The Jerusalem Magistrates Court fined Israeli journalist Amnon Kapeliuk 1.6 million Shekels over the weekend for visiting Jordan twice without official authorization. Kapeliuk had pleaded guilty to the charges of violating laws prohibiting Israelis from traveling to countries at war with Israel, and was convicted of the offense last week.
Kapeliuk went to Amman last March to cover the convention of the Palestine National Council for the Israeli daily Yediot Achronot. The journalist, who holds dual Israeli and French citizenship, used his French passport to travel to Amman. He went on similar trips to Algiers and Yemen. Although it was well known that he is an Israeli, he was received warmly, Kapeliuk said at the time.
The court also ordered Kapeliuk to deposit 800 Shekels for three years to guarantee that he will not repeat the offense he was convicted of.
CORRECTION
A story in the December 16 Bulletin misidentified a member of a three-man Soviet delegation in Paris as Gen. David Dragunsky, a long-time Soviet apologist and member of the so-called “Jewish Anti-Zionist Committee of the USSR.” The information was supplied by Israeli Ambassador Meir Rosenne. Dragunsky was not in Paris with the delegation comprising Moscow Chief Rabbi Adolph Shayevich and Prof. Samuel Ziv. The third member was Prof. Guerman Golowko, an expert on nuclear disarmament.
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