attorney claims that the attack was likely an expression psychosis rather than bigotry.

“I have stated from the very outset that, based upon my investigation, this was not an act of domestic terrorism,” said the suspect’s attorney to ABC News following the ruling on Monday. “While others were making that claim and inflaming the public, I stated that Mr. Thomas had a long well-documented history of mental illness and that, tragically, this motivated his conduct in late December.”

The court order on Monday only affects the federal charges against the suspect, not the separate state charges which include six counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault, three counts of attempted assault and two counts of burglary. Judge Kevin Russo has not yet decided on the suspect’s competency to stand trial for the state charges.

The suspect’s attorney has a motion pending in the Rockland County Court to exhume Neumann’s body, although Neumann’s family did not want an autopsy conducted for Orthodox Jewish religious reasons, according to The Journal News.

Reuters contributed to this report.

News From Israel – May 10, 2020

  ILTV Israel News

Cormorants & Pelicans big numbers – Mishmar Hasharon Reservoir – Birds of Israel – קורמורנים ושקנאים

Roni Way

Israeli invention turns tap water into antiviral solution

Abigail Klein Leichman

It sounds like magic, but Bar-Ilan University researchers say the environmentally friendly disinfectant may be used daily to kill bacteria and viruses on all kinds of surfaces.

Illustrative photo via Shutterstock.com

Bacteria and viruses can be killed effectively through a new method that instantly turns ordinary tap water into a powerful, environmentally friendly disinfectant on demand.

The technology was developed by chemists at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan and patented last year by the university’s BIRAD Research and Development Company.

Disinfectant solutions made with this technology previously were proven for their bacteria-killing abilities in hospital tests done in Israel.

Recently, the disinfectant also proved effective in neutralizing corona-type viruses in tests conducted in the lab of Prof. Ronit Sarid of BIU’s Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences.

“We examined the ability of these materials to impair herpes simplex virus type 1 infection and human coronavirus OC43,” said Sarid.

“Both viruses were completely eliminated when exposed to the disinfectants for different periods of time. The structural characteristics of OC43 are similar to those of recent SARS-CoV-2, suggesting that this virus will also be easily eliminated with this disinfectant.”

Researchers Eran Avraham and Izaak Cohen developed the technology for the water-to-disinfectant solution in the laboratory of Prof. Doron Aurbach, an international electrochemistry expert from BIU’s Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Chemistry.

Prof. Doron Aurbach of Bar-Ilan University’s Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Chemistry. Photo: courtesy

Their novel method involves mixing water with nanometer-shaped electrodes that have unique surface properties. The combination of these compounds creates an effective antibacterial against bacteria, viruses and spores.

Unlike many other disinfectants, such as chlorine bleach, this water-based solution is safe for skin and does not contaminate groundwater, the researchers say.

“The antiseptic capability is 100 times more effective than bleach and therefore low concentrations of between 50 and 200 milligrams of the active materials per liter are enough to disinfect — unlike bleach, which by contrast requires between 5,000 and 20,000 mg per liter,” the scientists explained.

“They are also much more environmentally friendly and do not cause burns or dry skin. They don’t cause corrosion, and most importantly, with the very low concentration of 50 mg they eliminate all kinds of viruses.”

Many possible applications

The technology could be used for a variety of disinfectant products, such as spray aerosols for disinfecting surfaces, appliances, beds, closets and bathrooms; containers for immersing hands, shoes or devices; disinfectant wipes; dry fog air-purifiers and others.

“The ability to produce electrodes in a variety of shapes and textures makes the technology suitable to almost any application – from a ‘cassette’ in an air conditioner, a container for washing fish and meat, to disinfection and removal of pesticides from vegetables and fruit, a device for manufacturing disposable antibacterial cloths and many other applications – even masks and gloves,” Avraham said.

Through his startup, AqooA Solutions: Eco Sanitizing Technologies, Israeli entrepreneur Barak Dror Wanderman is working toward final development and production of portable devices that will produce the disinfectant liquids on demand from potable water.

Bar-Ilan University researchers Izaak Cohen and Eran Avraham flank Barak Dror Wanderman, an entrepreneur seeking to commercialize the water-based disinfectant. Photo by Yair Sagi

“Imagine a situation in which you are at a busy mall and are interested in using the public bathroom,” says Avraham. “All you have to do is take out the compact spray bottle, access the nearest tap, and press the power button. Now you have a disinfectant that will allow you, with a simple spray, to sterilize the toilet and bathroom space and be protected.”

Packaged in special containers, the disinfectants can remain effective for two months and may be sold in recyclable bottles. For reusable bottled products, a fairly simple process can be applied to enable long-term use, the researchers added.

“There are many antibacterial disinfectants on the market, but this material is based on water so it is cheaper, three times more effective, seven times less toxic for humans, preserves these capabilities for much longer and covers a large variety of bacteria,” said BIRAD VP of Business Development Frances Shalit.

“We are on the brink of a revolution by making the most effective green disinfectant available to the entire population and medical institutions,” said Wanderman. “This technology will save many lives, save the economy a lot of money, and eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals that harm the environment.”

German diplomat tweets to defend advocate of Holocaust trivialization/BDS

BENJAMIN WEINTHAL

Andreas Görgen tweeted at least seven posts in favor of Achille Mbembe over the last week without links to critical texts of Mbembe alleged antisemitism and belittling of the Shoah.

The Twitter application is seen on a phone screen August 3, 2017 / (photo credit: REUTERS/THOMAS WHITE)

BERLIN – Germany’s foreign ministry has been plunged into a new anti-Israel row after a top diplomat posted a series of tweets in defense of an academic who supports the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign against Israel, and has been accused of trivializing the Holocaust.

Andreas Görgen,the director of the foreign ministry’s department for culture and communication, tweeted an article titled “Antisemitism Accusations against Achille Mbembe : Comparing is not equating.”

Görgen tweeted at least seven posts in favor of Mbembe over the last week without links to critical texts of Mbembe alleged antisemitism and belittling of the Shoah.

The Deutschlandfunk Kultur article claims that Mbembe did not compare the former apartheid system in South Africa with the Holocaust. Antisemitism experts, however, claim Mbembe trivialized the Holocaust via his comparison.

The German government’s antisemitism commissioner Felix Klein told the news outlet WAZ that Mbembe had “questioned Israel’s right to exist and also compared South Africa’s apartheid system to the Holocaust — something that is out of the question in view of the unprecedented crimes during the Nazi era, and especially given Germany’s historical responsibility for it.”

German Jews and other experts agree with Klein’s assessment. Critics say Görgen has used his official foreign ministry Twitter feed to push articles that support Mbembe. His Twitter biography makes no reference retweeting or Tweets signifying a lack of endorsement of the content. The Jerusalem Post first identified Görgen’s stream of allegedly pro-Mbembe tweets on Tuesday.

The prominent Austrian-based foreign policy think tank mena-watch tweeted: “Why has this foreign ministry of foreign affairs been busy for days protecting Achille Mbenbe against any criticism? One cannot call it balanced if only the defenders have their say and not even a text of the critics is posted.”

Mena-watch responsed to a tweet from Görgen in which he posted an article claiming the antisemitism accusations against Mbembe are a “Sign of a witch hunt.”

Profesor Richard Landes, an internationally distinguished historian and expert on antisemitism, told the Post that “The real witch-hunt is this kind of criminally sloppy use of elisions to smear Israel and paint her as a pariah, and then an equally sloppy but opposite use of terms to clear Mbenbe of any responsibility for his own ‘word crimes.”‘

Mbembe urges the complete “global isolation” of the Jewish state and signed a BDS boycott petition against Ben Gurion University academics.
Görgen says his twitter feed address “educational policies.”

Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Simon Wiesenthal’s chief Nazi-hunter who oversees the organization’s Jerusalem office, told the Post that “It is incomprehensible why a high-ranking official of the foreign ministry is devoting such efforts to support a BDS advocate who compared apartheid to the Holocaust.”

The German cultural festival Ruhrtriennale invited Mbembe to deliver the opening remarks for its summer festival. However, the supervisory board cancelled the festival yesterday due to the coronavirus crisis. Critics urged the festival to disinvite Mbembe.

Zuroff said Germany’s foreign minister Heiko Maas should “take the steps to send [Görgen] him home, “adding Maas needs to “draw the proper implications” and have Görgen “pack his bags.”

The antisemitism expert Zuroff said Maas “apparently showed great sensitivity toward the Shoah” on Twitter and questioned how Görgen’s playing down of the Shoah meshed with Maas’s recent tweets remembering the Holocaust. Zuroff said that surely Görgen has “more important issues to deal with during the pandemic.”

The Post has sent twitter and email queries to Görgen and the German foreign ministry.

Last year, the director of the German Foreign Ministry’s representation for the Palestinian territories, Christian Clages, was revealed to have liked scores of antisemitic tweets while using his government Twitter feed. Clages retained his job.