Israel accused of carrying out illegal airport strip searches - TruePublica
By Jonathan Cook – Israel’s aviation law provides no authority for ‘racial profiling’ of Arab passengers, says legal group.
Last July, Maria Jamal, 29, a
resident of Haifa, was on her way home from Athens when she found
herself assigned a flight with the Israeli national carrier El Al at the
last minute, after her Turkish Airlines flight to Ben Gurion airport
was cancelled because of an attempted military coup in Turkey.
“I fly many times a year but I always avoid Israeli carriers because of the horror stories I have heard from friends and family,”
said Jamal, who is one of the founders of Humanity Crew, an
organisation that works with refugees from Middle East conflict zones
that are living in camps in Europe.
Once she had completed the Greek security checks, she was singled out
by Israeli staff at Athens’ airport for intensive questioning. She was
then taken to a secure room, where it was insisted she hand over her
hand luggage and strip for a body search.
