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Israeli Border Police Shoot US Student's Laptop
zerothink writes "American student Lily Sussman, 21, upon entry into Israel from Taba (Egypt, Sinai) caught Israeli border police in grumpy mood — after two hours of questions and searching through her belongings they decided to put three bullets through her laptop. Explanation? 'I'm sorry but we had to blow up your laptop.' Haaretz also covered the story." All three bullets missed the hard disk.
Since she was lucky and the hard drive wasn't hit, it was probably better in the end for her than what would have happened to her if she tried to enter the US with a laptop with Al-Qaeda stickers on it. Under the old rules (which supposedly have been changed under Obama), the TSA could arbitrarily seize the laptop for an indefinite period of time for investigation.
I am of course assuming she had valuable data on the hard drive compared with the price of the hardware.
Given the political statements on her laptop, one wonders what kind of provocation she might have tried with the guards. I don't believe that justifies their reaction, and wouldn't be surprised if they are disciplined (which will, of course, generate zero coverage outside of Israel), but most rational people understand that baiting Israelis is a rather dangerous sport.
What is it about the self esteem generation that makes kids so stupid ?!?
Tell you what ms. sussman, why dont you fly back home via Mexico and cross into the US via the El Paso/Juárez border wearing a bong hits for jesus t-shirt and a back pack full of Cheech and Chong dvds and let us know how that works out.
Sanity is the trademark of a weak mind. -- Mark Harrold
Considering this earlier statement of yours "as long as one American is breathing Arabian air we are in the wrong", your position on this obvious show of theocratic fanaticism against an innocent student is well understood as it comes from an Arabophobe.
No, you were trying to turn this into an Israel v. Palestine thread - the most boring, overly discussed subject clueless people like to get angry about.
In a way, the original poster started it, with the bit about the cowardly Palestinian terrorists, but you were all too eager to bite.
Water disputes? WTF does this have to do with anything?
You have to be pretty goddamn stupid to fly into a fanatical military state like Israel from a Muslim country with a laptop covered in Arabic stickers. What's the next leg of her journey? From Israel to Iran wearing a star of David and demanding a kosher meal?
Hopefully you realize that you are being ridiculous, and that the comparison you're making is invalid.
Crossing into Israel (not flying, Taba is not an airport) from Egypt with Arabic stickers on your keyboard is enough to get you some extra questioning. Entering Iran wearing a star of David and demanding a kosher mean is enough to get you killed.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
And then a 20 year old soldier walks in carrying an M16 and ammo which he is somehow allowed to because he has a slip of paper and uniform.
Let me fix that for you
"And then a 20 year old cop walks in carrying an M16 and ammo which he is somehow alloed to because he has a badge and a uniform"
You mentioned all of the people who had guns - the security personnel, the driver, etc - and your issue is with the soldier?
Sounds like a palestinian/muslim poster to me. When your people stop strapping bombs to themselves and blowing up weddings, busses, clubs, restaurants. When your people stop kidnapping of people to torture them and then kill them. When your people stop spouting gibberish about wiping out the israeli people, and then trying to carry that mission out - then talk to me about security.
BTW - ever been to US airports? I've seen plenty of them where there are cops/soldiers with rifles (aka M16 type weapons), private security personnel who have no military/police training (at least in israel most people have military/police training). Plenty of metal detectors, drug scanners, weapon scanners, bomb scanners. Plenty of german shepard dogs who are trained to sniff out weapons/drugs and trained to attack. Some people here may have forgotten, because the 9/11 attacks happend so long ago but shortly after those attacks you would see the above in HEAVY force at airports...now not as heavy, but still around. So if the security is increased because of one days of attack...imagine how security would be from decades of regular attacks.
You're a douche.
I do not support "The Man". I also do not support your irrational stupidity
I wasn't there personally, but I was taught in history class that Israel was attacked by all of its neighbors about ten minutes after it began its existence.
The anti-Israel hysteria here is appalling.
No kidding. Let's check out some other stories from the ME:
Insurgents kill 50 in car bombings in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq
Hmm, no outrage. Maybe if they listed the electronics also damaged, people would feel something.
Blast kills 33 near lawmaker's home in Pakistan
Well, Israel didn't do it, so apparently it's ok.
Iraq attacks kill more than 100...Insurgents strike in central Pakistan
Still no outrage... It's ok as long as Israel isn't killing them? Or is it that no laptop was involved?
Ok, one more:
Police shoot U.S. student's laptop upon entry to Israel
Wait, what? A story where an Israeli did something other than get blown up by a terrorist? OUTRAGE! Call out the nutjobs and crazies! Quick, before we read any details or facts!
Ok, maybe a tad dramatic. But these people flipping out because of this story really need to put this in perspective. If this story upsets you, and those others don't, you really ought to examine your priorities.