From: aap@wam.umd.edu (Alberto Adolfo Pinkas)
Subject: stupid propaganda
Organization: Workstations at Maryland, University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 18:35:20 GMT


This was posted yesterday in a.p.h. That is, it was posted here.
I believe that the conclusions are just propaganda.
Some comments.

>Israel Bars People with HIV

>Jews wishing to immigrate to Israel under the law of return -- which allows 
>Jews worldwide to become Israeli citizens -- are to be tested for HIV and 
>turned away if they test positive.

Irt seems that the law was not enacted.

>Under the new regulations immigrants already accepted in Israel who are found 
>to have lied about their HIV status can be deported to their country of origin. 
This same thing is done bymost countries, even the USA, when people 
have some kind of diseasses, such a tuberculosis.
Not only that. People get deported for not telling the true on their
applications, no matter what they are not telling the true about.


>Visitors who want to stay more than three months would also be tested under 
>the new regulations.  Finally, the policy calls for the deportation 
>of foreign workers with HIV, and ten such workers have been deported already.

It is the right of any country to protect its citizens. 
This is done as a rutine on any countryt of the world, or at least, \
most of them.

>Israel's law of return is one of the cornerstones of the Jewish state because 
>it promises citizenship and refuge to Jews from all over the world.  

I would not say that it is a cornerstone.

>The new 
>HIV restrictions come on the heels of a wave of xenophobia and hysteria in 
>Israel about the rate of HIV infection among Ethiopian refugees.  The 
>restrictive law was enacted despite a report by the Minister of Health showing 
>a low rate of infection.

Besides that, a large inmigration of people who are HIV+ would imposse a
burden on Israeli citizens who would have to pay at least part of the 
treatment for those infected.

(some likes deleted).

>Please point out that immigration restrictions based on HIV status are opposed 
>by public health officials, civil rights organizations and AIDS activists 
>because they not only impinge on the freedom of movement for people with HIV, 
>but set bad public health policy by driving people underground and sending the 
>erroneous message to the public that they are 
>safe from HIV.  Instead, anonymous HIV testing and prevention/education 
>campaigns are the proven method of containing the epidemic.  Postage to Israel 
>from the U.S. is $.50 per half-ounce.


The Law of Return is not applicable to all people in the world, and
Israel has the right to make it applicable to whomever they want.
It is ridiculous to say that this action send an "erroneous message to
the public that they are safe from HIV". Nobody is telling people that.
At most, what it says is that people are more protected to getting
infected. However, it does not call for an end to educational programs and
for protection programs. 
Where has it been proved that anonymous testing contains the epidemic? 
Can anyone post any statistic from anywhere in the world supporting this 
claim/
It is obvious that the people who get tested is that who suspects that there
is a chance of infection. So, if the person is infected, it is too late.
And, if the person has no idea that s/he could be infected, s/he would
spread the disease around. So, anonymous HIV testing is something that 
comes too late for most people.
This is just ridiculous propaganda.
People in most places get tested for diseases such as malaria, viruela,
tuberculosis, etc, without any kind of anonymous testing and so far
it has shown to stop epidemics in a lot of places.

AAP
Newsgroups: alt.politics.homosexuality