Wampum

Thursday last week some Israeli Arabs gathered at the Israeli side of the border with Gaza and heard a speech delivered by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh through Member of the Knesset Taleb A-Sana's mobile phone. This motivated David Rotem, who is currently serving as the chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, to submit a bill requiring all Members of the Knesset to take a "loyalty oath" to the Jewish state before taking office. He cited A-Sana's use of a mobile phone owned by the Knesset and the state are the rational for a "loyalty oath" bill.

Compare with QUON V. ARCH WIRELESS, INC., which went to the 9th Circuit:

This case arises from the Ontario Police Department’s review of text messages sent and received by Jeff Quon, a Sergeant and member of the City of Ontario’s SWAT team. We must decide whether (1) Arch Wireless Operating Company Inc., the company with whom the City contracted for text messaging services, violated the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2711 (1986); and (2) whether the City, the Police Department, and Ontario Police Chief Lloyd Scharf violated Quon’s rights and the rights of those with whom he “texted”—Sergeant Steve Trujillo, Dispatcher April Florio, and his wife Jerilyn Quon1 —under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 1 of the California Constitution.

Appellants assert that they are entitled to summary judgment on their Fourth Amendment claim against the City, the Department, and Scharf, and on their California constitutional privacy claim against the City, the Department, Scharf, and Glenn. Specifically, Appellants agree with the district court’s conclusion that they had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the text messages. However, they argue that the issue regarding Chief Scharf’s intent in authorizing the search never should have gone to trial because the search was unreasonable as a matter of law. We agree.

Do Israeli government supplied cell phones come with a don't call list? Suppose Taleb A-Sana used anyone else's phone, or one she payed for as a private citizen, what would the chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee argue then as motivation for his "loyalty oath" bill?

During the demonstration, Member of the Knesset Jamal Zehalka said that Defense Minister Ehud Barak "enjoys classical music and killing children in Gaza." Outre, but clever rhetoric.