Israel Arab Americans having email, etc., read & being strip-searched on arrival to Israel

Mike · Jun 5, 2012

Associated Press: Israel asks Arab visitors to open emails to search

The title is misleading. The article is about Israeli immigration targeting Americans of Arab descent for intrusive searches.

One woman refused to log in to her GMail account so they could read it. She was searched (in her case the article did not indicate strip search), tossed in a cell overnight, and sent back the next day:

[Sandra] Tamari, who is from St. Louis, said she arrived in Israel on May 21 to participate in an interfaith conference. She described herself as a Quaker peace activist and acknowledged taking part in campaigns calling for boycotts and divestment from Israel.

Given her activism, Tamari said she expected some security delays. But she was caught off guard by the order to open her email account. She said the agents discovered her address while rifling through her personal papers.

"That's when they turned their (computer) screens around to me and said, 'Log in," she said. When she refused, an interrogator said, "'Well you must be a terrorist. You are hiding something.'"

Tamari said she was searched, placed in a holding cell and flown back to the U.S. the following day. "The idea that somebody my age, a Quaker, on a peace delegation with folks from the U.S., would be denied entry - that never crossed my mind," she said.

A couple other women cooperated, allowing their email & Facebook accounts to be read. They were mocked & humiliated by the Israeli representative and ultimately strip-searched, jailed & sent back to the U.S. They were not allowed to contact the U.S. embassy.

Najwa Doughman, a 25-year-old Palestinian American from New York City, said she underwent a similar experience when she arrived for a one-week vacation on May 26.
A female interrogator ordered Doughman to open her Gmail account, threatening she would be deported if she didn't.

"She typed in gmail.com and she turned the keyboard toward me and said, 'Log in. Log in now,'" Doughman recounted. "I asked, 'Is this legal?' She said, 'Log in.'"

She said the agent searched for keywords like "West Bank" and "Palestine" and made fun of a chat in which Doughman talked of reading graffiti on Israel's West Bank separation barrier.
"After she read a bunch of stuff, humiliating and mocking me, I said, 'I think you've read enough,'" Doughman said, adding that agents jotted down names and emails of her friends as they inspected her chat history.

Doughman's traveling companion, Sasha Al-Sarabi, said agents pulled her aside and checked out her Facebook page.

Both women said they were approached because of their Arab family names, and were repeatedly asked about the nature of their visit, and whether they planned to go to the West Bank and participate in anti-Israel demonstrations.

While acknowledging she belonged to Palestinian activist groups when she was in college, Doughman said she insisted the one-week visit was purely for a vacation.

"The interrogator asked me, 'Do you feel more Arab or more American? ... Surely you must feel more Arab," Doughman said. "I told her I was born in the U.S. and studied there, but she didn't like my answer."

After hours of questioning, both women were told they would not be allowed in. They said they were subjected to strip searches, placed in a detention center and sent back to the U.S. the following day. Doughman said they weren't allowed to call the U.S. Embassy.

I think Israel just earned a spot on my "No-Visit" list (it's kind of like a No-Fly list but about half-a-million entries shorter ).

Lisa Simeone · Jun 5, 2012

I've never wanted to visit that country. It's oppressive and abusive, and these incidents -- of which there are thousands -- bear that out.

Lisa Simeone · Jun 5, 2012

From an email I just got; permission to post:

From Harrabic T: "After reading this I feel compelled to write about a few of my 48 plus experiences traveling home...but for now - here are a few tips.

1) NEVER give them your email address. As soon as they ask for this you should demand to call the American Embassy , In fact, before you travel...make a new one up...like "noneofyourbusiness@gmail.com" and have a bunch of "I Israel" shit in ther...e.

2) When th...ey ask NEVER give them your phone either. Yes, its risky and YES they told me to choose my flight or unlock the security code to my emails on my cellphone... I told him to "F his Flight and stick it where the sun doesn't shine".

2) NEVER let them see you cry. I know its hard...trust me....maybe I have had 45 strip searches more in my time going home and trust me...as much as I want to cry...I dont...until I get out on the other side and my friends pick me up like Rasem Elnatshe.... then he had to deal with my breakdown. LOL

3) At the time they tell you that you are not going in - start screaming for someone in the airport to call the American Embassy. You have nothing to lose now.... scream at the top of your lungs that you are an American and they are harassing you and denying you entry for no reason but being of Arabic descent."See More

Detained at Ben Gurion: 'Not only do we google you, we read your emails, too!'
mondoweiss.net
On Friday we posted Sandra Tamari's experience of being ignored by the US Embassy as she was denied entry to Israel. Here is another similar story. Najwa Doughman and Sasha Al-Sarabi share their 14-hour nightmare at Ben Gurion airport for the crime of being born to Arab parents.

nachtnebel · Jun 5, 2012

when you see stuff like this, you have to question why we continue to support that country.

DeafBlonde · Jun 5, 2012

nachtnebel said: ↑

when you see stuff like this, you have to question why we continue to support that country.

Didn't Nappy visit there to find out how they did security? Does this give you a clue of what Arabs could face when they visit Amerika?

Mike · Jun 6, 2012

Good rewrite of preceding info ...

Huffington Post: Arab American Visitors Facing New Invasive Measures By Israeli Authorities

Also this -- it isn't just what they do, but how they make a point of humiliating those that they do it to:

Huffington Post: Lynsey Addario, New York Times Journalist, Strip Searched By Israeli Soldiers

Israel's Defense Ministry apologized Monday for the treatment of a pregnant American news photographer who said she was strip searched and humiliated by Israeli soldiers during a security check.

Lynsey Addario, who was on assignment for the New York Times, had requested that she not be forced to go through an X-ray machine as she entered Israel from the Gaza Strip because of concerns for her unborn baby.

Instead, she wrote in a letter to the ministry, she was forced through the machine three times as soldiers "watched and laughed from above." She said she was then taken into a room where she was ordered by a female worker to strip down to her underwear.

In the Oct. 25 letter sent by the newspaper said Addario, a Pulitzer Prize winner who is based in India and has worked in more than 60 countries, had never been treated with "such blatant cruelty."

nachtnebel · Jun 6, 2012

the time is past past when we give these people a blank check. Stop the aid now until they start treating others like human beings. What's next, gas? You'd think this people, of all people, would understand how awful these things are.

Lisa Simeone · Jun 7, 2012

Foreign journalists working in Israel have repeatedly complained of overly intrusive security checks by of Israeli authorities. Israel says the inspections are necessary measures.

Gee, where have I heard that before?

Lisa Simeone · Jun 8, 2012

QUESTION: More on Israel. Yesterday you said you were aware that the Privacy Act waiver had been signed by Ms. Tamari. I’m wondering if you can tell us exactly what the State Department or the Embassy’s version of the conversation was, whether in fact that she was told that they couldn’t help her because she wasn’t Jewish.

State Dep’t official’s ‘Are you Jewish?’ question to US citizen keeps rattling Foggy Bottom

The deportation of Sandra Tamari at Ben Gurion airport and the American embassy's response to her case -- "Are you Jewish?" -- continues to be a news story. The Associated Press's Matt Lee brings it up with the State Department spokesperson every day. "Let me get the facts," says he.

http://mondoweiss.net/2012/06/state...o-us-citizen-keeps-rattling-foggy-bottom.html

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Israel Arab Americans having email, etc., read & being strip-searched on arrival to Israel

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