Israeli threatens UK parliament with 'anthrax'

Several weeks ago Shitreet caused panic in England and grabbed headlines all over the world when he spread white powder around the lobby of the Parliament building while screaming, "You could all be dead now, I've got anthrax!"

A policeman stationed in the lobby subdued him easily, but security forces took the incident seriously. Biological and chemical warfare experts in protective suits were called in, the doors and exits were blocked, and no one was allowed to enter or leave until the experts confirmed that the substance was not anthrax, but flour.

The anonymous intruder was taken to the Charing Cross police station, where police officers were surprised to discover that he was an Israeli protesting against the English court system's attitude toward a lawsuit he had brought against electronics manufacturer Sharp.

Shitreet was forcibly sent to a psychiatric hospital for observation, and he now awaits a decision on whether he is fit to stand trial. In his first interview he tells of the tragedy that led him to a miserable life in London.

Because of that TV

The story of 36 year-old Elad Shitreet, is the story of a longstanding obsession that began back in 1982 when his father bought a Sharp TV. Elad was glued to the set and spent hours every day watching TV. But about 10 years ago he went to war against Sharp and the company's Israeli importer, and his battle changed the direction of his life, dragging him and his family into a maelstrom of sadness and despair.

Elad sued Sharp for NIS 34 million (roughly USD 7.5 million), claiming that the TV set had caused him severe physical and emotional damage. The suit's main claim was that plastic parts of the TV were emitting poisonous gases, and that these gases caused the illnesses from which he suffered. Television manufacturers have not used these materials since the late 1980s.

While on the face of it the suit looks very strange, Shitreet managed to obtain the services of well-respected lawyers like Kobi and Moshe Kaplansky, who specialize in lawsuits of this kind. The Kaplanskys have represented him on a contingency basis since he began the suit. Sharp denies the charges, and has convinced the Israeli Supreme Court to accept its request to force Shitreet to sue the company in Japan, its home country.

In despair, Shitreet went to London about five years ago to try to do there what he was unable to do in Israel: Sue Sharp. He hoped that a European court would take him seriously, but the court in London rejected his claims out of hand.

Flour on his face

His years in London were not kind to Shitreet. He is not involved in the Israeli community, he has trouble translating simple words from English into Hebrew, and his life is difficult. He describes his life in England as one of despair, and his legal battle in the same way.

"I tried to convince the High Court in London to accept my lawsuit against Sharp, but they turned me down," he explains. "I submitted another request by myself because I don't have the money for lawyers, and they didn't want to change their decisions or arrest me for contempt of court. I really wanted to be arrested. In my petitions to the court I wrote terrible things about the judges. I called them pigs and things like that, but they refused to arrest me. I got to the point where things were impossible, and I decided that I had to get arrested publicly: let them shoot me, let them kill me. I had no reason to live."

How did you get into the Parliament building with powder without being caught when they searched you at the entrance?

I entered as a simple tourist. I hid the flour in my underwear. I took a bag with documents, I put a lot of flour in it, I taped it several times, and that's how I passed the security checks. When I got into the lobby I took out the bag without being seen, and I spread it on myself because I didn't want the flour to soil anyone else's suit. I said out loud, "Anthrax, anthrax, this is revenge against the corrupt High Court justices and the Lords."

And that's when the police pounced on you?

"No. One policeman walked up to me, calmly handcuffed me, sat me down, pulled my wallet out of my pocket. He was very indifferent. I asked him, "Why are you so indifferent, maybe it is anthrax?" and then he said that in the army he was a cook and baker, and he smelled flour from far away."

In spite of the policeman's accurate assessment, the Parliament went into emergency mode, and Shitreet was taken to the cellar in handcuffs, frustrated and despondent that even his dream of being arrested had not ended up as he'd planned.

"I tried to insist that they arrest me, but they refused," he explains. "They took me in a sealed police van to the police station. The police photographer took my picture with the flour still on my face. They knew everything about me immediately, about my lawsuit, about what the judges did to me. They made every effort to wear me down, they undressed me and put me in a plastic suit. Now they're looking high and low for excuses to hold me in this institution. The main thing is to keep me away from the media."

The lost son

As soon as Professor Shitreet heard of his son's arrest he rushed to London. On the train trip from Switzerland, where he is currently on sabbatical from his position at the Hebrew University Law School, he thought about the lost years and hoped that perhaps now, finally, he could bring his son home.

But officials at the Park Royal Centre had other ideas. They decided that Elad Shitreet should remain there under observation. His father sat in on the meeting to discuss Elad's case, and was able to meet with his son for an hour and a half afterwards.

"It was an emotional meeting," says Shimon Shitreet. "Elad was glad to see someone helping him, but it was hard for me. I was so sad to see my child in a situation like that."

What do you think of your son's claims against Sharp?

"I feel mostly uncertainty. Maybe the TV I bought really was defective. We have no way of knowing. After all, we've all watched it, so maybe something has happened to us as well. We feel like people who built with asbestos and didn't know how dangerous that was. Now in any case the TV is being kept in the court as a legal exhibit."

Elad Shitreet is now awaiting the report of the doctors, who will decide whether he is to be charged for the commotion he caused in Parliament.

Why are you still being held at the Park Royal Centre?

"Everything is political here. Even the Arabs who are arrested here on suspicion of being terrorists receive better treatment. The doctors here are lying as well. Everyone here is Iranian, and they hate me because they know I'm Israeli."

What do you think is going to happen to you now?

"Now only God can help me. I no longer have anything to lose because in any case I can't go on living the way I was living until now."