Israel’s Racial Profiling is Donald Trump’s Wet Dream
In Israel racial profiling is taken for granted. Arabs are automatically assumed to be guilty
unless proven otherwise. At Ben Gurion
Airport and at bus stations if an Arab or minority member doesn’t have ID then
they are automatically detained.
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| Editorial in Israel’s only liberal daily paper |
There are of course some people who claim that Zionism is not racist. Some are merely ignorant but there are those, like the Jewish Labour Movement, whose sole job it is to accuse Israel’s critics of ‘antiSemitism’ in order to deflect attention from the racism of the Israeli settler colonial state.
Tony Greenstein
Racial
profiling by station guards is a racist, discriminatory and illegal practice
applied to Israeli minority members. It must be prohibited
profiling by station guards is a racist, discriminatory and illegal practice
applied to Israeli minority members. It must be prohibited
The
controversial profiling system – based on ethnic-national appearance –
practiced at border and passport controls has spread inland and now security
guards in the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station have been ordered to ethnically
profile Arabs.
controversial profiling system – based on ethnic-national appearance –
practiced at border and passport controls has spread inland and now security
guards in the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station have been ordered to ethnically
profile Arabs.
Anyone who
looks like a Palestinian Arab supposedly constitutes a risk, which justifies a
security check on him. The guards demand identification from people who appear
to be Arab and detain Arabs who fail to present documents, thus exceeding their
authority under the law (Ilan Lior, Wednesday).
looks like a Palestinian Arab supposedly constitutes a risk, which justifies a
security check on him. The guards demand identification from people who appear
to be Arab and detain Arabs who fail to present documents, thus exceeding their
authority under the law (Ilan Lior, Wednesday).
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| Israeli soldiers and police officer at Tel Aviv bus station |
The security
guards say they “only check the identification of people who look like they are
members of the [Arab] minority.” Even worse – the guards don’t focus strictly
on securing the bus terminal and the buses, but are “moonlighting” as
policemen, without being authorized or qualified to do so.
guards say they “only check the identification of people who look like they are
members of the [Arab] minority.” Even worse – the guards don’t focus strictly
on securing the bus terminal and the buses, but are “moonlighting” as
policemen, without being authorized or qualified to do so.
“It’s
hunting down illegal aliens for sport. The entire system has been harnessed to
it and the guards argue with each other over how many illegals they managed to
catch, as though they were dealing with animals,” one guard said. Others said
that on a daily basis, they detain five to 20 Palestinians who don’t have
permits to be in Israel, without documenting this in their reports. A guard
said their instructions are “to stop them and pull them aside and demand an ID
card. If they don’t have one, we must call the police.”
hunting down illegal aliens for sport. The entire system has been harnessed to
it and the guards argue with each other over how many illegals they managed to
catch, as though they were dealing with animals,” one guard said. Others said
that on a daily basis, they detain five to 20 Palestinians who don’t have
permits to be in Israel, without documenting this in their reports. A guard
said their instructions are “to stop them and pull them aside and demand an ID
card. If they don’t have one, we must call the police.”
 |
| Security Guards at Tel Aviv Bus Station |
“Sometimes
they stand for half an hour or 40 minutes until the police come,” he said.
they stand for half an hour or 40 minutes until the police come,” he said.
The guards
do this not only at the entrance to the bus terminal, but inside the buses as
well. “Anyone who looks like a minority member I tell him please take out
identification. If he does and I see it’s expired, I take him off the bus and
call the police. It’s checking people like an idiot, like a robot, looking only
at the faces,” another guard said.
do this not only at the entrance to the bus terminal, but inside the buses as
well. “Anyone who looks like a minority member I tell him please take out
identification. If he does and I see it’s expired, I take him off the bus and
call the police. It’s checking people like an idiot, like a robot, looking only
at the faces,” another guard said.
 |
| racial profiling at Ben Gurion airport |
The security
company’s director at the terminal claimed the guards’ inspection is based on
suspicious signs in people’s behavior and appearance, and on the police’s
instructions, regardless of religion, gender or race. But the guards say their
inspection of Jews is different from their inspection of Arabs. “Jews we are
allowed to detain only if they have a knife, brass knuckles or things like
that. We don’t check their ID cards or anything,” a guard said.
company’s director at the terminal claimed the guards’ inspection is based on
suspicious signs in people’s behavior and appearance, and on the police’s
instructions, regardless of religion, gender or race. But the guards say their
inspection of Jews is different from their inspection of Arabs. “Jews we are
allowed to detain only if they have a knife, brass knuckles or things like
that. We don’t check their ID cards or anything,” a guard said.
The law for
maintaining public security stipulates that security guards have the authority
to detain a person until a policeman comes, if there’s reasonable suspicion
that he’s carrying a weapon illegally or is about to use a weapon illegally.
The law also permits a guard to detain a person if he has carried out a violent
act or if there’s an immediate threat of his doing so. But the security guards
at the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station base their suspicions on ethnic or national
affiliation.
maintaining public security stipulates that security guards have the authority
to detain a person until a policeman comes, if there’s reasonable suspicion
that he’s carrying a weapon illegally or is about to use a weapon illegally.
The law also permits a guard to detain a person if he has carried out a violent
act or if there’s an immediate threat of his doing so. But the security guards
at the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station base their suspicions on ethnic or national
affiliation.
This is a
racist, discriminatory, illegal practice applied to Israeli minority members,
and it must be prohibited. The police must also order the security guards to
stop detaining Palestinians without permits, because this is not within their
authority.
racist, discriminatory, illegal practice applied to Israeli minority members,
and it must be prohibited. The police must also order the security guards to
stop detaining Palestinians without permits, because this is not within their
authority.
The above
article is Haaretz’s lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English
newspapers in Israel.
article is Haaretz’s lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English
newspapers in Israel.
Haaretz
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