Israel Shahak (Hebrew: ישראל שחק‎; born Himmelstaub, April 28, 1933 -- July 2, 2001) was a Polish-born Israeli professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, known especially as a radical political thinker, author, and civil rights activist. Between 1970-1990, he was president of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights and was an outspoken critic of the Israeli government. Shahak's writings on Judaism have been a source of widespread controversy.

Born in Warsaw, Poland,[1] Shahak was the youngest child of a cultured, religious, pro-Zionist, Ashkenazi Jewish family.[2] During German occupation of Poland, his family was forced into the Warsaw Ghetto. His brother escaped and joined the Royal Air Force. His mother paid a poor Catholic family to hide him, but when her money ran out he was returned. In 1943 he and his family were sent to the Poniatowa concentration camp, near Lublin, where his father died. Israel and his mother managed to escape and returned to Warsaw, but within the year, they were both sent to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Shahak was liberated from the camp in 1945, and shortly thereafter emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine, where he wanted to join a kibbutz, but was turned down as "too weedy".[3]

From age 12, Shahak cared for and provided economic support for his mother who survived the Nazi camp in a very poor physical condition. After a period of learning in a religious boarding school in Kfar Hassidim, he moved with his mother to Tel Aviv. After graduating from high school, Shahak served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in an elite regiment.[4] After completing service with the IDF, he attended Hebrew University where he received his doctorate in chemistry. He became an assistant to Ernst David Bergmann.[5]

In 1961, Shahak left Israel for the United States to study as a postdoctoral student at Stanford University. He returned two years later to become a teacher and researcher in chemistry at Hebrew University, where he remained until his retirement in 1990. He published many scientific papers, mostly on organic fluorine compounds.[6] After the 1967 Six-Day War and the ensuing occupation, Shahak became critical of Israel's treatment of Palestinians,[4] a supporter of a Palestinian state, and wrote many articles and several books outlining his views of Israeli society and Judaism. In his later years, Shahak lived in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem. He died in Jerusalem at age 68 due to complications from diabetes and was buried in the Givat Shaul cemetery.[4] In an obituary published in The Nation, Christopher Hitchens wrote that Shahak's home was "a library of information about the human rights.....He became a well-known activist in international circles, co-authoring papers and giving joint speaking engagements with American political dissident Noam Chomsky, and winning plaudits from Jean Paul Sartre, Gore Vidal, Christopher Hitchens and Edward Said.

The US effort to warn mariners about working with Iran comes as it looks for novel ways to pressure Tehran after imposing a raft of harsh sanctions during the past year.

The US official said Washington intended to start focusing even more on enforcement and would offer inducements to urge captains and crew to co-operate, while also threatening to revoke their US visas, which would prevent them from entering US waters, if they did not co-operate. "We are trying to dry up their labour pool to move illicit oil," said the official.

US authorities said that Kumar, 43, took over as captain in Gibraltar. After he apparently did not respond to the US offer, the Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions both on the ship and on Kumar himself, freezing any assets he may have in the United States and criminalizing any US financial transactions with him.

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The bill, tabled by Labour's Hilary Benn and supported by the likes of Ken Clarke and Churchill's grandson, Nicholas Soames, who have been expelled from the Conservative Party, was passed by 327 votes to 299 in the House of Commons after the third and final reading on Wednesday night. It's a hammer blow to Johnson.

Johnson responded to the defeat by saying there is now "only one way forward" and "there must now be an election on Tuesday 15 of October."

However, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party will back an election only after a 'no-deal' is completely ruled out.

The new law calls for the prime minister to obtain an extension to Article 50 from the EU that runs to "11pm on 31 January 2020."

Clarke, Soames were among a number of Tory MPs who were sacked from the party after they defied Johnson to vote for the new legislation at first reading on Tuesday night.

Johnson who will table a motion for an early election later on Wednesday, with voting scheduled for around 10.30pm BST. The Prime minister is hoping to secure an election for October 15.

The prospects for Brexit happening now look "quite bleak" without a general election, veteran political journalist Neil Clark told RT. "Ruling out 'no-deal' effectively means ruling out Brexit as there's no incentive for the EU to offer a better deal."