airport security

Passengers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport (Photo by ChameleonsEye / Shutterstock.com)

High Court greenlights racial profiling at Israel’s airports

High Court rejects petition calling for an end to racial profiling against Arabs at Ben-Gurion Airport, yet refuses to make a principled ruling on the policy as a whole. Israel’s High Court of Justice rejected a petition by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), demanding an end to racial profiling at Ben-Gurion Airport on…

By Edo Konrad March 11, 2015

Ben Gurion Airport. (joshuapiano/CC BY 2.0)

Israel aims to deport French photographer with ‘Arab-sounding’ name

Following Washington’s admission that Israel is being kept out of its visa-waiver program due to discrimination against Arab-Americans, a French citizen is detained for three days under similar circumstances. French Embassy: ‘We’re regularly in touch with the Israeli authorities about these issues.’ A French citizen has been held by Israeli authorities at Ben-Gurion Airport for three…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man April 30, 2014

Passengers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport (Photo by ChameleonsEye / Shutterstock.com)

When it comes to racist border policies, Israel has no leg to stand on

The fuss ‘The Jerusalem Post’ made about its correspondent being denied entry to Saudi Arabia on religious, racial or national grounds is too much for one Arab-American journalist who was denied entry to Israel. By Anna Lekas Miller On Friday, United States President Barack Obama landed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was a…

By +972 Magazine March 31, 2014

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British activist detained entering Israel, facing 10-year ban

Gary Spedding was detained after landing in Tel Aviv ahead of meetings with parliamentarians and activists. He says his phone was hacked and contacts extracted. A high-profile member of Northern Ireland’s Alliance Party and a long-standing activist for human rights in Israel and the Occupied Territories, Gary Spedding, was detained on arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport on…

By Dimi Reider January 10, 2014

Ben Gurion Airport. (joshuapiano/CC BY 2.0)

How Israel’s security services turned me into a ‘potential terrorist’

When Yoav Haifawi joined radical left organizations in Israel, he had no idea that the airport security services would begin searching him for explosives. A true story about the security services’ modus operandi. By: Yoav Haifawi (*) The following story is 100% true. It tells us a lot about the modus operandi of the security…

By Haokets November 17, 2013

'Welcome to Israel' sign at Ben-Gurion Airport (Grauesel / CC)

‘No Falasteen for you!’ Shin Bet banned me from Israel for 10 years

‘My suspicious ethnic identity coupled with my criticisms of Israel were enough to get me banned from Israel and more importantly, barred from being able to tell stories from the West Bank.’ By Anna Lekas Miller “Do you think we are some kind of joke? Do you think you can start over with us?” The…

By +972 Magazine August 31, 2013

Actress Mira Awad (Urga41/CC)

Palestinian celebrity gets the ‘Jewish sticker’ at Ben-Gurion Airport

On the one hand it’s obvious the young man has just made my life easier by putting on the sticker for Jews. On the other hand, it’s one of the things that it’s hard to say thanks for. I mean, thank you for not considering me a terrorist any more? — Actress Mira Awad’s tale…

By Ami Kaufman May 13, 2013

(Photo: Mati Milstein)

When racial profiling is a national policy

Palestinian citizens have many rights in Israel, but they are not equal citizens. Only by removing all discriminatory elements from the legal system will Israel cease to be a democracy of racial profiling. Following one of his visits to Israel, Jewish-American journalist Jeffrey Goldberg praised last year the ease with which he underwent the security procedures at…

By Noam Sheizaf April 25, 2013

Ben Gurion Airport. (joshuapiano/CC BY 2.0)

Just another interrogation: My encounter with the Shin Bet

For one Palestinian citizen of Israel, interrogations by the Shin Bet are a routine which include delays and harassment for no apparent reason. By Awad Abdel Fattah I was fortunate this week. I had a quick and easy crossing from Jordan back into Israel. No delays, no questions, no invasive body searches and no lengthy rummaging…

By +972 Magazine April 3, 2013

Is Israel’s search through visitors’ email accounts legal?

Recent searches into the email accounts of passengers arriving in Israel raises the question of how far the state can go in its airport security checks. It is one thing to search files located on a person’s computer , but quite another to go through a person’s cyberspace history. By Jonathan Klinger News that the Israel…

By +972 Magazine June 6, 2012

Israeli interrogated en route home for activism in Palestinian cause

The activist tells of her experience being held for hours, harassed and intimidated by Israel Security Agency officials – for doing nothing illegal or suspicious. By Leehee Rothschild I arrived at Luton airport for my flight back to Israel, after spending one month in the UK and France, participating in Israeli Apartheid Week and BDS…

By +972 Magazine March 28, 2012

Ben Gurion Airport (photo: Matthew Wilkinson / Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0)

One more response to Goldberg’s praise of Israel’s airport security

In his response to Jeffrey Goldberg’s enthusiastic description of Ben Gurion Airport’s security procedures, my colleague Noam Sheizaf makes some salient points about historical accuracy and racial profiling. Particularly resonant is the final point – that Jeffrey Goldberg, a Jew born and raised in the United States, is treated far better by Israel’s airport security…

By Lisa Goldman March 18, 2012

NoamSheizaf, NoamS

Racial profiling is just racism: A response to Goldberg

Jeffery Goldberg, one of the most well know Jewish American journalists, had an entry in his blog raving about Israeli security procedures at Ben Gurion airport. Ben Gurion (TLV) has no naked-scanning machines and you don’t have to take off your shoes. Instead, security personnel use racial profiling, thoroughly checking Arabs in back rooms while exempting Jewish…

By Noam Sheizaf March 18, 2012