TheStar.com - Israelis unleash Scream at protest


Jun. 6, 2005. 07:15 AM

Israelis unleash Scream at protest
New weapon knocks crowds off feet
Sound blast triggers nausea, dizziness

MITCH POTTER
MIDDLE EAST BUREAU

JERUSALEM—The knees buckle, the brain aches, the stomach turns. And
suddenly, nobody feels like protesting anymore.
Such is the impact of the Scream, the latest weapon in the Israeli army's
high-technology toolkit.
Launched Friday afternoon near the West Bank village of Bil'in, after
another in the almost daily demonstrations against Israel's controversial
security barrier turned violent, Israel's secret weapon lived up to its
billing, by most accounts.
Witnesses describe a minute-long blast of sound emanating from a white
Israeli military vehicle. Within seconds, protestors began falling to
their knees, unable to maintain their balance.
An Israeli military source, speaking on the customary condition of
anonymity, confirmed the existence of the Scream, or Tze'aka in Hebrew, in
an interview yesterday.
"The intention is to disperse crowds with sound pulses that create nausea
and dizziness," the Israel Defence Force spokesperson told the Toronto
Star.
"It is probably the cleanest device we have ever had, when you compare it
to rubber bullets or tear gas. It is completely non-lethal. It has no
adverse effects, unless someone is exposed to the sound for hours and
hours."
IDF officials said the technology was researched and developed over a span
of five years as a result of "lessons learned" during the Israeli army's
withdrawal from Lebanon.
"We had a situation during the Lebanon withdrawal where we had hundreds of
people storming IDF positions," a military source said. "As a direct
result, it was decided we needed the means for a more benign way to
control crowds."
Army officials said the Scream might become an element in its strategy
against Jewish settlers and their supporters in August, when the Israeli
government begins uprooting 25 settlements in the Gaza Strip and northern
West Bank.
"We will use what we need to use during the disengagement, depending on
the circumstances on the ground," the official said. "Nobody can foretell
the future."
The IDF is saying little about the science behind the Scream, citing
classified information. But the technology is believed to be similar to
the LRAD — Long-Range Acoustic Device — used by U.S. forces in Iraq as a
means of crowd control.
Hillel Pratt, a professor of neurobiology specializing in human auditory
response at Israel's Technion Institute, likens the effect of such
technologies to "simulated seasickness."
"It doesn't necessarily have to be a loud sound. The combination of low
frequencies at high intensities, for example, can create discrepancies in
the inputs to the brain," said Pratt.
"Basically, the brain receives a signal that your body has lost balance.
You feel like you are tilting even when you are not. The discrepancies can
cause headaches and nausea."
Pratt said such phenomena sometimes occur by accident. He remembers one
instance in which office staff at an Israeli bank building fell ill after
the installation of an industrial air conditioning unit.
"When everyone became nauseous, tests were conducted to find a
contaminant. But nothing was found. Finally, acoustic tests were
conducted, and a certain low-frequency sound was discovered," said Pratt.
"It made people sick, all because of the way the noise of the new air
conditioner resonated in that particular space."
Israeli and Palestinian activists are unsure what to make of the IDF's new
machine. Some who were witness to the deployment on Friday said
Palestinians have already learned to neutralize the Scream by stuffing
cotton in their ears.
"Just before the sounds began, a Palestinian man I know from Bil'in gave
me cotton for my ears. He said, `The Israelis are going to make a noise.
This will help,'" said Lisa Nessan, an International Solidarity Movement
activist from Ramallah.
"How did he know to do that? Obviously it must have been used at a
previous demonstration. Or the Palestinians wouldn't have been prepared
for it this time.
"I was lucky because the cotton seemed to filter out the problem. But I
saw other people around me sit down because they couldn't keep their
balance. I really don't know what to make of it. I've never seen anything
like it before."
Arik Asherman, a leader of Rabbis For Human Rights, was cautiously
optimistic the Scream could make a positive difference.
"We've been arguing for years that Israel should engage non-lethal
approaches to crowd control. If this thing actually works without doing
any permanent damage, that's a step forward."
But Asherman said Israeli officials would be wise to use the Scream
sparingly, lest it become a tool to "sanitize dissent."
"We need to remind ourselves the problem is not the demonstrations, but
what the demonstrations are about," he said.
"If this makes it any more difficult for Palestinians to express
themselves in a non-violent way, that is problematic. The best way to
disperse demonstrations is to deal with the actual issues."