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Newsletter : 9fax1129.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN Nov. 29, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 220
Syria Tested Chemical Bomb
By IsraelWire
The Washington Times reported that Syria conducted a live chemical weapons bombing test late last month. According to the report, a Syrian Air Force MiG-23 jet dropped a chemical weapons-laden bomb on a practice range in Syria. US spy satellites detected the bombing, which reportedly left a distinct coloration on the impact area that US intelligence agencies believe was due to a chemical explosion. The article said Pentagon officials were not aware of the chemical agent.
At Millennial Dawn, Beware of "Jerusalem Syndrome"
By IsraelWire, Ellis Shuman and Israel Faxx Staff Report
With the new millennium only weeks away, Israel's psychiatric wards are bracing for the onset of "Jerusalem Syndrome." For months, now, psychiatrists in Israel have been quoted in the Israeli press as expecting a marked increase in hospital admissions with patients suffering from the syndrome that convinces some people they are modern-day prophets, saviors or messiahs.
"There is already an increase of about 50 to 60 percent," Dr. Gregory Katz, of Givat Shaul Mental Health Center, told Israel Radio. Katz, who said his center is presently treating three such cases of afflicted foreigners, expects the number of cases to increase exponentially with the numbers of tourists arriving in Israel.
The Jerusalem Syndrome strikes with little warning: After a few days in the holy city, seemingly normal pilgrims imagine they are biblical figures, sing psalms at the top of their lungs, preach to passers-by or dress up in hotel bedsheets.
Jerusalem Syndrome, a temporary psychiatric condition, is characterized by patients believing that they are biblical figures such as Jesus, John the Baptist, or Moses. The phenomenon was identified in the 1930s by Dr. Heinz Herman, the father of Israeli psychiatry, but was only labeled as the Jerusalem Syndrome in the last two decades.
The condition affects religious pilgrims - mostly Christian, - who begin to exhibit strange behavior after arriving in Jerusalem. While touring the city's holy sites, they begin proclaiming that they are ancient religious figures sent on a mission.
This year, the phenomenon has been occurring more frequently. As the new millennium approaches, a number of Christian pilgrims, who fervently believe that the Second Coming of Jesus is going to play itself out on the Mount of Olives in the coming months, have developed the symptoms of the syndrome. An upcoming visit to Israel by Pope John Paul II, officially set for March, could bring more religious fanatics to Israel.
Dr. Yair Barel, the doctor responsible for Jerusalem's mental
health portfolio, reportedly has said that as many as 40,000
pilgrims who visit Jerusalem next year may come down with the
syndrome, with nearly 600-800 requiring hospitalization. Some of
these patients could possibly pose a danger to the public.
What happens when a seemingly normal tourist envisions him/herself as a biblical prophet and begins singing Psalms and preaching to passersby, occasionally wrapped in no more than a hotel sheet around themselves?
Kfar Shaul is the duty psychiatric hospital for tourists who display mental health disturbances. Currently there are hundreds of visitors from all over the world hospitalized in Kfar Shaul. Sixty-six percent of the patients are Jews, 33 percent are Christians (this number includes patients hospitalized for other mental health problems as well).
Why does Jerusalem attract religious fanatics? Jerusalem psychiatrist, Dr. Jordan Scher, claims that many disturbed people flock to Jerusalem to be immersed in the special spiritual atmosphere that imbues the capital, especially the Old City. Christians view Jerusalem as the site of the Armageddon and the Second Coming. Their visits to the city can bring out the cognitive dissonance between their mental picture of the city of Jesus and the reality of the modern city. Religious Jews with the syndrome believe that the building of the third Temple is imminent, that the rituals of animal sacrifices will soon be restored, and that their own Messiah is due to arrive.
Crazed fanatic visitors have caused serious damage in recent years. The El Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount was burned in 1969 by Dennis Rohan, a deranged young Australian Christian tourist. It is fear of potential violent attacks, endangering the public as well as the patient himself, that causes Israeli doctors to treat sufferers of the Jerusalem Syndrome with extreme caution.
The Jerusalem Syndrome may actually have first appeared nearly 1,000 years ago. In the year 1033, the 1,000th anniversary of the crucifixion, crowds of pilgrims visited Jerusalem to mark the event, and many refused to leave. This could happen again in the year 2000, and Israeli officials are on the lookout for potential trouble.
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