According to Ynet, three Frum news reporters (working for the “Bakehilah” weekly) were arrested in Jordan after mistakenly entering a closed military zone. The reporters, who arrived in the Hashemite Kingdom last week in the framework of a special Pesach project, were apprehended by local army forces after entering a restricted area near Mafraq.Bakehilah’s editor, Yitzhak Horowitz, along with reporter Sarah Gottleib and photographer Ezra Landau were questioned for a few hours and then began heading toward the border with Israel.
“A military jeep suddenly passed our car, and armored vehicles also appeared,” Horowitz told Ynet upon his return to Israel. “The Jordanian soldiers pointed their rifles at us and ordered us to stop; it was very frightening.
The soldiers led the journalists to a nearby base, from which they were later transferred to police custody and questioned once again. The journalists’ cameras and film were confiscated, but the cameras were later returned to them.
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6 Responses
I had a similar experiance there as a bochur in the mid 90’s. I spent all day in jail and my life was threatend many times…..
I’ve never been to Jordan in my life, and frankly can’t imagine why any sane frum Jew would go except for the most unusually urgent reasons. Whatever this “special Pesach project” was, I hope it would qualify, since Chazal say even about a shliach mitzvah, “bemokom de’shchichi hezieka shani”.
I believe that Aharon Hacohen’s kever is in Jordan; I’m kind of disappointed in myself that I never made it there, but when I do go it won’t be for more than 24 hours.
Sounds like BH the reporters, who work for one of the best of the frum papers, are fine and were not in custody for long.
The whole episode reeks of mystery.. What to give us some real & hard facts.
I don’t feel bad for them at all, what were they thinking. Don’t they know that JORDAN is a muslim country full of fanatics – why enter a lion’s den & expect sympathy when the lion bites ???????????????????????????
“but when I do go it won’t be for more than 24 hours”
You hope……..