Countless people have been humiliated by Israeli security. Julian Schnabel lately complained about it; last summer Donna Shalala refused to complain about it, even as she was doing fundraising for her university. Of course Palestinians get humiliated endlessly. Well, Dan Rather’s producer has complained about it. Says my tipster: “Israel is looking like a cross between the Confederacy and Eastern Europe.” Ynet:
A crew for Dan Rather was harassed and humiliated by Israeli security officials, a producer for his show has said, accusing them of forcing the staffers to drop their pants for a strip search before seeing a Cabinet minister.
The allegations, made in a letter to Israeli officials that was obtained by The Associated Press, add to growing complaints about how Israeli security officials treat foreign media.
Andrew Glazer, an Emmy-award winning producer at Dan Rather Reports, wrote that the legendary anchorman came to do a story about improving Israeli-Palestinian relations pitched by Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
Glazer said problems mounted after they arrived. He said they were held up for hours at security checks. Israeli soldiers barred the crew’s veteran Palestinian cameramen — a Jerusalem resident — from accompanying Rather to a West Bank neighborhood. And then came the strip search before an interview with Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor.
“Mr. Rather said that in his career, he had never seen a crew forced to strip prior to an interview — including the one he conducted with Saddam Hussein,” Glazer wrote.
