Slashdot Mirror
Israel Airport Security Allowed To Read Tourists' Email
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."
Israel has every right to require you show just cause why they should let you in. Just like the US has that same right.
You have no right to enter a country of which you are not a citizen, and they can deny you entry for any reason, and require whatever they want of you as a condition of entry.
That's just the way it is. Don't like it? Don't go to Israel.
This is why I do all my confidential corporate communication via Twitter and Slashdot postings.
Citation needed. What other counties demand access to tourists' e-mail? And outrage against Israel's human rights crimes is not "anti-semitic" or "outrage against Jews". Anyone with a lick of sense is tired of Israel playing the victim card.
Damning with faint praise, there. And if you're Jewish, that's like a white person in 1965 talking about how safe he felt in Alabama, Bloody Sunday be damned.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
This is a stupid policy because anyone intent on doing harm will just set up a dummy account full of fluffy happy mail to show to airport security. Basically the only outcome of this policy is to deny entry to people who are not a threat.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
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.
See The U.S. Government Wanted to Know: Am I Jewish"
"This is the conversation I recall having with Chris Kain at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv by telephone:"
CK: Hello. I got your number from ___. You are being questioned by the Israeli authorities, I understand.
ST: They are threatening to deny me entry and to deport me.
CK: Are you Jewish?
ST: No
CK: Have you been in contact with the Israeli government or military in the past?
ST: No
CK: Have you been here before?
ST: Yes, several times. I am a Palestinian with family in the West Bank.
CK: Oh, you have family in the West Bank. Then there is nothing I can do to help you. In fact, if I interceded on your behalf, it will hurt your case with the Israelis.
ST: I don't understand. You are saying you can't speak with them. You have no influence. They are demanding to access my gmail account.
CK: If they have your gmail address, they can get in without your password.
ST: What do you mean? How?
CK: They're good!
ST: This is crazy. You mean you know about these requests to access emails and you have no problem with it.
CK: It is in our travel warning. They won't harm you. You will be sent home on the next flight out.I hope I have been of good service to you.
ST: Frankly, you have done nothing for me.
CK: Well at least you can say I did it kindly.
Time to register iloveisrael@gmail.com....
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 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
the only part i would disagree with is the "Palestine was a Jewish region of the Ottoman Empire and 'Palestinians' meant Jewish dhimmis in the Palestine region". The Jews in Palestine at the time were only about 16% of the population. The rest were arabs.