JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Israeli health ministry decided Tuesday to revoke the license of a doctor who denies COVID-19, opposes vaccination and allegedly forged virus immunization certificates.
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Aryeh Avni, who recently said that ‘anyone who administers a vaccine is, to me, like Mengele,’ has a high-profile website in which he touts conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and Israel’s vaccination program. Avni, a natural health practitioner, reportedly opened a clinic in Bnei Brak recently where he continued to spread misinformation regarding COVID-19 and offered forged immunization certificates and exemptions from wearing masks for pay.
Retired Judge Amnon Strashnov, who made the decision to take away Dr. Aryeh Avni’s medical credentials, explained that the doctor’s statements were a danger to public safety.
“This goes far beyond what is reasonable and permissible in the context of freedom of expression, which is an important and protected value in any democratic society – and you have a clear prescription for the complete anarchy that the defendant is trying to cause, while boasting the title of doctor,” Strashnov said.
“I did not find any connection between the important value of freedom of expression, as the defendant claims, and the harsh and defamatory expressions he took – without any scientific or academic basis – and all from his fertile and unbridled imagination. The defendant and his peers will know that freedom of expression does not mean freedom of contempt,” he said.
“Accordingly, I adopt the committee’s recommendation regarding the conviction of the defendant, as set forth in the report,” the judge wrote.
Strashnov added: “Hasn’t the honorable doctor heard about the more than 5000 people who have died of coronavirus, mainly old people who hadn’t heard or didn’t listen to his recommendation to ‘take vitamins’? Didn’t he hear about the serious side effects that a significant number of those recovered from coronavirus are still suffering from? Didn’t he read the studies about the effectiveness of vaccinations and their more than 90% success or did these studies not cross his eyes? Did he read any studies on coronavirus or any scientific writings? I doubt it.”
Israel has been concerned by the fake news and skepticism being spread by numerous self-styled experts, which has caused the highly successful vaccination campaign to slow down in recent weeks. Last week dozens of protesters in Tel Aviv decried the “coercion” of the vaccination and made comparisons between the vaccination campaign and Nazi laws, with some even wearing yellow Stars of David saying “not vaccinated”, meant to resemble the ones that Nazis forced Jews to wear during the Holocaust.
At the request of Israel’s Health Ministry, Facebook recently removed a large Israeli group promoting conspiracy theories about the vaccines. The group had urged its thousands of members to schedule appointments to vaccinate and then to cancel them at the last minute, forcing HMOs to throw out unused doses. Facebook said that the group violated its community standards regarding fake news.
The group, which had over 12,000 members, featured false information about the virus and the vaccines’ efficacy and safety, alongside conspiracy videos and efforts to thwart the country’s vaccination drive.
Days later, Facebook also deleted another group associated with popular Israeli rabbi Amnon Yitzhak which was disseminating fake news about the pandemic and the immunizations.
He happens to have some good points.’
Galileo was put in quarantine by the church for claiming with proof that the earth revolves around the earth. He died there many years later.
In science you do not go by consensus. You go by the best understanding.
To call some of the things he said “fake” news, is simply not true.
The defendant and his peers will know that freedom of expression does not mean freedom of contempt,” he said.
Why not?
Nut job!