64 thoughts on “Prof. Heather Bradshaw, Distinguished Neuroscientist or Terrorist? Only Shabak Knows – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Another, and a good, reason for reasonable people to refuse to travel to Israel (including but not limited to travel for the purpose of visiting Israeli Universities).

    Such a boycott would protect the ‘refuser’ from suffering as here described and, more important, tend to protect others from the same fate.

  2. They may have committed a criminal assault by doing this.

    Will ask pertinent question of the relevant Chief Constable.

      1. What amazes me even more after thinking about this further is that El Al must have contacted Hebrew University to verify her claim as a first check, no? You would think, given ALL of the media attention regarding improper holdups at Israeli airports, and the amount of security they claim to have, that mistakes like this would be eliminated from the system altogether. To have an American woman like this strip down nude and touch her unwantedly, based all on incorrect procedures and interpretation, is an egregious error by the State of Israel. To cover up the story with this other rubbish? That’s business as usual.

        1. 1) No one is covering this story, so that is an incorrect statement on your part.

          2) Mistakes happen. Yes, touching a nude person is OK, even to search their insides. If you remember, it wasn’t long ago a terrorist had a bomb inside him (not the underwear bomber) who tried to kill a prince in Saudi Arabia.

          3) That she is an American has nothing to do with Israel’s security.

          4) Improper hold-ups happen — as they say, it’s a fact of life. If these improper hold ups piss you off, perhaps you should realize that these security checks that at times become improper, are a symptom of a disease that is has been created by some Arab countries — Israel simply defends herself. So you may do more good by commenting about why some Arab countries won’t let Israelis into their Airports to begin with.

          1. Yaron, numbered responses:

            (1) An excuse of misidentification is being proffered. Is this not an argument that intends to cover Israel’s ass? A cover up is a lie to conceal a wrong. This, by definition, is a cover up;

            (2) You missed the part where I said that the nude touching was “based all on incorrect procedures and interpretation” – I qualified the statement. I won’t argue back and forth between where we can draw the line on civil liberties and the need to actually check for bombs. But here, the REASON to search was illegitimate. It was, further, an error WHOLLY attributable to El Al. That is why the nude touching was not only wrong, but egregious!;

            (3) That is a statement of pride and ego which does not reflect reality, acknowledged and acceded to 100% by everyone from the bottom to the top of the Knesset. You are now trying to tell me that Israel can continue to bloviate and gnarl at the only country in the world that vetos its massacres/piracies/genocide and lets it continue doing what it’s doing, which is dispossessing a people of land and then occupying them under miserable conditions in hopes that they will leave entirely;

            (4) I agree. No system like this can run perfectly for all these years. But you should note that this is a systematic problem in a country that is accused, by a world majority, of apartheid and genocide policies and illegal occupation. There must be a better way than to detain a RESPECTED and DISTINGUISHED GUEST of a HEBREW UNIVERSITY (is Hebrew University the sham college of Israel or something? They’re treating the institution like its guests dont matter) for 5 hours and subject her to this. Telephones don’t exist in Israel? No correspondence existed whatsoever that this guest was flying in from abroad to lecture? It would seem that if I traveled to Israel to lecture I would have at least some way of establishing to my host country that I was invited there in the first place and didn’t just board the plane with 1 set of clothes and a toothbrush.

          2. # yaron)
            Could you please explain that “disease that has been created by some Arab countries”.

            Talking about airports, I guess you are the brand new Hasbara-boeing 787 arriving from Ben Gourion.

            I wonder whether commenting on Richard’s blog is a compulsory part of the IDF military service.
            Hopefully the average Israeli civilian do not share the extremist political views expressed by many Israelis here. Please tell me that the contributors here don’t represent average opinions.

          3. These apply to your comment just below:

            1) they thought she was a terrorist, she wasn’t. Where the cover-up? You said that the definition of a cover up is to conceal a wrong, where is the attempt to conceal, that would be vital.

            2) Look if they did the search in a way that does not conform to the laws of Israel, then they did wrong. But I don’t see where the law was broken. Also, if you don’t know, El Al has to do what the defense officials instruct them to do. It isn’t the airline that chose to do this.

            3) If you agree that mistakes happen, then you must agree that mistakes are made even by the best. And she was a professor, highly prestigious, but no one is above the law, and everyone should be treated equally, so she received her equal examination from a security officer(s) who, no matter who great in most days he/she/they may be, screwed up.

            No let’s talk common sense here: according to you, El Al employees decided to body strip her. A female officer was involved. It took a long time. She was heavily inconvenienced. I’m not going to say humiliated, because that’s a feeling, that’s subjective from person to person how they feel about a security check. But let’s say that you and she are right. Why would those El Al employees do this????? As an investigator, what would be your answer?

          4. if they did the search in a way that does not conform to the laws of Israel, then they did wrong.

            No, they did the search in Britain, not Israel. So the search has to conform to the laws of Britain. Unless you’re claiming Israel has sovereignty over every square inch where its Shabak/airline security agents work even outside Israel.

            you must agree that mistakes are made even by the best

            Or in this case by the worst, or close to it.

            everyone should be treated equally

            Again, that’s not what you mean. You mean any Israeli Jew should be treated above the law because they’re never stopped & treated the same way. You mean only foreigners & Israeli Palestinians are treated this way.

            I’m not going to say humiliated, because that’s a feeling, that’s subjective from person to person

            OK, do me a favor. Take your pants off. Go into the street. Watch people’s reactions to your naked body. Then tell me feelings of humilitation differ fr. person to person. She was objectively, not subjectively, humiliated by Shabak.

          5. Yaron, the point being made is not that security should be done away with. It’s that the security being provided is half-assed and, in addition, is creating situations where foreigners feel that Israel is hostile to us. They should know within 30 seconds if she is a terrorist or she is not. You don’t think this woman had a blackberry full of emails and texts from her contacts in Israel, at the university, and back home? The reason no one bothered to look at her blackberry was probably because they made her sit around for hours, getting harrased, before even bothering to find out the truth. This is like when a black man gets arrested in a white neighborhood and doesn’t receive the same type of due process. Yaron, this discussion is between me and you so we can stop lying: the security guards probably acted a little racist on top of being suspicious after seeing a line about Iran and Pakistan in her bio, in reference to her father, having nothing to do with her, and didn’t read the sentence right. The fact that it took 5 hours is because they simply don’t give a shit about those they think might be terrorists. You do realize this is a country that kills American activists and protects those that do?

          6. symptom of a disease that is has been created by some Arab countries

            BIG comment rule violation. That is not only false, but patently racist. Terrorism is as inherent in Israel’s approach to its Arab enemies as any alleged terror directed at Israel by any Arab country.

            You’ve published WAY too many comments today & threaten to hog the threads. I’m imposing the 3 comment a day rule on you for the foreseeable future. No comments over three starting tomorrow. Do not violate this.

            The way a major comment rule violation works is that if you violate the rules seriously again you will either be moderated or banned. Read the rules & follow them.

      2. Male bursting in during a female strip search and verbally abusing the female: yes.

        Not sure that El-Al have legal right to conduct their own strip searches in the UK at all.

        1. I honestly don’t know what the law states in Israel. Remember, the laws vary in different countries. After reading several versions of this story, although a male came in (according to her version), it was never said if that male had had sight of her at any time.

          1. it was never said if that male had had sight of her at any time.

            Ridiculous. It was an examining room. What do you think she was doing? Hiding behind a screen? She was being examined by a female officer & had her bra removed. The jackass came in. He didn’t care whether she was undressed, but continued berating her despite her condition.

  3. No airline is perfect. But as the target of many successful terrorist attacks, Israel must protect itself. If you consider the number of people coming into Israel on a yearly basis, a few dozen pissed off individuals is not a big deal.

    Is it a big inconvenience and rude? Yep. But if security has even .01% of doubt of someone’s identity, they will do what they have done. And in the end, she did get on the flight, did she not?

    And finally, it seems what may have not helped her situation, and maybe even triggered the whole thing, is that her luggage did not have the right tags/documentation.

    But for all those of you that want to stop coming to Israel because she defends herself, please, I hope all few dozen of you do so.

    1. as the target of many successful terrorist attacks

      Nonsense. We have the same dumb arguments raised every time there is such an outrageous assault on human decency by El Al or Israeli Shin Bet security. There have been no successful attacks within the U.S. either & our security doesn’t force women to take off their bra or allow male security officials into rooms with half naked travelers while they’re undressed. Our security doesn’t usually prevent a professor from attending an academic conference merely because she has the same name as someone else. Such bufoonery doesn’t make a country safe. It merely harrasses innocent parties unecessarily.

      Got news for you. It isn’t a few dozen. Virtually every Israeli Arab citizen leaving or entering Israel is treated in a humiliating manner (just read the multiple posts I’ve written about this). Virtually every traveler with an Arab name recieves the same poor treatment. Those are thousands, rather than dozens of travelers. Not to mention those travelers who have their passports temporarily stolen & cloned by the MOssad.

      With standards like the ones you’re embracing Israel will never enter the realm of normal nations. It will forever remain the bastard child on the outside looking in. A normal country doesn’t treat its visitors this way.

      You misunderstand her situation entirely. It had nothing to do with tags or documentation. Her luggage was separated fr. her right fr the beginning. The stewardess who berated her did so after she arrived in Israel & did so claiming her luggage got lost because it didn’t have the proper tags. Those tags she would’ve put on them had she had them to begin with. Remember they were confiscated?

      Yaron is inviting anyone who is offended by Heather Bradshaw’s treatment to refuse to visit. He thinks this will amount to a few dozen people. Yaron is the proverbial horse wearing blinders. He doesn’t see what he doesn’t want to see. Doesn’t understand how many millions of people in the world would be deeply offended by such treatment of an innocent academic coming to honor a distinguished Israeli professor. To this, Yaron says: if it bothers you, go fuck yourselves (or the equivalent). Nice, Yaron. You’re the MFA’s delight. Good for Israeli PR & tourism.

      other nightmarish scenarios from other countries?

      Off-topic Yaron. You know you’ve hit a hasbarist in the gut when he deflects the discussion by “you’re a bunch of hypocrites because you don’t denounce _______ as much as you do Israel.” Beyond pathetic.

      you folks are just Israel haters.

      You’re a half-step from being banned. Did I force Bradshaw to remove her bra? Did I confiscate her luggage? Did I berate her & treat her like shit? Seems to me your beef is with the Shabak which treated Heather Bradshaw like shit & created this embarrassing situation. If they hadn’t messed up it would’ve been just another boring night for me with no injustice to point out. I probably would’ve published a Tel Aviv travelogue here.

      I wonder how long before my comments get removed

      Call me an Israel hater again & you’ll see how long it takes.

      criminal assault for checking a person body

      A 50 minute body search during which a male official violates the detainee’s person privacy while undressed is a serious privacy violation.

      1. Israel did nothing wrong, even in this highly public incident. For one, her bags were mislabeled/tagged. You did good research, but no one knows if that was the trigger to the whole incident. Israel has a right to question her, and to even bar her entry without explanation. This is no different than the US putting someone on a no-fly list, and good luck getting off of it. Further, if Israel wants to strip search someone, as well as their body cavities, they have the right to (especially after the bomber who tried to kill the Saudi Arabian prince by putting a bomb inside his body). What exactly did Israel do wrong here? So she isn’t a terrorist, they didn’t catch someone, they often don’t catch someone. So what do you want them to do? Profile? Yeah, they do that too!! I guess the lesson is, if you are arab from a poor area, or a rich professor from America, you may be searched! What a great message to send any would be terrorist! 🙂 And no cavity is beyond reach of the Israeli fingers!

        1) “our security doesn’t force women to take off their bra or allow male security officials into rooms”

        1a) Israel is not the US, nor is it Iran, nor any other country but itself, and it has its laws, and they must be respected or one need not come.
        1b) No where does it say that the male who came into the room (according to her version of the story) had sight of her body–her certainly may have not.

        2) “Our security doesn’t usually prevent a professor… Such bufoonery doesn’t make a country safe.”
        2a) This is your opinion, and Israel is allowed to have hers. But it is hers that counts, you see, because she makes the final decisions. And again, this isn’t “your” secrurity, it is Israel. Every country has their own according to their defense needs.

        3) “Virtually every Israeli Arab citizen leaving or entering Israel is treated in a humiliating manner (just read the multiple posts I’ve written about this)…Those are thousands”
        3a) Body searches, cavity searches, holding you up not just for hours, but perhaps for days — it’s all a risk when you wish to enter the State of Israel.
        3b) Thousands? Link it or it didn’t happen. There may be thousands of Israeli-Arabs entering Israel, but not thousands of illegal searches. And mind you, the law does matter, no one should be above it, but you seem to wish there were a different set of laws. If so, why don’t you take your wishes to Iran, so they will let Jews in? Or other arab countries that don’t even Jews get into their country?

        4) “Not to mention those travelers who have their passports temporarily stolen & cloned by the MOssad.”
        4a) OK, so the CIA publicly and repeatedly admits that by the mandate put upon it, it is allowed to liquidate their own American citizens abroad, if security reasons justify it. That’s sounds a bit worse than cloning, does it not? Now go bug the CIA.
        4b) Don’t be naive, because it is common knowledge that Intelligence and military agencies all over the world create false documents, it wouldn’t even be inconceivable to imaging that those countries may have even made the passports for them. Regardless, cloning passports is a very mild action compared to other activities done by all intelligence organizations.

        5) “A normal country doesn’t treat its visitors this way.”
        5a) The way it treats some of its visitors is its defense mechanism. But more than that, its defense mechanism is simply a symptom. The disease? Some of the policies and actions of the countries around them — they want Israel’s destruction. If you TRULY want to make a difference, you should put the pressure on the Arab countries to modernize, ask them to become normal, and watch Israel move more toward the normalcy you desire for her.
        5b)I’m not necessarily here to talk about everything Israel has done wrong, because we can easily stretch that out to everything every country has done wrong to anyone. I’m zeroing in on this incident.

        6) “Yaron is inviting anyone who is offended by Heather Bradshaw’s treatment to refuse to visit.”
        6a) I am not only inviting, I am wishing, and I am hoping.
        6b) Anyone who is offended by the treatment of her is a very weak individual; in my mind, they cannot grasp just how few incidents like this actually occur in comparison to the number of people who enter Israel on a daily basis. These weak-minded individuals refuse to accept the fundamental concept that no one is perfect. And for someone to not be perfect in the name of security, that is excusable. But not catching a terrorist is not a mistake, simply a part of the strategy. If they did not check her after being told to do so, that would be a mistake.

        7) “You’re a half-step from being banned.”
        7a) For what, for having the legitimate opinion that you are Israeli haters because I don’t see any airport complaints about other countries? Why is that not legitimate?
        7b) Please, I have created a program that can change my IP every 30 seconds, and have countless e-mails, this is a very childish threat, you really shouldn’t make it. Rather, you should politely explain warn what is not allowed, and simply strike it out from the record.

        8) “other nightmarish scenarios from other countries?”
        8a) Not off topic. This goes hand-in-hand with my comment #7. Show my some of your complaints regarding Arab policies which cause Israel to have this type of security you are complaining about? Just in the last couple of weeks more rockets were shot out of Gaza, and Hamas said basically “It’s not us… it’s rebels.” Now THAT has nothing to do specifically with airport security, but my point is that the security situation around Israel is what is causing this, so where is your complaints of the other side?

        9)”Did I berate her & treat her like shit”
        9a) If Israeli security wants to psychologically scare her, they should, to see if she is a terrorist. In fact, until there is 10 years peace with the whole Arab world, and they recognize Israel in peace for that long, should Israel consider changing its good policy.
        9b) That’s her story of events, although I will say that if they simply talked in a mean way but without any security-related purpose, then that is unfortunately no different than having an impolite exchange at a restaurant with a server, or anything else. I would imagine if she is so offeneded by taking off her clothing, which they had every right to do, she probably said some mean things to them first.

        10) “Call me an Israel hater again & you’ll see how long it takes.”
        10a) You and others on here may, in fact, be true Israeli haters, notice I did say the word may. What will tell me you are not? If I can see some of your frustration aimed at the other side, link me anything, show me any comment from any year, any site that you posted that shows your frustration on the other side. Notice I’m keeping this very open, I’m not saying find me somewhere where you say that Jews should be allowed into Iran. You see, I’m not even saying you should be “fair & balanced.” You can be totally lop-sided to one side. But if you are so one-sided that you never expressed your frustration with anyone on the other side of Israel, that is very worrying to me, and tells me you are in fact an Israel hater. So, please take a moment, and put a link in your response, I’d like to know you aren’t.

        10) “A 50 minute body search during which a male official violates the detainee’s person privacy while undressed is a serious privacy violation.”
        10a) The whole incident may have taken 50 minutes. However, if they suspected she may have a device implanted in her body (like the terrorist who tried to kill the Saudi Arabian prince) maybe it really did take that long. Everyone knows it doesn’t take 50 minutes to check a body. Unless they couldn’t perhaps find a woman to do it and had to wait — that is possible.

        If you read this far down, here I’ll give you this, although you didn’t mention it, the only thing wrong that I think they did was that the flight attended gave her attitude for holding up the flight. That isn’t fair, since security had to check her. And even if it is her fault that the bags’ tags triggered the whole thing, she still shouldn’t have gotten attitude from the flight attended. Of course, she is one pissed off person, and this is her story of events.

        Maybe the UN Human Rights council wants to open up an investigation, and while they are at it, they should ask the CIA why they kill their own citizens abroad… for security reasons, of course.

        1. This comment is far, far, far too long. Read the comment rules & make your comments short and succinct. I warn you you are now on a very short leash.

          her bags were mislabeled/tagged.

          This is the 2nd time you have said this & not only isn’t it true, it had nothing to do with her mistreatment. In repeating yrself you’ve again violated the comment rules. You make a pt once, not twice. Twice is one time too many.

          no one knows if that was the trigger to the whole incident.

          In fact, we DO know that her luggage had NOTHING to do with her abuse at the hands of the Shabak/El Al security.

          This is no different than the US

          The U.S. would never place a Hebrew University professor on a no fly list or mistreat her if she tried to enter this country even if she had the same name as someone else. While our immigration system at airports isn’t perfect, it would never abuse such a figure. But Israel would treat an American professor that way in a heartbeat & for no good reason.

          if Israel wants to strip search someone

          Any jackass even a Shin Bet jackass should know that you don’t need to strip search a blond haired blue eyed brain researcher from Indiana University about to address an academic conference at the Hebrew University in honor of one of its distinguished professors. Only jackasses like you & the Shin Bet don’t get that.

          no cavity is beyond reach of the Israeli fingers!

          That is one of the most repulsive phrases & images I’ve read in some time. Purely repulsive.

          Every country has their own according to their defense needs.

          Israel’s treatment of foreign guests or even its own Israeli Palestinian citizens doesn’t serve a “defense” need. In the case of the latter it serves a politcal need to humiliate them & remind them who has power over their every move. In the former case, it is purely an arbitrary exercise of power. There is no conceivable justification that can be made for detaining & invading the privacy of Prof. Bradshaw. None. And even if the Shin Bet had nabbed the other Heather Bradshaw that it thought was a potential terrorist, SHE wouldn’t have been a security risk either.

          not thousands of illegal searches.

          In the last 2 years or so I’ve found at least 5 such stories in the Israeli media. And these are stories about newsworthy individuals of some status who complained to the authorities & had access to the media (a professor, a Supreme Court justice’s daughter, etc.) The chances that the cases of avg. Israeli Palestinians with no special status or access to media are harrassed in cases numbering into the thousands is VERY GOOD.

          no one should be above it

          Actually, Israeli Jews ARE above the law because they remain largely untouched in such matters. Their luggage is not coded for search, they are not detained specifically for interrogation for no reason. They largely sail through. ALL Israeli Palestinians are targeted for special harrassment, luggage searched, extensive interrogations. So THEY are not above the law, but Jews are, unless of course your last name is Chomsky or Finkelstein in which case you’re treated AS IF you are Palestinian.

          the CIA publicly and repeatedly admits that by the mandate put upon it, it is allowed to liquidate their own American citizens abroad

          First, OFF TOPIC. Way off topic. Second, the president has designated the CIA to kill one specific citizen, a decision I completely disagree with. Third, that decision is being appealed to our Supreme Court which, unlike yrs, has a reasonable chance of possibly ruling this decision unconstitutional.

          it is common knowledge that Intelligence and military agencies all over the world create false documents

          That’s not what Israel did. It actually created real documents thus breaking the laws of several countries in doing so. It also stole the real passports of its own citizens & cloned them thus endangering them in the process to the victims’ utter consternation. Can you find a single incident of any foreign intelligence service doing anything so brazen?? No, I didn’t think so.

          cloning passports is a very mild action

          Even friendly nations like Britain, Australia & Ireland didn’t think so. They expelled the local Mossad station chiefs for this “very mild action.”

          the countries around them — they want Israel’s destruction.

          NO country around Israel wants its destruction. Period. And btw, there are several countries whose governments Israel would dearly love to destroy, notably Iran and Gaza (not quite a country, but still relevant).

          ask them to become normal

          I actually ask Israel to become normal. And your comment is racist again violating the comment rules.

          Anyone who is offended by the treatment of her is a very weak individual

          Now, you’re beginning to disgust me. I find you to be offensive. You are banned. But before I do so I’ll respond to the rest of your comment here.

          you are Israeli haters

          Another comment rule violation. Banned twice.

          I have created a program that can change my IP every 30 seconds, and have countless e-mails

          Banned thrice. BTW, you don’t understand how my comment system works & your comments won’t be published unless I approve them no matter how many stealth IP addresses you have. But you know this type of stalking behavior which you’re threatening does wonders for your crediblity among my readers & really promotes Israel’s image. So you keep it up.

          Show my some of your complaints regarding Arab policies

          Not my job to write the kind of blog you’d like me to write. It’s my job to write the blog I want to write. You’re welcome to write a blog about whatever you like. That’ll be your blog, not mine.

          more rockets were shot out of Gaza, and Hamas said basically “It’s not us… it’s rebels.” Now THAT has nothing to do specifically with airport security, but my point is that the security situation around Israel is what is causing this

          Heather Bradshaw was abused because a few rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza? Say what?

          If Israeli security wants to psychologically scare her, they should

          You’re a brute & a bully. LIkely a Shabak interrogator yrself.

          You know, I can’t be bothered to wade through the rest of yr bullshit. You’re banned.

          1. Curious Richard, have you sensed a hasbara effort to manipulate the visibility of certain posted discussions with filler text as well? I sometimes feel as though they spam so that important discussions are lost in a sea of text.

          2. Wow, so you can ban comments. What a charming concept. But I think time will prove Yaron’s arguments are not magically made less valid.

            The point he’s making is that this micro incident proves very little about Israel. It only means that mistakes happen and the consequences can be unpleasant.

            Do you honestly think something similar could never have happened in the US, Britain, or France? Would you declare this post irrelevant if an equivalent incident did surface?

          3. I ban people because they violate the comment rules, not because I disagree w. their views.

            In those particular circumstances Prof. Bradshaw found herself, no that couldn’t have happened anywhere but Israel. In those other countries authorities would’ve realized their mistake on seeing her documentation & would’ve allowed her expedited boarding. Yes, there are mistakes made outside Israel w. confusing identities. But I don’t believe anything as egregious as what happened to Bradshaw could’ve happened anywhere but Israel. For one, even the supposed other Heather Bradshaw wouldn’t be on any security list since she wouldn’t have done anything wrong in any other country but Israel.

  4. And by the way, when was the last time any of you ever complained about other nightmarish scenarios from other countries?

    They happen everyday; you folks are just Israel haters. To prove me wrong, feel free to point out where you commented or blogged otherwise about other airports.

    I wonder how long before my comments get removed…

    1. Wow can I hate Adolf Hitler anymore? Not only was he a stain in human history but now he’s rendered it so that Zionist Jews are untouchable, even when they’re murdering, committing terrorism, or fondling American Professors at airports for being the daughter of a humanitarian scientist that worked in poor regions of Iran and Pakistan. I can no longer say anything about the State of Israel’s ACTUAL EVILS and WRONGDOINGs, because several decades before I was even born, some shmuck got financial backing from many US and European corporations to crystallize Europe, of his own genetic variation, for an Aryan version he didn’t himself fall under (ahh, human psychology…). Because of what happened between 1939-1945 in Europe, I can no longer address grievances against the successors of the victims of the Holocaust as they begin acting in ways they should know better than ANYONE not to act. Because of that, Heather Bradshaw, a respected professor and distinguished guest of Hebrew University, is stripped naked and fondled.

      Where does this immunity end? When does the WORLD stop paying for the sins of other people’s fathers?

      1. You still haven’t taken up my challenge.

        I said *link it.*

        You see, if you really cared about these issues, and not so focused only on Israel, you would have made comments on the internet in a variety of places and times, and on different issues.

        Show me where you cite frustrations with “the other side.” You see, because it is the other side that has caused Israeli to be so… security-conscious. You know what I mean. Just… one, of you showing your frustrations with the other side.

        I’m only asking for one. Link it or it never happened.

        I’m not trying to be smart, I just really want to know.

        1. LOL well Yaron, I mean I can DEFINITELY link you to articles where I’ve commented on things as mundane as funny looking electronics, damned the Iranian government and threatened to smoke every hair off Khamenei’s face, thought a youtube video was funny, and more.

          I will side with Israel 100% if Israel had been sitting there for 2000 years and as the result of a Nazi ethnic cleansing of Europe of Palestinians, funded by US and European corporations and appeasement, several million European Arabs (fictional) were now trying to flood former Palestine, of 2000 years ago, to reestablish a homeland OVER those living there.

          I will side with the truth no matter what. That is my one rule. I will turn my own mother in if she is a killer. I will feel awful for doing so, but justice demands it. What is morally right is morally right and that definition cannot be bent.

  5. I’ve just scrolled through you blog for the first and last time – you are another one of those leftist hate Israel Jews who represent what, about 1% of the Jewish population (it’s you and Noam Chomsky and Finkelstein, dude). You keep on writing, and Israel and the Jews will keep on living.

    1. I’d take that as a compliment, “dude.”

      But I wonder where George got that statistic? Polls indicate that most diaspora Jews (like 70%) agree with Richard and his ilk. It’s only the Israel lobby, with its huge propaganda machine, that tries to pretend otherwise. And it looks like they’ve really brainwashed George (and his ilk).

    2. George,

      What part of this article indicates that Richard Silverstein hates Israel Jews? You exemplify the common uninformed diaspora Jews who thinks the world is complaining about Palestinians dying under Israeli guns because we have some inherent hatred for Jews. Mind you, many of us are so far detached from Europe or any racism against Jews in our own history that we’re perplexed as to why we are called anti-Semite when we point out things like:
      (1) Hebrew University invited a distinguished professor to lecture in Israel;
      (2) the professor arrived and was allegedly mistaken for another woman by the same name with anti-Israeli ties, except that no other woman by the same name exists in the United States with any sort of activism of the sort (I have done better background checks than most of you will do, I am sure); and,
      (3) even though El Al could have contacted Hebrew University to sort this out in minutes, the woman was detained for at least 5 hours, stripped naked and, at least, battered and molested.

      Tell me what this has to do with Judaism?

  6. what do you want from the Shabak? What’s more important, protecting Israel or worrying about someone’s feelings?

    Maybe the Americans should have been more like this when letting Mohammed Atta into the country….

    I’ve had to deal with crazy security procedures in Europe for flying to Israel… had to open my luggage, etc… listen, it’s better than the alternative, what can I say…

    1. what do you want from the Shabak?

      Decency. Respect for privacy and human rights. Competency. For starters. Anything wrong with those values? Or do they bother you or do you find them extraneous.

      It’s not Heather Bradshaw’s feelings I’m worried about. I’m worried about the violations of her privacy. These are not feelings. They are acts. They are unacceptable, not to mention the display Shabak’s incompetence by misidentifying her.

      had to open my luggage

      I’ll make you a deal. I’ll arrange for you to travel using a passport with an Arab name and see whether opening yr luggage is the worst thing that happens to you. Again I’ve got around 8 instances of egregious violations of civil liberties by Israeli airline security personnel all described in diff. posts here. This isn’t a minor matter. Its routine.

    2. “Maybe the Americans should have been more like this when letting Mohammed Atta into the country….”

      When I see things like this from Israelis it makes me question the stories about the Mossad van taping the 9/11 attack from NJ, a story that has several layers of truth to it. It also makes me frustrated. I remember Bibi’s quote about how 9/11 was great for the Israelis as Americans now understand how Israelis feel about “terrorism” (the act of complaining or resisting against a brutal occupation of your land and territory so that your people/resources can be blundered).

      Tell me, how as an American, I should understand why this woman was detained for 5 hours, stripped naked, and molested when a call to Hebrew University should have cleared things up in an instance. She didn’t have ANY correspondence to show that they expected her? Accommodations? Nothing? This is so fishy and stinks like a situation where Israel simply thought this person was another “terrorist” (see above definition) and treated her accordingly. Time to reap what you sow.

      1. Pls can the 9/11 conspiracy theories.

        The article only says Bradshaw removed her bra & that a male official barged into the room at that time, not that she was stripped naked. Let’s stick to the facts as we know them.

        1. Richard,

          This is your blog and your property, so I respectfully apologize for the tangent AND the hyperbole. I got carried away and I am glad that I got called on it. I see that you have a clear and unconvoluted message. You are PRO-Israeli. I view you as a GENUINE Israeli who wants the GOOD of the nation, BUT also realizes that this is being done in wrong ways now and wants to simply course correct. I am not trying to make you seem anything but with my own views, a potential tangent here. At the same time, I have to defend myself and say that I was purposely careful in not disemminating sheer lies. As you may already know, Fox News had reported that the New York Times reported five Israelis were detained after cops were called when a woman saw them taping the 9/11 disaster from New Jersey and jumping up and down and cheering right after the explosions. Yossi Melman of Haaretz reported the same (Monday, September 17, 2001 issue – reprinted here: http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/01/09/WTC.html). I am not trying to create fabrication or tangent. I will be alright with you deleting this reply. I just needed to inform you I am not a new troll or something like that. I am a long time reader and fan, and I am simply now interested in being part of the discussion. I hope that I have not caused you any inconvenience.

          Sincerely,
          Persian Advocate

          PS – the nomer can be aggressive sounding to some. Really, it was just a blend of the fact that I’m an Iranian-American and an attorney. I advocate for truth and humanity. I will side with it – no matter what, even my own death. I hope that you continue your fight. You are a very good man, sir. Kudos and more!

          1. I’m not actually an Israeli, rather an American Jew. But I’d agree with the other specific things you said about me.

            About 9/11 conspiracy theories, the less said the better fr. my pt of view.

          2. Yes, sorry for not making that distinction. I really liked the concept of “kol Yisrael erevim zeh ba-zeh (‘all Israel is bound one to the other’)”, which I first read in your comment policy. I assumed this also meant that you would be okay if I referred to you as Israeli, even though I’ve read you live in the States, as I do. I am an American Iranian (I prefer to say American first as it only makes sense since this is my HQ lol), but sometimes refer to myself as Persian or Iranian just because I suppose that is a large part of my identity. Of course, as a matter of respect there is no chance I will be really referring to you on the basis of nationality or religion in the future, rather than your name.

            -PA

          3. I want to make a distinction bet. “Israeli” and “Jewish.” Many Jews & anti-Semites deliberately confuse the two as if they’re the same & they’re not. I am a supporter of Israel, though a critical one. But I am Jewish first, or Jewish-American, however you choose to put it.

          4. Thank you for the clarification. I learned a lot from reading your comment policy in and of itself. Particularly from item 5, which I’ve found myself to be violative of, but without, you know, the hateful or malicious intent. Purely as a means of expressing my outrage or passionate feelings towards what is happening have I used terms like Zionazi. I recognize better why this is wrong now and will refrain in the future. Before, I felt as though the comparison would actually HELP to better communicate, as a means of garnishing empathy I suppose, the Palestinian plight. This is obviously not so.

  7. and how many times do the security officials in the states pull a grandma out of line at the airport for a full body search?

    a mistake was made….why is this a big deal?

    when i was 17, i worked for a local pol during a campaign

    i and a few other teens were doing the door to door thing, and about an hour in, an officer stopped us

    seems that some kids had been seen vandalizing a building the day before…we apparently fit the discription

    he had us all assume the position…and kept us on a curb for an hour while he checked our story

    we were upset and scared….but those things happen….everywhere

    1. how many times do the security officials in the states pull a grandma out of line at the airport for a full body search?

      I’d say it’s unlikely it’s ever been done unless her last name is bin Laden.

      those things happen….everywhere

      Again, my invitation is open to you. Let’s get you a passport with an Arab name, send you to Israel, have you tweet about yr experience in the Ben Gurion holding cell & then see how you feel about it. Until then, you’re a hypocrite because you have no idea what it’s like to be a security detainee under Shabak supervision. No friggin’ idea.

      1. American immigration officials did grab and heavily abuse a Miss Savinder Singh, from Hitchin, for more than 24 hours, during which time she was manacled hand and feet and denied water.

        Her reason for visiting the States?
        To make a film for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office about Anglo-US relations.

        Blair, typically, would not allow the FCO to make a serious protest, but her MP, Peter Lilley QC, did as I recall.

    2. mccarthy,

      Here’s a nice story for you from Israel. I live in Yaffo, my landlord who lives on the bottom floor is an Arab Muslim. He has four married daughters and two younger sons, the older one’s name is Samir. Some four years ago, when Samir was just under eighteen, my landlord called me up to tell me that his wife received a phone call from the police saying that Samir had been arrested and was being held in a police station somewhere (her Hebrew isn’t that good and the policeman who called wasn’t interested if she wrote it down or not). I got home as soon as I could and after calling every station we found out that he was held in Northern TA, in a police station in Ramat Ha’hayal.
      My landlord and I drove over there, we arrived at around 18:30. We tried talking to the policemen but they wouldn’t give us the time of day and wouldn’t even tell us why Samir was being held. We got in touch with an attorney and after she made some calls they grudgingly told us that he was suspected of breaking into cars and that they were holding him in custody for the night (it was around 22:00, we were kept in the dark up to that point) before bringing him to court the following day. I pleaded with them and they let us see him for a few minutes while he was transferred to the cells.

      The attorney went to see him that same night and she reported that he hadn’t committed any offense whatsoever. A policeman pulled them over for no reason and searched their car. He found a screwdriver and battery operated drill and arrested them. They weren’t speeding at the time, the papers were in order and Samir was driving the friend’s mom’s car because the friend’s license was suspended and they wanted to surprise her with a new stereo (hence the tools).

      So anyway, we went home, that landlord and his wife did not sleep a wink all night. The next morning he showed up in juvenile court at 8:00AM, two hours before the hearing. He met up with the attorney at the hearing but the something strange happened. Samir didn’t show up and the police had no idea where he was. The attorney made some calls and was finally told that the police decided to release him without charge, and that his father can come and pick him up from the police station on the other side of town. When his father arrived there he was told that they sent Samir to the court after all. The attorney had to shout at them again to make them return him to where his dad was waiting.

      When I got home, I opened up Ynet news on the internet and suddenly everything clicked. There was a story about David Tzur, ex Tel-Aviv chief of police who saw two Arab teenagers steal a radio from a parked car near Petah Tikva the previous day. He tried to make a citizen’s arrest but they threw a screwdriver at him and ran away. As a result apparently, all the policemen in the Tel-Aviv area were busy looking for two Arab teenagers in a Mazda with a screwdriver in their possession. That’s why they brought Samir to a station in northern Tel-Aviv closer to Petach-Tikva despite arresting him in southern Tel-Aviv. They arrested the real offenders that evening but despite that they held Samir overnight to check whether they can link him to something illegal.

      Yeah, you’re right, these things happen everywhere. An hour on the curb sucks.

  8. Thanks for sharing this information.
    This ‘incident’ shows more than obvious that Israel has turned into a racist state and that decent people should boycott Israel in the broadest sense of the word.

  9. RE:”Is this any way to run an airline (or security regime)?” – R.S.
    MY COMMENT: It might depend on how much competition one has. Shin Bet / Shabak pretty much has a monopoly. El Al not quite so.

  10. I feel bad for the women, tragically enough i understand she flew last Thursday, and if you remember that was when last terror attack was taking place.
    that means everyone was on high alert, because elal receive note of such events.
    then you get a passenger who’s luggage was given the wrong tags, which is an anomaly and triggers all alerts, and here you go.
    yes it’s unfortunate that a male walked in, i have no idea why it happened, neither do you, was there a women in the room as well as required ?
    i was searched to, while traveling on official business as an office, it was quite an experience.

    1. you get a passenger who’s luggage was given the wrong tags, which is an anomaly and triggers all alerts

      That’s bull crap & you know it. But there must be some Hasbara central because you’re the 2nd apologist to circulate the same bogus-shill info. There were no wrong tags. Not mentioned at all in the article except as a footnote at the end by a stewardess who alleged that Bradshaw was to blame for losing her luggage. No proof whatsoever that this is what happened. But you people must be on El Al’s, Shabak’s or MFA’s payroll to roll out this nonsense.

      was there a women in the room as well as required

      Didn’t even bother to read the quote fr. the article featured in the post did you? The answer is in the quote. What does it matter whether there was a woman in the room? Does it make it somehow less an affront if there was? Are you fond of exhibitionism in front of Shabak by flashing your privates with other women present? Not many women I know are. But if it doesn’t bother you, that’s OK.

        1. That makes no sense. First of all, this is fourth hand information. Second, of course Bradshaw didn’t have any luggage documentation or tags. Her luggage was confiscated in Luton airport. How could they have given her any documentation? The luggage once again asshole & for the umpteenth time had nothing to do with it. Are you dense or just stupid?

  11. Richard,

    You likely hit the bullseye with your estimate that the paragraph summarizing her father’s work in tribal villages of Pakistan and Iran was the reason why any flag was raised and her travel plans delayed. Likely, some peach fuzzed grunt who was busy updating his Facebook while Googling about her, put in the call to have her detained and didn’t realize the act would send this woman into the status of being what Mandela called the “undignified position of being the skunk of the world” right inside one of the most “advanced and secure” airports in the world.

    Suffice it to say, Israel is the most racist nation in the world right now and has enacted something like 62 years of policies to prove it. It’s fun to watch the state squirm to try to explain why it detained the wrong neuroscientist. The global populace wants Israel to know: YOU are the skunk of the world right now because you’re acting like it. Take a bath and behave, child!

    1. If you think Israel has racist policies, and it’s your right to have that opinion as you know yourself, then I say it is because the countries around her have ultra-racist policies.

      If you complain about their policies, and they moderate theirs, watch Israel’s over time, moderate as well.

      In fact, why don’t you go to Iran tomorrow, take a loud speaker, and try saying that on their streets! Good Luck!

      1. As a matter of argument, you can never say that what Israel did was less wrong because Iran’s policies are absurd. In fact, because this type of argument is so often used, I’m about to write a form-reply to save myself the inconvenience of telling you what you ALREADY know but pretend not to for appearance sake.

        Sure, Iran’s policies are brutal, but they are not racially or religiously motivated. If you are being intellectually honest, they are actually politically motivated. The minority groups often are secessionist interested groups that outside enemies of the regime actively fund (See Seymour Hersh’s article about that). In Iranian culture, we celebrate our diversity and histories. We love our Jewish community as a society and do not exhibit some of the anti-Semitic qualities commonplace in other areas. It’s because our Jews have been there for nearly half the age of our civilization. They are us as much as we are them. Some of my favorite memories are my visits in Tehran to my grandma when my red-headed curly haired friend, Danny, would run down and we’d go around the streets doing mischief. His family was Jewish and mine Muslim. We never made it an issue and neither did our neighbors. We don’t talk to our Iranian Jews as if they are ANY different, because they are not. They have their own endearing qualities, we seek to learn from them and share our knowledge as well. The Iranian regime are lower than cockroaches, we won’t even define them as human. But this does not make some of Israel’s policies less racist. Mostly, I’m wondering why the Haredim took the street to protest a court ruling that they had to share a school with *gasp*, a Sephardic or Mizrahic Jew. There are reports of non-Ashkenazi IDF soldiers not being allowed into clubs in Tel Aviv with the rest of their batallion.

        How do you know when a country is being racist? When they start discriminating against their servicemen. In America, we have issues with allowing gays in the military. Really. These people want to give up their lives for the country and we won’t let them. America is an anti-Gay country, and it’s shameful. You can go ahead and admit that the prevailing racist behavior by the government of Israel is there and must stop.

  12. Gentlemen.
    The Police National Computer initially barred concerned officers from even reading this article, because of the fruity language in the comments section.

    This obstacle having been worked around, by a concerned citizen shielding his eyes whilst preparing a .pdf of the article itself and e-mailing it, the matter is now in the hands of the officer in charge of the Bedfordshire police detachment at Luton Airport and the Divisional Commander for South Bedfordshire.

    It would be improper to speculate at this stage whether or not any El-Al staff or managers will face charges or a formal caution, but it is likely that they, and possibly the Israeli government, will be reminded of the 910 year old primacy of English Law in England.

    http://www.tpuc.org/node/293

      1. Bedfordshire Police have jurisdiction at Luton and Cranfield airports.

        It is actually only the railway system, nuclear power stations and MoD premises that have their own police forces. Although, none of these is actually off limits to the relevant local constabulary: Norfolk police investigated the accidental death of a Tornado navigator, for example, rather than leaving the matter to the MoD Police. Usually, no-one wants to impinge on British Transport Police and their own particular expertise when investigating whether a body hit by a class 47 locomotive might have been suicide, accident or murder. It’s not like America: if an incident starts in one location, the local police may pursue the matter to any corner of the kingdom.

        e-mail the control room at

        force.control@bedfordshire.pnn.police.uk

        and the main page has all the phone numbers etc:
        http://www.bedfordshire.police.uk/

  13. If she was wronged why wont she sue immediately ? Why wait ? She was in Longdon not in Thailand she needs to sue quickly no ?

    Any new updates on the situation?

    1. I agree with Richard 100%, disagree with you 95%, and will probably visit Israel soon with some friends to see things for myself on both sides with an open mind. I can understand how some Jews are living in Israel right now with no ill intention. They have lived there for millenia just as in areas of Europe, the Meditteranean and also Iran… I am pretty sure I read a story somewhere on ancient Jews in China. Mel Brooks needs to get on that. Speaking of movies, I loved the movie A Band’s Visit 🙂 But hey, I hate Israel and I just wanna grumble for no reason at all.

      I will tell you what Hamas does VERY wrong. They feed into the circle of violence, which Israel instigates. Their social values don’t promote equality for all individuals in every sense of the word. They don’t take initiative nearly as much as they could. Their rhetoric has become anti-Semitic, but the root of it is political, not shallow. Again, it’s a State policy of Israel to instigate the angry rhetoric.

  14. Just to make sure you understand where this is going, I will no longer be commenting on this blog, or anywhere having to do with you, muchless ever speaking to you or seeing to you. So you can go on with your ridiculous ways. Good bye.

  15. Interesting read for me and must say I agree with every Mr Silverstein says. Just wanted to add my experience of Elal security….

    I fly every ten days to and from Brussels or London to Tel Aviv. I tried Elal twice, both times I was sidelined, ordered to sit in a room until the flight departed. Asked the same silly questions by different staff who did not listen to the answers. Asked for my passport repeatedly and when offered, did not take it. Took everything else for inspection and then left it on a desk in the corner of the room. Asked to walk through a metal detector in a private room 3 times.

    I am a UK citizen, with a Jewish Israeli wife. I have no Islamic countries other than Jordan on my passport. I have no affiliations with any Islamic organisation, I am an Atheist.

    The security was laughable in my situation and an inconvenience. Other Israeli passengers were not asked a single question. I find their profiling dangerous.

    Solution, I now fly with Brussels airlines, they have quick professional security that is the same for everybody. They are cheaper, they have younger planes, they have leather seats, they have a website that works, you can check in online. Of course I still have to battle through Ben Gurion security as a non-Israeli, but my wife comes and shows het id card, works magic! Suddenly I am not a threat!

    Really is quite dull and stupid

    1. Matthew,

      That’s a shame. I have a friend who is a Catholic and wanted to visit the holy sites in Israel. He said there must have been someone watching him, because as soon as he walked through the gate someone, sure enough, stopped him to ask him 1001 questions in a bothersome way.

      It might interest you to know that El Al was on nearly all the major American television networks touting their “great” security methods after everyone started complaining about the body scan devices, and the opt-out that would earn them a molestation instead. Michael Chertoff, the owner of the Security Group making a lot of money off of that, was the very man whose former department failed to fulfill its primary mandate when a Nigerian national lit his crotch on fire in economy class.

      More about Chertoff was revealed from his mother’s obituary:
      “Livia Chertoff, 73, El Al flight attendant

      Services for Mrs. Livia Chertoff, 73, of Delray Beach, Fla., mother of former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Michael Chertoff, will be held at 1 p.m. today in the Kreitzman’s Memorial Home, 1500 Morris Ave., Union. Mrs. Chertoff died Saturday in the Ashbrook Nursing Home, Scotch Plains.

      She was the first airline hostess for El Al Airlines and participated in Operation Magic Carpet, the famous airlift of Yemenite Jews to Israel.

      Mrs. Chertoff also operated L’Artigue, an art gallery in Elizabeth.

      Her son, Michael, served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 through 1987 and as First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1987 through 1990. He was U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1990 through 1994 and during the Whitewater investigation in 1995 and 1996, he was counsel for the Senate Banking Committee.

      Born in Poland, Mrs. Chertoff lived in Palestine and Elizabeth before moving to Florida several years ago.

      Also surviving are three sisters, a brother and two grandchildren. ”

      Source: Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Dec. 21, 1998

      More about that: http://www.rense.com/general63/GCEHER.HTM

  16. I know Professor Bradshaw, and am privy to most of the details of this offensive and disgusting incident. Firstly, at the time of this incident Professor Bradshaw had (with her passport) formal letters of invitation for her lecture both from the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and from the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Do the people in charge of El Al’s security operation in London know how to read? Do they know how to make a telephone call to the Hebrew University or to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, to verify the legitimacy of Dr. Bradshaw’s invitations? Or are they too brain dead? Secondly, the confiscation of Dr. Bradshaw’s purse, wallet, money, baggage, and personal items took place in London, and therefore comes under the aegis of British law. I believe that confiscation of Dr. Bradshaw’s purse, wallet, money, baggage, and personal effects constitute theft under British law (British legal scholars please correct me if I am wrong). I also believe that forcing Dr. Bradshaw to remove her bra and stand naked from the waist up while a male member of El Al’s London staff entered the room constitutes invasion of privacy and sexual assault under British law (again, British legal scholars please correct me if I am wrong). Dr. Bradshaw was so traumatized by this incident that she was reduced to tears. Her hosts at the Hebrew University and at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies were so appalled and outraged at her treatment by El Al that they changed her return flight from Israel back to the United States from El Al to another major international airline whose security procedures are less sexually offensive than El Al’s. To put the icing on the cake, El Al refused to compensate Dr. Bradshaw for her trauma. Nor did El Al even have the basic human decency to apologize to Dr. Bradshaw, until forced to do so by the outrage that emanated from the Hebrew University, the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Even then, the apology was filled with half-baked excuses, and lots of finger-pointing at the Shin Bet. Bottom line? Professor Bradshaw, who is a personal friend and scientific colleague of many of the most distinguished members of the pantheon of world-class Israeli neuroscientists, will never again fly El Al. Nor will most of the other international scientists who were present at the meeting in Jerusalem to which Dr. Bradshaw was flying. Another bottom line? If she wished to pursue it, Professor Bradshaw probably has a legitimate law suit against El Al in the British courts. For theft of personal property, for illegal detainment against her will, and for sexual assault. My personal conclusion? El Al’s London security personnel are a bunch of goons and schmucks.

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