City Notes: Fishermen suspected of poisoning fish in Kinneret

Weekly wrap-up of news around the country.

By TAMARA ZIEVE
Sunset at the Kinneret (photo credit: REUTERS)
Sunset at the Kinneret
(photo credit: REUTERS)
NORTH
A group of fishermen was suspected of illegal fishing techniques involving the use of poison in Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee), the enforcement and investigations unit of the Agriculture Ministry revealed this week.
The findings followed intelligence efforts, after investigators followed the four suspects over a long period of time. Fish in the suspects’ possession were transferred to laboratories for testing, to identify the remains of the poison. In the samples, a poison was found which is a pesticide used in cotton, to which fish are very sensitive.
The use of poison in fishing is prohibited under the Fisheries Ordinance. Poison kills all fish within the radius of the distribution, and helps collect fish easily. Beyond killing the fish, it also causes environmental and ecological damage to the water and biological damage to a variety of animals, such as birds, which may also be poisoned by eating the toxic fish.
The four suspects, all residents of the Tiberius area in their 40s, were arrested and taken in for investigation. Their two fishing boats were seized and their fishing nets were also confiscated. Legal files were opened for all the suspects.
Syrian boy rushed to Safed hospital
A 12-year-old boy from Syria was rushed in critical condition to Ziv Medical Center in Safed last week. The child was wounded in fighting on the Syrian side of the border.
In the last year, Israeli hospitals have treated hundreds of Syrian civilians wounded in the country’s ongoing civil war.
CENTER
Jewish-Arab coexistence film screened at TA cinematheque
Hundreds of people last weekend attended a premiere screening of an Arab-Jewish documentary, A New Way, based on the activities of NGO of the same name. The film documents encounters between Jewish and Arab children, initiated by the NGO, which brings together Jews and Arabs of all ages from all over the country.
The screening at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque was attended by NGO heads, educators, students, members of the media and others. Dan Pilz, chairman of the NGO as well as joint general manager and deputy manager of Dizengoff Center, said that multiple meetings, repetition, engagement in neutral issues and direct communication between the children eventually help remove the barriers.
A New Way CEO Tikva Bracha said in a celebratory speech ahead of the screening: “There are several things that are special only to us. Two of them are that the NGO puts an emphasis on several circles that make up a community – on children, who are the first target the second point that is important and special to us is the emphasis on the experiential process, by which we try to open hearts and to instill a positive attitude towards the other and their culture.”
The film showcases the organization’s activities, the meetings between the children and their experiences from the very first moments of the encounters, when they are hesitant and filled with stereotypes of the other.
Through the course of the meetings, their view of each other changes. The process is a gradual one, in which genuine friendships are created, showing that there is light at the end of the tunnel and coexistence can work.
Netanya police uncover kiosk, recruitment business for drug distributors
Police suspect that hiding behind seemingly innocent advertisements is a recruitment business for distributors of various kinds of drugs sold at convenience stores.
According to the Local website, Netanya police exposed the method after detectives on Sunday arrested a 21-yearold Netanya resident over the sale of the Nice Guy drug.
The young man claimed he found himself involved in such work after a job advertisement for selling tobacco and cigarettes caught his eye.
Detectives noticed the man riding a scooter on Sunday, seemingly selling Nice Guy drugs to a young woman whom he met with in the center of town. A probe revealed that in exchange for the package, the young woman gave him a small amount of money, and police found several bags of substances suspected to be drugs on his scooter.
The man and the woman were detained and taken to the police station, where the man told police he began this occupation after responding to the job notice, and being told when he was hired that he would be selling cigarettes, tobacco and alcohol.
The man was set to be brought to the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court.
SOUTH
Man critically injured in drive-by shooting in Ashdod
A man was critically injured in a drive-by shooting in the industrial area of Ashdod on Sunday.
Magen David Adom paramedics attempted to resuscitate him, but he succumbed to his injuries and they pronounced him dead. Police launched an investigation into the incident.
Sderot man gets eight-and-a-half years for trying to poison ex-wife
Beersheba judges sentenced a Sderot resident to eightand- a-half years in prison for attempting to kill his ex-wife by poisoning her food.
According to the Local website, the indictment stated that the accused and the complainant divorced in May 2010, and have three daughters. Following a request from the complainant regarding food expenses for the girls, the accused decided to hurt his ex-wife. He subsequently procured a toxic powder that can cause serious health problems and even death, through contact with the skin and eyes.
In June 2013, the defendant injected the poison into a chocolate ball, put it in inside a box and left it on the complainant’s desk at work. She tasted the chocolate, detected a bitter taste and spat it out. She then asked two of her friends to also taste the chocolate, and they also noticed the bitter taste and stopped eating it.
On July 9, the man went to his ex-wife’s house carrying the poison, despite the fact that there was a restraining order against him. Masked, he entered the house, and mixed the poison into a dish of yogurt in the fridge. The next day, while at work, the woman started eating the yogurt, noticed the bitter taste, spat it out and gave it to her friend to taste, who also tasted it and felt a burning sensation in her esophagus for a few hours.
Later that month, the defendant went again to the complainant’s home, masked and armed with the poison. One of his daughters was home and saw him holding a syringe. When she asked him what he was doing there, he rushed out the back door.
The defendant was arrested near his place of work in Jerusalem, where in his car, police found equipment to concoct the poison, camouflage gear, a pouch with syringes and poison in its original packaging.
The parties agreed on a plea bargain that would impose a punishment on the defendant for 65 months from the day of his arrest, probation and compensation for the complainant and her daughters.