Last summer Donna Shalala got humiliated by Israeli airport security because of her Arab name. And Shalala, a university president (i.e., fundraiser), smiled and waved. Now Haaretz is reporting that an Indiana University scientist, Heather Bradshaw, had to run the gauntlet at Luton, an English airport, when she sought to board an El Al flight to attend a conference at Hebrew University. Bradshaw is a brain scientist at Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute, was on her fourth trip to the country, and was forced to remove her bra and give up her many books, about which she was repeatedly questioned. Apparently she made the mistake of having the same name as an activist on Israel’s lists. Haaretz:
When she arrived in Israel, she expected someone from the airline to wait for her and update her regarding her luggage and belongings that were left behind, but no one knew anything, Bradshaw told Haaretz. She said she felt helpless and was holding back tears.
Writes Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, who tipped me off to this: “I wonder how the world would react if, say, Iranian security personnel treated a British academic at an American airport in this manner.”
