A dual national with both American and French citizenship was detained Friday while trying to block the demolition of huts built by protesters at the Bedouin encampment of Khan al-Ahmar.
Leftist protester Frank Romano, 66, was detained when he stood in front of heavy equipment that was being used to clear obstacles placed to impede the demolition by Israeli authorities.
The Khan al-Ahmar encampment is situated next to an Israeli highway that runs between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. It is a temporary community that was intended to have been relocated some time ago; some of its residents have already moved. Others remained after being pressured by outside activists. The Israeli government has already made an offer to relocate them to a site just seven miles away, with infrastructure for gas, electricity, water and telephone already installed — unlike the current location, which has nothing — and which is not far from Jericho, a Palestinian Authority city. The residents of Khan al-Ahmar are reportedly Palestinian Authority citizens with no desire to acquire Israeli citizenship.
Romano practices law in the United States and France, according to his LinkedIn profile. He and two Palestinian Authority citizens were arrested for causing disturbances, according to Israel Police.
He also has no problem labeling Israeli soldiers has “NAZI concentration camp guards” in a tweet on the Twitter social networking site, as he did this past April in an unsubstantiated accusation claiming IDF soldiers shot Gazans “walking or running away from the barrier” during Gaza border violence. (See below.)
Like NAZI concentration camp guards, ISRAELI soldiers are shooting Gazans.
Footage below has shown that some Gazans, behind their barriers, even some walking or running away from the barrier, were shot by Israeli soldiers. pic.twitter.com/qxKMM9jAST— Frank Romano (@fromano393)
Romano is a busy guy. He is the author of Love & Terror in the Middle East, 4th Ed., which he’s been busy promoting this past year. Last year he demonstrated together with Palestinian Authority Arabs in Samaria on May 12, 2017, making much of being “INJURED” by tear gas. He also demonstrated at an event in June 2017 “versus the blockade of Gaza,” in Paris. That same month, Romano chaired a “Radicalize the Streets for Peace in Israel & Palestine” Left Forum held at John Jay College in New York City. His attorney, Gaby Lasky, told Ynet Romano is to appear before a military court on Monday.