I keep saying that if our journalists only described conditions in Israel and Palestine honestly, Americans would rise up. But they don’t. Which makes all the more refreshing Joel Dreyfuss’s piece at the Washington Post, explaining why a multiethnic society would not wish to emulate Israel’s security methods at airports. At a time when many mainstream journalists are piping the line that Israel does it right, Dreyfuss recalls a trip to Israel five years ago. Dreyfuss, please go back and visit the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Negev and tell young Americans what’s going down, gov’t land theft carried out on a racial basis..:
“Are you Jewish?” he asked. I told him no, but that my grandfather had been. I didn’t think it would be helpful to explain I was born into a racially-diverse family in Haiti and that I was Catholic. I had already noticed that the combination of my tan complexion and short mustache frequently drew suspicious looks during my stay, but I assumed my body language tagged me as a foreigner. On the flight back, when I raised the issue with a seatmate, she said, “Well, you look like you might be Arab.”
Apparently, my security screener had the same impression. The next thing I knew, I was being directed to a very long line. Almost all the people on my line were Arabs or Africans. The much shorter, fast-moving line consisted mostly of white Americans and Europeans. Everyone on my queue was asked to open their luggage for inspection. When the security team got to me, they went through the books and magazines I had packed. A booklet from the Peres Center for Peace, which I had visited at the request of my publisher, seemed to raise alarm. The man searching my bag called a supervisor, who called his boss over. They asked me why I had visited the Peres center. “Because I’m a journalist,” I replied. I must have said the magic word. “Journalist?” the boss repeated. Suddenly, my books were put back, my suitcase was snapped shut, and I was on my way home.
If Americans adopt Israel’s approach to security, they should be prepared for racial and ethnic profiling, questions about their religious preferences, and careful examination of their reading material. Maybe full-body scans are a less intrusive after all.
