The newspaper quoted a government minister as saying that in cooperation with the United States and Israel, Turkey has also installed high-technology monitoring equipment along the border. The Turkish military has also been arming and aiding one Iraqi Kurdish faction against other Kurdish factions in order to create a local surrogate security force. King Hussein is being embarrassed by his subjects as they seem likely to heed the opposition's call for boycotting Jordan's upcoming Nov. 4 parliamentary election. One local analyst notes that the king first introduced democracy to Jordan in 1989 to end riots sparked by a steep hike in food and fuel. Now the king is having second thoughts about the whole experiment, since his unappreciative subjects are going way beyond their assigned role and expecting to actually have a say in their government.
Life is tough for extreme right-wingers in Israel.
A far-right Jewish extremist has taken the Israeli army to court after it refused to draft him, the Ha'aretz newspaper reported on October 29. Ben Gvir, who says he has been detained by police more than 150 times and just finished nine months of house arrest ordered by Israel's counter-terrorism agency, denies his extreme views are a danger for Israel.