Denied entry at Ben Gurion Airport

These are not my words, but those of a group from the UK who were coming to Israel as tourists arriving at Ben Gurion recently. Some members of the group were pulled aside, interrogated for hours, denied the right to use the phone and then deported. Their whole experience, the way they were treated, the questions they were asked and the racist comments made by officials show how Israel is increasing its policy of denying entry to internationals under the guise of security and particularly to Muslim tourists. There is also a very detailed account of the same experience with a few photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/reway2007/4104895983/

12 November 2009, Ben Gurion Airport , Tel Aviv

My recollection of events concurs with that which has already been recorded in terms of the general order of events. I just need to add that within minutes of getting off the plane, as I walked along with all the other passengers towards immigration, an official picked me out of the crowd and asked to see my passport and asked me why I had come. She gave me back my passport and I continued to the immigration desk. As soon as I handed over my passport I was told to wait to one side and then sent over to the waiting area for questioning.

Regarding my interrogation, it went along the following lines, to the best of my memory, with one woman asking all the questions, and another beside her recording things and working in front of a PC.

Official: Why are you here? What is the purpose of your visit?

Me: to visit the Holy sites, as a pilgrim, as a tourist.

Official: Where will you be visiting?

Me: Jerusalem , Bethlehem , Hebron.

Official: What will you be doing?

Me: Visiting the different sites.

Official: What? All this time? What is there to see?

Me: listing various sites – e.g. Al-Aqsa,

Official: Then what? Is that it? One week and just visiting these sites? What is there? It is boring?

You are a Muslim, right? Have you been Hajj (pilgrimage), how many times? It is nice, yes? Mecca, Medina. Why don’t you go there instead? It is boring here, so what you pray in al-Aqsa, then what?

She continued: Where else are you going? Gaza? West Bank? Maybe you want to go to Gaza, see the damage there?

She repeated many of the questions and said at one stage that: “you are a Muslim, right? So you must tell the truth”.

She asked me about the others on the trip. Did I know them all? I replied that I did, except for the 2 who were the work friends of another colleague. I responded that I had a licensed guide and tour company, that I had booked into the Capitol Hotel for the whole stay, that they could check out the tour company and the driver/guide was waiting outside. I told her my plan and she went through each day. I showed her my itinerary from my previous visit just under 12 months ago.

She asked me about my work. I explained that I was a community worker, and I arrange sporting and social activities, and this was one of them. She looked through my trip folder and took down the names and details of every contact there. She asked me who I knew. She saw the correspondence that I had with Sheikh Bukhari and Eliyahu (a Jew) and asked who they were. I explained that the Sheik runs the Uzbek Cultural Centre. She asked what that had do with anything. I explained that they were people I knew and that where we come from there are many different cultures and we are interested in learning about different people. She enquired who was ‘Jane’. I said that this was someone in England. She commented that I was well organised. I said that I had to be. It was my responsibility for all 9 of us to have a good experience, time was limited and such a trip must be organised properly.

She asked me about how much money I had. I took out what I had in my pockets, and hand luggage, and showed her that which was my personal money, and that which was the group travel money, tour operators money, as well as some money which people had given me to distribute in different ways (charity for poor people/donation to the mosque). Most of it was labelled clearly.

During the questioning the other lady had my phone and was going through all the contacts. Her general attitude was sarcastic, abrupt and arrogant. I have been interrogated on my previous visits in 1997 and 2008, so I expected some questioning. However, on those occasions they generally asked the questions in a decent fact-finding manner, and did not treat me like a criminal. I left this interview feeling deeply offended.

About 2am in the morning we asked to use the phone to call the British Embassy but they refused to let us use a phone. One other group member and I used our own phones and made calls (very costly!). I called the driver and guide who was waiting on the other side for over 7 hours and told them to return and explained that we were returning to the UK. For years I have been involved in local strategies to prevent extremism and encourage respect and understanding between different people. The ‘security’ reasoning that they gave for our deportation was highly insulting and derogatory and implies that we are up to no good.