Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/09/979.asp

2/24/2006

Israel: Traffic Cameras Used to Silence Political Opposition
Non-violent political protest is being stifled with evidence from Israeli traffic cameras.

Posters critical of Israel's acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were torn down after police spotted them on traffic cameras. The signs, reading "Olmert, disengagement turned me into a vegetable," had been posted along the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway and several other locations in central Israel. Olmert took power in January after a severe stroke left Prime Minister Ariel Sharon incapacitated.

Commander Shahar Ayalon, head of Israel's traffic police, is calling for a massive expansion of the number of increasingly useful speed cameras. The force is currently testing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of issuing traffic tickets from 6000 feet in the air.

"It gives us the opportunity to operate another, hidden dimension of enforcement," southern traffic commander Ze'ev Guttman told the Jerusalem Post. Police in Europe and Africa are interested in purchasing the UAV for ticketing operations.

Source: Anti-Olmert signs posted across country (Ynetnews (Israel), 2/23/2006)

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