When Sandra Tamari arrived at Israel’s international airport, she received an unusual request: A security agent pushed a computer screen in front of her, connected to Gmail and told her to “log in.”
The agent, suspecting Tamari was involved in pro-Palestinian activism, wanted to inspect her private email account for incriminating evidence. The 42-year-old American of Palestinian descent refused and was swiftly expelled from the country.
Tamari’s experience is not unique. In a cyber-age twist on Israel’s vaunted history of airport security, the country has begun to force incoming travelers deemed suspicious to open personal email accounts for inspection, visitors say.
Targeting mainly Muslims or Arabs, the practice appears to be aimed at rooting out visitors who have histories of pro-Palestinian activism, and in recent weeks, has led to the expulsion of at least three American women.
It remains unclear how widespread the practice is.
However, asked about Tamari’s claims, the Shin Bet security agency confirmed she had been interrogated and said its agents acted in accordance with the law.
Israel has a long history of using ethnic profiling, calling it a necessary evil resulting from its bitter experience with terrorist attacks. Arab travelers and anyone else seen as a risk are often subjected to intense questioning and invasive inspections, including strip searches.
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6 Responses
Its certainly the only logical thing to do, not all muslims are terrorist but all terrorist’s are muslim
It is not a “necessary evil”; there’s nothing evil about it. It’s pure common sense. The idea that there’s something wrong with it is a recent American mishugaas.
who says we need to accept all visitors to Israel? we should deport many arabs also.
Sounds good to me.
Fair Security practice, much more sensible than removing shoes, putting creams in ziplocks and asking if you know who “Baruch Goldstein” is (LOL)…
What if the Arab has his e-mail account with someone else than gmail, like yahoo, hotmail, etc.?