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.

Comments

It is obvious she is biased

[Anonymous Coward]

Based on her current and past posts it is obvious she is anti-israeli. Israel like any country has the right to protect its borders and the security of the state with all means. Trying to harm border guards is not something unheard of there is even a video of a successful attempt running on youtube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPyAMSh_yLo) Israel is known to have strict protocols when dealing with suspicious objects (Which includes laptops or any other unattended bags left in any area). I have seen this in action more than once. I.e baggage left accidentally at the bus station will probably get blown up by a bombsquad in a matter of minutes since it has been reported (after the area has been cleared). It's the same in every border in the world. Even laughing about a bomb will get you arrested in most places and probably deported. Don't forget she had arab stickers on her laptop, a picture of a star of david defaced, she has beenliving in Egypt (While it has peaceful relationships with israel , egypt is known to be home for many terrorist cells). The fact is that the laptop was suspicious and got blown up to eliminate a possible threat. Based on Israeli officials she will be reimbursed for the laptop - Hey look on the bright side - she could buy a new MacBook Air

Re:It is obvious she is biased

[martinbogo]

Lets see .. you're a terrorist, and you want to get a bomb into place. So:

o) you make yourself as conspicuous as possible
o) ... put antisemitic stuff all over your baggage
o) ... post TONS of antisemitic stuff on the internet just to be sure
o) ... enter Israel from a country known to harbor terrorists

Get my drift? It's that very kind of behavior at a border crossing that makes her the least likely candidate to be carrying explosives. Also, most explosives have a residue signature that can be easily scanned for in Israel because they keep that kind of tech handy at customs points. A few swipes with a swab and a portable scanner later .. you know -exactly- what's in the bag. Five minutes or less. I can't say if shooting her bag was an over-reaction, but I can say that at least at that facility -- they had options.

At the end of the day, it's a wash. She is getting reimbursed for the laptop, and the Israeli security forces look good inside of Israel, but look silly to the outside world. Nobody really wins.

Re:Conveniently forgetting the details

[sharkman67]

Wish I had mod points right now. Finally a dead on post. This girl needs to understand the rest of the world is not like the US and her rights don't extend outside it's boarders. She's just lucky she didn't pull this BS in some third world country otherwise she may have just disappeared.

Re:Backup!

[Cyberax]

Use snail-mail to send SD cards to yourself. Works like a charm.

Re:Shooting bombs? No bombs trigger when shot?

[bluewolfcub]

So which part do you disagree with? You don't feel that it's unfortunate? Or you don't believe it is reality?

I disagree with the emotive language implying that Palestinians are the only ones killing innocent civilians. Particularly given differences in death counts e.g. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/14/gaza-city-fighiting-israel-un or the lack of running water for so many people

More than 400,000 Gazans were left without running water, while 4,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless; 80 government buildings were hit.[30]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_War or the ongoing dispute about construction of wells/water buildings + farming which Israel are preventing them from building (there are further links about the below, especially relating to actual construction and needs, and differences in water consumption, but no time to look them up at this moment)

According to reports, Israeli soldiers shoot towards farmers working on their lands along the buffer zone nearly every week...During Operation "Cast Lead" which ended in January 2009, private houses, workshops, cattle farms, tree groves, agricultural roads, water wells and rain-fed crop fields located within the area were demolished by the Israeli army.

So "unfortunate reality" that the poor israelis might have some bags and laptops shot given all the above, well yes, it does make me question if they have a sense of reality. Or perspective.

To respond to another post:-

Ohhh, I JUST love the "my side has it worse" game!

I'm not on anybody's side, except maybe the "let's not be hypocrites about this" side.

Re:Conveniently forgetting the details

[xaxa]

-passport stamps from Arab countries -

What's wrong with visiting an arab country? or do you believe in enclosing a race to their own land and prevent them from outside contact? Similar logic to that of a certain country, I must say.

From the FCO website (just as an example): "You require a visa for Syria. Whether or not you have a visa you should be aware that if your passport contains an Israeli stamp or stamps from other countries' border crossing points with Israel, you will be refused entry to Syria."

Similarly, it's not recommended to visit the USA if your passport has a stamp from Cuba. Cuba know this though, so they usually won't stamp foreign passports.

I should not have to leave my opinion at the border when entering a country, if my opinion is not causing any harm to anyone.

That's funny, because when I went last visited your country I had to tick a box saying I wasn't a communist.

Re:Conveniently forgetting the details

[jbssm]

Well, no doubt Israel has the right to exist ... inside the borders stated in the 1947 UN resolution, not in the way it exists now, illegally occupying practically 2x more territories from it's neighboring countries by the use of force !

Re:Conveniently forgetting the details

[zoney_ie]

You can say the same about Northern Ireland, and indeed there are various parts of even Western Europe where certain seemingly ordinary behaviour can get you in a lot of trouble (like being in a particular place that unbeknownest to you is a "bad area" - like one block away from a busy ordinary central area). Parts of England are grim and like something out of Dickens, supposedly civilised Germany still has problems with trogodytes who will lynch certain categories of people or liberals who cling to concepts of people being equal. Here in Ireland most of the country gets drunk often - and the emergency rooms fill every night with the results. Like England, there is the problem of a roaming "underclass" who might take offense to you happening to look at them.

As for the US, the police there shoot people. Criminals are executed. People have guns for "safety". Being ill can pretty much being destitute too. Certainly being mentally ill or poor can mean being homeless. OK a gross simplification, but from a European country the US seems like the Wild West (or worse in some social respects). As regards ordinary people, I would suspect it isn't healthy in certain places in the US to be obviously Muslim, or the wrong skin colour, or even certain European countries like France. Being very Irish or very Italian probably causes issues in certain places too.

Basically the world isn't civilised, and "the West" although probably more civilised than many parts of the world, is still not entirely civilised either, and differs in its definition of it.

Israel is pretty civilised in general for a "trouble spot".