Arab-Israeli Parliamentarians call new airport profiling “discrimination by a different name”

Thursday December 27, 2007 06:52 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

A long-standing Israeli policy of taking any Arab-looking person aside at the airport for long interrogation sessions is being reviewed, following a petition filed by human rights groups in Israel. But Arab Members of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) have criticized the review, saying that the recommended changes in policy are simply more of the same.

Airport security personnel at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv (Ynet photo)

Israel was one of the first nations to implement a widespread practice of racial profiling, beginning the practice decades ago to segregate Arabs from Jews upon entry to the Israeli airport in Tel Aviv. The U.S. has hired Israeli security agencies to implement racial and psychological profiling policies at dozens of U.S. airports as part of its 'Homeland Security' plan.

Now, due to the petition filed by human rights groups, Israeli authorities are, for the first time, being asked to rethink this policy. The Israeli Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz has recommended that, in addition to profiling Arabs based on the nationality listed on their passports, there should be additional profiling based on age, occupation, and whether the arriving passenger has served in the military.

A number of Arab legislators have condemned the policy change, including Knesset Member Mohammed Baraka, who stated “Why not cut things short and just put a stamp on every citizen's forehead? Mofaz should take care of the unnecessary hassle the Arabs encounter at Ben Gurion instead of trying to categorize them as those how have served in the IDF [Israeli Army] and those who haven't."

israel | human rights | news report saed at imemc dot org