ISRAELI CASE TO BAN Wi-Fi IN SCHOOLS – SUPREME COURT ISSUED A CONDITIONAL INJUNCTION AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT

Synopsis of Current Situation:


On July & August 2014, following the Government's response to the Conditional Injunction which was issued in April, I & the other attorney, Michael Bach, submitted motions for a Permanent & Intermediary Injunction.

The Court ruled that it cannot issue a Permanent injunction without a hearing, which it scheduled for February 2015, and now we are waiting for a ruling on the motion for the Intermediary injunction – an injunction that will ban the use of Wi-Fi in schools immediately and until a final decision in the case is made.

Update Sept 5th - The Court ruled that the Claimants (us) can respond to the Government's response from 26/8 regarding the motion for the intermediary injunction by 15/9. I already submitted mine on 28/8, now we'll wait for the other attorney to submit his 


Update Sept 15th - Attorney Dafna Tachover and Attorney Michael Bach, both submitted today, 15/9/14, their responses to the government's response to the Claimants' motions for an Intermediary Injunction.


CROSS YOUR FINGERS. A decision of the Court in the Motion for the Intermediary Injunction is due any day now.

Further Synopsis

 

On April 23^rd, 2014, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a Conditional Injunction against the respondents (The Ministries of Education, Health, Environmental Protection, hereafter: the ‘Israeli Government’, ‘Gov’).

 

In the conditional injunction issued, the Court ordered the Gov to provide a response in an affidavit, as to why it would not install wired internet, considering it claims that its policy is that wired internet should be preferred.

 

Essentially the injunction means that we 'won' the first stage, as when these type of cases are submitted, the petition (lawsuit) is for a 'conditional injunction'. Now we moved to the second stage, in which the Court decides whether to make the conditional injunction into a permanent injunction. 

 

On July 21st the Court scheduled the hearing regarding the Permanent in injunction to 2/11/15, which probably would be the last hearing in the case.

 

On July 22nd, (instead of on 7/15, as the Gov received an extension), the Gov submitted it's response to the injunction, and it had to finally admit that unlike what it declared to the Court in the past 2 years, it's actual policy is to install Wi-Fi as (1) wired internet is not safe (2) wired internet is preventing pedagogic flexibility.

 

While likely the reason the conditional injunction was issued was the data I brought as to the sick children and  the Gov's omission to provide data as to the number of children who are sick as the court asked for twice (and scolded the Gov in the hearing for not providing it), this time, in the response to the injunction, the Gov still did not submit data, but instead, it claimed that it examined the data regarding over 100 children who suffer from EHS whose case I brought to the Court's attention, and it's conclusion is that they do not suffer from EHS. Of course the examination and the claims were ridiculous.

 

On 31/7, the other attorney in the case, Michael Bach ,submitted a motion for a permanent and an intermediary injunction (injunction that will ban Wi-Fi in the new school year)

 

On 14/8 I submitted my motion for apermanent and intermediary injunction. I joined Bach's argument and added more arguments. Clearly I contradicted all the Gov claims very strongly. as well as it's claims regarding the children who are sick

 

On 14/8 the Court ruled that it cannot issue a permanent injunction without a hearing which is scheduled to 2/11/15, and as for the intermediary injunction, it ordered the government to response by 8/21. But the Gov asked for an extension and it was given until tomorrow 8/26. After the Gov's response the Court will rule on the intermediary injunction.

 

On 26/8 the Gov submitted a response to our motion for intermediary injunction

 

On 28/8 I submitted a response  to the Gov's response, proving that the claim of the government that the ministry of education policy is in accordance with the professional experts of the Ministry of Health and Environmental Protection is false and I brought many quotations of these same experts saying Wi-Fi should be banned, that the radiation is very high, and that the children are indeed suffering from EHS and that it is caused by the radiation. I therefore claimed that the Court should issue the injunction in accordance to the Plaintiffs’ request but also as it corresponds with the respondents’ experts position

 

NOW - waiting for the court to decide on the Intermediary injunction.

The Position of the Head of the Radiation Department

Another breakthrough as a result of the case is the  change in position of the Ministry of Enviromental Protection and the Head of the Radiation Department who is also responsible to set up the safety standards. In a hearing in front of the Educational Committee of the Parliament in March 19^th, 2014, Prof, Stalian Gelberg Admitted the following:

1. EHS is a real condition caused by radiation and that children in Israel and worldwide are becoming sick.
2. The thermal safety standard (in Israel it is 1/10 of the thermal but is based on the thermal assumption), may not be correct. However, by admitting that EHS is real he admitted non-thermal effects are proven.
3. He explained that since Wi-Fi is causing 2 billion changes a second to the cells, it harms the ability of the immune system to handle other stressors.
4. He said that likely this radiation will later be classified as a 1A carcinogen.
5. He explained that in a class with 40 RF emitting devices the radiation may be very high.
6. His position is that WI-Fi should be banned in schools.
   
   
   MORE DETAILS AND EXPLANATIONS ARE FOLLOWING:
   Background
    
   On 26th of August 2012, together with National Parents Leadership, the Non-Profit for Sane Cellular Use I filed in the Israeli Supreme Court in its role as the High Court, a petition for an injunction prohibiting Wi-Fi in all Israeli schools to protect the health of the children. Later, 4 Plaintiffs (claimants) were added to the case – a family of 4 – Ran & Efrat Grennberg and their 2 children.
    
   The government respondents are the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Environmental Protection. 
   Conditional Injunction Issued - On April 23, 2014, after 20 months of litigation, a conditional injunction ( a bit similar to an order to show cause in the U.S.).
    
   The attorney that represented us was Michael Bach. However, as a result of strategic differences, for example on the issue of EHS which the other attorney did not want to pursue while I claimed that it is the strongest reason for a ban, I separated from him, and since February of 2013, I’m representing myself.  
    
   Judgesq/ustices - The 2 most senior judges in the court are sitting on this case – The President of the Court and the Deputy President are 2q3 Justices on the case.
    
   The Type of Case We Submitted
    
    The Supreme Court is also the High Court of Justice and it’s main role as such, is hearing cases regarding the legality of decisions of State authorities. In such cases the court can grant relief through orders such as an injunction against the authorities, order to compel the authorities to act or to stop acting in a certain manner.
    
   These are not ‘normal’ cases, as most of the work is done by briefs and affidavits and the hearings are mainly to clarify for the Court issues it may have questions about.
    
   An action for injunction is the type of action we brought, an action against the Ministry of Education, Health and the Environmental protection which in Israel it is the Ministry responsible to set up the safety standards regarding electromagnetic fields including wireless radiation.
    
   Such an action for an injunction against the government is a 2 stage process. In the first stage we submit a petition for a “Conditional Injunction”. Which is what we got in April 2014. Then the second stage is where the Court decides whether the conditional injunction becomes a permanent injunction.
    
   Essentially after the conditional injunction, the Court gives the gov last chance to convince the Court why the permanent injunction would not become permanent.
    
   This power the court has is a dangerous power as it interferes with the principle of separation of powers and as the Court does not want to manage the country it’s using this power very carefully. Therefore, it’s not easy to get the conditional injunction and most cases are dismissed when submitted and  others are dismissed along the long way. 
    
   The burden of proof is high. It’s not enough to show that there was a bad judgment on the part of the authorities, in order to get the conditional injunction we had to prove extreme unreasonableness on the part of the authorities. Court issues a conditional injunction only if the court is considerably convinced by the plaintiff’s arguments.
    
   It took us 20 months and many briefs and appendices including evidence of widespread sickness from the radiation amongst children, to get the conditional injunction.
    
   EHS
    
   Amongst all the other issues, I argued on the following main issues:
    
   (1) That the government is acting in violation of its own alleged policy that the schools should prefer wired internet and in effect it installs and encourages the installation of wi-fi.
    
   (2) We claimed that the harms of wireless technology are proven and that the thermal safety standard is anachronistic.  
    
   (3)EHS is proven and an epidemic.
    
    EHS has become a central part of the case when I proved to the Court widespread Gov.
    
   A major breakthrough on the issue of EHS was when on July 18th, 2013, after an extensive brief I submitted as to the issue of the safety standard and EHS, the Court decision requested information from the Gov regarding EHS. It asked to receive information as to how many children are sick, what the gov did to check and it required that the information would be submitted in an affidavit.
    
   We worked tirelessly and kept the pressure on by finding more children who became EHS and proving to the Court that the government lies and while it alleges that it is promoting wired networks its actions are proving the opposite.
    
   While the EHS was not a central argument in the lawsuit itself,  it has became a central part.
    
   MORE INFO ABOUT THE ARGUMENTS CAN BE FOUND IN THE OTHER UPDATES.

On a personal note – I've been working on this case for over 2.5 years and put into it many thousands of hours of work which ended in costing me many tens of thousands of dollars and exhausted my financial resources. I would like to be able to continue my work on this case and others. So if you think that this case may be helpful to your cause, please donate. Any donation would be appreciated.