Israel Airport Security Allowed To Read Tourists' Email 438
wiredmikey writes "Israeli security officials at Ben Gurion airport are legally allowed to demand access to tourists' email accounts and deny them entry if they refuse, the country's top legal official said on Wednesday. Details of the policy were laid out by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein in a written response to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the group said in a statement. 'In a response dated April 24, 2013, the attorney general's office confirmed this practice,' ACRI said, quoting sections of the document which said it was only done in exceptional cases where 'relevant suspicious signs' were evident and only done with the tourist's 'consent'. 'Allowing security agents to take such invasive measures at their own discretion and on the basis of such flimsy "consent" is not befitting of a democracy,' commented Lila Margalit from ACRI."
Re:My house, my rules (Score:3, Informative)
Rules are always made to benefit those making them. When those rules no longer benefit the rule-makers, they change the rules. Every government in the world follows that basic principle.
Hmmm.... (Score:5, Informative)
I traveled through Ben Gurion airport in 2011 and I have to say, I found the security there a lot less invasive and arbitrary than security at US airports. They didn't make me take off my shoes or walk through a body scanner. And they didn't confiscate my bottle of water.
What they did do was actually spend time talking to me and watching me. I think the security there is really security, not security theatre.
As for demanding to read your email, that's probably crossing the line. I likely would have refused. But really, it's no worse than the US which can confiscate your laptop at the airport and go through all your files.
Israeli Airport Security (Score:2, Informative)
They routinely take your laptops and make the backup and give it back to you. Please don't go to Israel with your laptops or any data that you want to protect. Sanitize your email accounts (esp with respect to commercial information where you are bidding against an Israeli company) and then visit the place. The people and the country are a complete delight in surprising contrast to the airport experience. Please take an informed decision.
Re:If you call the US embassy about this (Score:2, Informative)
I'm not sure what the deal is with those magical powers, but there's a reason Kane asked whether he was Jewish. If you're Jewish, you get automatic Israeli citizenship [wikipedia.org] no matter where you're from, so entry is generally pretty painless. If you're Palestinian or Arab or Muslim or an activist, you're probably just shit [mondoweiss.net] out [wrmea.org] of [972mag.com] luck [mondoweiss.net].
Re:Is Isreal some small town in the US? (Score:2, Informative)
Israel used to be mostly ignored by the US until 1970 when Israel help save the King of Jordan from being overthrown by Palestinian terrorists. The US concluded that the Israelis were trustworthy allies and an 'unsinkable aircraft carrier' in the region - which the US could use to further their interests (particularly against Soviet influence in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East). The US needed Israel more than the other way around (since before this the Israelis mostly got arms from the French and Russians-via-Czechoslovakia).
The loss of Israel would be very bad for US self-interest - which is why the US does what it does. Conspiracy theory fruitcakes always start frothing that the Jews control the White House this is utterly false. The Jews and Israelis have influence in the US, but are among many influences. The White House today is instead heavily infiltrated by racist Jew-hating Muslim Brotherhood affiliates, refer: http://www.investigativeproject.org/3869/egyptian-magazine-muslim-brotherhood-infiltrates [investigativeproject.org]. I'm digressing here because of all the bullshit spun about that the White House is controlled by Jews - this is false, ever since George W Bush it is the jew-haters that have excessive influence in the State Department and White House.
Note that the jihadi Arabs like the *Egyptian* Yasser Arafat caused murder and instability in Israel, Gaza[then illegally occupied by Egypt], Judea/Samaria/West Bank [then illegally occupied by Jordan]), Jordan proper, Lebanon, and globally (Munich, Pan Am, Achilles Lauro murder etc). Israel is a bulwark against these guys and it suits the US to do the heavy lifting. The Israelis also tend to take out nuclear weapons programmes, like Iraq, Syria and soon-to-strike Iran when it would be more politically difficult for the US.
The US 'aid' programme to the Israelis also benefits the US more than the Israelis. US tax dollars are used to pay US companies for equipment the Israelis use (including regional supplies and munitions the US intend to call on, if ever in a pinch).
The relationship between Israel and the US works for both parties. It turns out that the US receives far far more benefit from this than most in the US realize (and certainly much more benefits than the anti-Israeli left-leaning media would have you believe). I hope that gives some explanation as to why Israel gets so much attention from the US after the 1970's (replying to the parent AC's true statement by way of explanation).
Re:Is Isreal some small town in the US? (Score:5, Informative)
False. Your recall of history is factually incorrect - which makes your assertion about the UK ridiculous.
The League of Nations in 1922 declared an intention to create the states of Palestine and Transjordan. Palestine was a Jewish region of the Ottoman Empire and 'Palestinians' meant Jewish dhimmis in the Palestine region. Arabs were simply 'Arabs'. Palestine was to get all the land west of the Jordan River and Transjordan the land to the East. Then the British decides to split the Palestine region into a Jewish part and an Arab part. The Jews living in the region had been living there continuously for 3000 years (although Jews were temporarily excluded from Jerusalem in 70 AD and in the 3rd Century, but remained in the surrounding areas). In the late 18th Century the 'zionist' movement got going and the Jews that were already in the region were joined by Jews from other parts of the World. These Jews bought swampy land near the coast that the Arabs didn't want. The Jews set to work clearing the swamps and started importing Arabs from other parts of the Arab world (most of whom arrived *after* the Jews, and in 1967 took the name 'Palestinians' for political reasons I'll explain later).
World War II came along and many Jews fled to Palestine if they could. The British kept many of them out (where they were murdered in millions by the National Socialists). Meanwhile the Mufti of Jerusalem, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Amin_al-Husayni [wikipedia.org] headed to Hitler and suggested the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem (reminding Hitler that if the Jews were exteminated no one would remember them, citing how the Armenians were mostly forgotten by the Turkish genocidal jihad against Armenians in 1915). The Mufti also proceeded to the Balkans to raise a pair of Bosnian and SS Divisions that killed tens of thousands of Yugoslavian Jews. The Mufti was not a nice man.
After World War II ended many surviving Jews were convinced that Europe would always be anti-Semitic and left for Palestine (which is true, we see a rise again today; one cannot be racist but it is perfectly acceptable in polite society, politics and academia these days to demonize all Israelis without considering individuals - if you are doing this you are in fact a racist; please stop being racist).
The Jews conducted terrorism against the British and the British decided to leave Palestine (it was also in an anti-colonial mindset and divesting itself of all colonies as well at that time, eg India etc). In 1948 the UN offered states for Jews and Arabs in Palestine. The Jews accepted and Israel was formed. The Arabs rejected the UN plan and attacked with the armies of many neighbouring Arab states as part of the Arab League (and driven by several things; the lust for land and conquest and the intention to commit genocide of Jews as commanded in the Qur'an and hadiths). The Arab Legion told the Arabs in Palestine to move out of the area so that the genocide would be easier. These Arabs are the refugees that no Arab host country wants to integrate. The Jews also had to flee Judea, Samaria in the face of the Arab League armies and were expelled from Arab countries (eg. Egypt). The Jewish refugees were accepted as full citizens by Israel. The Arabs who remained in Israel were accepted as full citizens, and were given Members of the Knesset (eg. similar to Congressmen/Senators in the Israeli political system). There are about 1 million Arab Israelis (who fight for Israel, because they see themselves as citizens of *their* country) and have 3 Members of Knesset. After a year of fighting the Israelis won and their State survived.
After 1948 the Jordanians annexed Judea and Samaria and renamed it "The West Bank" [of the Jordan] to deflect any Jewish historical claim on it. The Egyptians occupied Gaza. The Arabs in Gaza did not call themselves "Palestinian" (a term used for Jews before 1948) but instead called themselves "Egyptian". The Arabs in the West Bank did
Re:Is Isreal some small town in the US? (Score:5, Informative)