.jpg){kind=small}
mini.jpg)
You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “Israeli-Arab Hebrew University Professor Harrassed, Denied Permission to Attend Academic Conference”.
Tags: palestinians, university
I have, as Professor Kevorkian, endured lengthy delays while my belongings were searched. My son, then nine years old, was pulled out of a security line for a second search. THey went through his backpack, inspected his toys and radio and video games, ran the screening wand all over his body three times. They would not allow me to go and stand with him. His face turned red, he appeared bewildered.
A security guard pushed my hand away from my own purse when I tried to remove an object that the exray caught in the screening. It was so humiating, I wanted to die. She treated me like a common criminal.
This all occured to our family in the Los Angeles Airport, Los Angeles, CA, USA, soon after 9/11. Still, I am hopeful that some of the time would-be terrorists ARE caught and kept from boarding the plans we travel on. I beat down my humiliation and boarded our flight anyway, because we were visiting family.
Thank you for this web site.
Further to this, I wonder how Israelis are dealt with when they fly into Saudi Arabia, Quatar and other Arab countries. I wonder how red-heads are treated when they try to pass through security checkpoints into Oman.
Oh, silly me. Jews and red-heads are not allowed into Arab countries. What was I thinking?
While the story of your “humiliation” is moving & troubling, there is a difference bet. you & the Israeli-Arab professor. She is likely to suffer this type of treatment EVERY TIME she tries to fly out of an Israeli airport AND she is likely to suffer it if she is ever stopped by Israeli police or IDF either in Israel or in the Occupied Territories.
I’m not sure if you’re making a humorous statement that you believe is true. If so, you should know that it is not so much being Jewish that is an issue in Arab countries as being Israeli. You will not be denied entry for being Jewish (how would they know?); but you will be denied entry if you have an Israeli passport (& possibly if you have an Israeli enry stamp in yr. passport).
And to be fully accurate, you will not be denied entry in the “Arab nations” of Jordan or Egypt, either for being Jewish OR Israeli. These distinctions are important as generalizations like the one you made can create false impressions of uniform prejudice among Arab nations which don’t exist.