You know, here in the U.S. they often talk about how much certain presidents detested the press and how the press office had a confrontational or hostile relationship with journalists. They’ve got nothing on Israel, where Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Shabak-appointed security detail routinely disrobes female journalists for doing little more than their jobs in covering his press events. In fact, I wrote a post about this months ago and apparently nothing’s changed.
The Foreign Press Association…sent a sharp letter to the Prime Minister’s Office…complaining of multiple humiliating incidents, which the organization claims both impedes foreign reporters’ work, as well as erodes their professional standing.
The FPA denounced what it called “the continued harassment” of foreign reporters…adding that unless policies change, they may stop covering the PMO altogether…
“In the past two days, three female reporters in separate incidents were forced to undress, remove their bras and have them placed through an X-ray machine in front of a group of colleagues. In addition, pocketbooks were emptied in public, with personal items also put on display and X-rayed for everyone to see.
“This type of treatment is unnecessary, humiliating and counterproductive. After repeated appeals and promises by security officials it appears that the Prime Minister’s Office does not have the desire to stop this happening and so the FPA will begin consulting its members over whether the foreign media should no longer cover events at the PM’s Office, as this is the only occasion where this type of incident occurs,” the letter concluded.
What’s laughable is the prime minister’s press flack’s consternation: how could this sort of thing possibly happen? We must stop this right now. You have my word we will. Either he’s playing that old kid’s trick of crossing his fingers behind his back as he promises, or he’s a very poor liar:
Government Press Office Director Oren Helman said that the incidents described in the letter were “disturbing and damaging to Israel’s image,” adding that “this was an embarrassing mishap, which we will try our best never to have happen again. We apologize for any anguish caused to the reporters. This is most certainly not our policy.”
Since taking office in September, Helman added, “The GPO has been taking a series of steps meant to improve the position of the foreign press in Israel. We are trying to implement that to the issue of security checks as well.”
Of course it’s YOUR policy. Who’s policy is it, if not yours? Unless you want to claim that the Shabak agents are acting independently of you. But then again, if that’s so, then who’s the Shabak’s boss? In my naiveté I thought Bibi was the boss and could command the security detail to perform according to his standards. But I guess maybe the Shabak is Bibi’s boss in this matter at least, if not others.
This is yet another indication that Israel does not honor either the press or freedom of the press. Journalists, especially the foreign press who are clearly up to no good and always trying to point out Israel faults (especially the Arab press), are a burden to be suffered. That’s the only way Bibi’s goons could get away with this. And the average Israeli could care less since they rarely read the foreign press except as refracted through an Israeli media source.
I’ve got one suggestion that could nip this problem in the bud. Force the Shabak agents to shed their clothing and empty their pockets before they enter the event itself. Out into the sunlight would come the girlie magazines, condoms, mash notes to their girl friends. That would stop this nonsense cold.
Richard, I have news! When I was strip searched (twice) at Schipol Airport by Israeli El Al security, the rather sweet young woman doing it told me that (a) she was probably as left wing as I was (b) why didn’t I travel, instead of El Al, on KLM since it would be much easier for me and (c) that she knew exactly how I felt because she felt the same way every day when she came to work and had to endure the same humiliation when she was searched and she and her possessions put through machinery.
First, In matters concerning the safety of the Israeli Prime Minister , The Shabak his the boss, just like the secret service is the boss in the US.
Second Given the suicide bombings to which Israel has been subjected, as well as the “underwear bomber” caught on a flight to an American city last year, these are prudent actions which keep the Prime Minister’s office safe from terrorism. If these actions are unsettling to press personnel, they should take up the issue with those who support suicide bombers or who trained and equipped the “underwear bomber”
and last nothing prevents the press from sending their questions (and receiving answers) in writing.
How many suicide bombers have been female foreign journalists?
The female foreign journalists are some of the most “dangerous” you can find. Delegitimizers of the first rank.
Nope, sorry. Doesn’t work that way. Our secret service doesn’t devise ways to torment female foreign journalists. It intrudes as little as possible while maintaining a secure environment for the president. If your security service needs to humiliate women then it’s not doing so for any legitimate security reasons. I’ve never heard of a journalist in a western country hiding a bomb in their clothing. Have you? I’ve never heard of a female journalist in a western country engaging in any act of terrorism in the course of performing her duties. Have you? Or are you claiming that blond haired Scandanavian journalists are liable to be Hamas/Al Qaeda suicide bombers in disguise?
Sure something prevents it. Good journalism. That may be the way journalism was done in the 1700s, but not today. Leaders meet reporters face to face unless they’re afraid of them or hate them so much they refuse. Perhaps the foreign journalists will go on strike & nothing Bibi says will be reported in foreign media. It would be fine with me. Nothing he says is of much interest anyway.
you obviouslly do not remember how the leader of the northern tribes of Afganastan ‘The Lion’ (massoud) was assassinated by two al-qaeda agents posing as legitimate reporters. Its not as if its unthinkablw and the PR coup for arab regimes that seek Israels destruction would be so immense as to be immeasurable. As long as reasonable procedures are taken (rmember-this story is being spun as “humiliation”-isnt that the arab mantra?. If nobody but female security performed the searches and they were conducted in private then so be it. The reporters didnt turn doen the searches did they? they willingly submitted only to turn it into a story itself. what the hell were they there to see bibi for anyway? they didnt mention THAT important task.
You obviously did not read carefully what I wrote. I know perfectly well what happened to Massoud & that’s why I phrased the sentence so that it asked when was the last time such an incident happened in a WESTERN country (which Israel likes to consider itself). Of course things like this can happen in the midst of failed nation states like Afghanistan. Unless you wish to claim that Israel faces similar conditions, then once again the treatment of foreign journalists is garbage.
Oh really? Which ones might that be? Or are you referring to Iran possibly–the country whose nuclear scientists ISRAEL seems to be picking off one by one. Interesting isn’t it that ISRAEL is the one using the tool of assassination & not Iran. So if Iran isn’t trying to assassinate Bibi using blonde Scandanavian reporters who else might?
No actually this story doesn’t need spinning, it’s disgusting enough in its own right not to need any. And the “humilitation” isn’t based on any Arab mantra, but rather the resounding cry of the foreign press corps. Unless that is those mangy Ayrabs have infiltrated the furringers in the foreign press & there’s no longer any diff., which of course racists like you would believe along with Anders Breivik.
And you didn’t bother to read that the reporters’ bras and purses were exposed, emptied & scanned in PUBLIC, not private. The reporters didn’t “willingly submit” to the searches. If you were a reporter you wouldn’t willingly submit to such a thing. You have 2 choices, either you submit & do the job you were sent by yr newspaper to do–cover Bibi’s press junket; or you refused, were kicked out, & didn’t do the job you were paid to do. Gee, I wonder which choice most reporters would make?
I have very little patience for the overt racist nonsense you’re spewing. Read the comment rules & don’t violate them. If you do your time among us may be short.
In 2008 I went to a meeting at 11 Downing Street, which was attended by some senior politicians (including the Home Secretary). Of course there was tight security, but nobody made us take our bras off.
Bear in mind that this wasn’t even a year after the 7/7 bombings in London. The Israeli authorities manage to get away with outrages much worse than the strip-searching of journalists under the guise of security, which people simply accept as a necessary price to pay for their safety. It’s time to question that.
You have a load in your diaper, Nudnik. The whole point of security is to protect. Period. But for a long time Israel has used its security procedures — in almost any sphere you can think of — to punish opponents. I myself have been the victim of a strip search and detention with a group of interfaith peaceniks visiting both Israel and Palestine. I can assure you that the only reason a bunch of elderly church ladies were subjected to the same treatment was punitive. Go clean yourself up, pal. You’re beginning to stink.
“In the past two days, three female reporters in separate incidents were forced to undress….”
I wonder if these three women had any common ethnic or religious origin ? I mean, were they all Scandinavian Protestants ?
Yes, one can imagine what their ethnic origin might be. Or they just may’ve wished to harrass those particular reporters.
At least one of them was an ARAB. Sara Hussein (of Egyptian origin) working for AFP, Agence France-Presse, also called Agence France-Palestine among French right-wing Zionists.
I guess the two others were Scandinavians then …
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=407533
PS. Talking about Scandinavia. I just read the two articles, and particularly the commentaries, on Haaretz about the bombings and the shootings in Oslo. The anti-Muslim commentaries, particularly to the first article, are just disgusting. Particularly now that we know the guy is an ethnic Norwegian nationalist. Others found it good for Norway because of their ‘pro-Palestinian’ stance and the Oslo Accord. Sick people out there.
You’ll be surprized. As a real Israeli nationalist, I think that this is an outrage. The GSS’s unit of VIP protection is known to be the garbage of the Israeli society. Pure assholes!
That said, your linkage between Netanyahu and these scams indicates lack of understanding. These scams are not appointed by Netanyahu, and in fact, he’s afraid of them.
I know for sure that there’s no need to undress journalist for protecting the prim minister. Whatever they do has other purposes….
So easy to talk trash,
In the USA they have Xray machines at airports, that show the TSA agent the person as naked that naked can be.
Yet you decided based on your experience as a Journalist, that the type of security measure selected isn’t necessary.
Amazing.
You’ve been watching too much science fantasy. Just Google the subject and you’ll find images of precisely what a TSA agent sees and it isn’t anything remotely close to what u claim. No naked bodies. Sorry to disappoint. And the Secret Service doesn’t disrobe female foreign journalists covering the White House either.
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=airport+full+body+scanners&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbm=isch&tbnid=Rl5dpwmp0YHC0M:&imgrefurl=http://connect.in.com/full-body-scan-airport/photos-46469540-airport-body-07116d00c7012928.html&docid=rp9cACF0eIOqaM&w=479&h=385&ei=qEQqTqPyLqnWiAK85vivAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=285&vpy=127&dur=2210&hovh=201&hovw=250&tx=172&ty=116&page=9&tbnh=150&tbnw=181&start=131&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:131&biw=1366&bih=667
Please watch, seems like naked to me.
It’s not a human right to participate in the IPM press conference, they are not happy with the procedure, they don’t have to show.
Actually if the entire foreign press corps is not happy with the procedures they don’t have to show either. Let Bibi talk to an empty press gallery. That might change the policy.
And btw, I’d like to arrange for the next time you and your wife go to the movies for a security agent to disrobe her, touch her body ostensibly feeling for explosives, and put her bra publicly through a scanner along with every item in her purse. Then we’ll see how much equanimity you truly have.
It is an OUTLINE of the human body, not an image of a naked human being. And you don’t understand the difference between an X-ray image and forcing women to disrobe & remove their bras in the midst of her colleagues (even if in a separate room)?
I’m glad we agree. I don’t have a problem with nationalism as long as it comes in moderation. Full bore nationalism with no limits is an enemy of reason & tolerance I’m afraid.
I didn’t say the agents were appointed by Bibi. But Bibi is the Shabak director’s boss & if he’s unhappy w. the treatment of journalists he can easily stop this nonsense. But he isn’t unhappy with it. He doesn’t care. In fact, perhaps he even likes tormenting the foreign press corps.
The only problem with “moderation in nationalism” is that nobody does it. I’m afraid nationalism is the crack cocaine of ideologies. Even in a place with toned-down nationalism like, say, Norway…
How many suicide bombings does it take for Israelis to be careful.
The only Israeli prime minister to be assassinated was assassinated by a national-religious Jew. Should all national-religious Jews be strip-searched before entering Bibi’s august presence?