-Caveat Lector- Israelis: Tourists Are Cult Members By DANA BUDEIRI .c The Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) - Twenty-six Irish and Romanian tourists refused entry by Israel complained Monday that they were roughed up by police, and Ireland's foreign minister raised the incident with his Israeli counterpart. Israeli police spokeswoman Linda Menuhin said the 16 Irish and 10 Romanian pilgrims, among them handicapped children, were members of ``an extreme Christian cult'' and that police used reasonable force when the visitors refused to return to their ship. Menuhin said the group would be deported later Monday. Israel fears that it will become a target for Christian doomsday groups as the millennium approaches. It has set up a special police unit to screen visitors and prevent cultists from passing through border controls. In January, police expelled a dozen followers of a Denver-based doomsday cult, the Concerned Christians. Police said at the time they suspected the Concerned Christians were plotting violent acts at holy sites. Menuhin said the Irish and Romanian visitors had no ties to the Denver group. Helena O'Leary, a spokeswoman for the group, told The Associated Press that she and other members were roughed up by Israeli police. She said the group members were in the customs house at the Israeli port of Haifa when they were told they would not be admitted and must return to their ship. They refused to move until they had spoken to the Irish ambassador, and it was then that the police beat them, Mrs. O'Leary said. ``They punched some of the women. One of the men who sat on the ground, they lifted him up by the hair and put him on the bus,'' Mrs. O'Leary said. ``I understand Israel's security concerns,'' she said, ``but we are simple Catholics with a very strong commitment to nonviolence. We didn't hit back at the police.'' Menuhin said police used ``reasonable force'' when the group refused to get on the bus. ``This was made clear to the Irish ambassador,'' she said. Irish Foreign Minister David Andrews and his Israeli counterpart, David Levy, discussed the incident Monday when they met at a European Union conference in Luxembourg. The Irish ambassador to Israel, Brendan Scannell, said he ``expressed concern'' about the episode. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
