Police shoot U.S. student's laptop upon entry to Israel

[bemildred]

:wtf:

Israel Border Police officers shot at an American student's laptop as she entered Israel via Taba, Egypt, two weeks ago.

Lily Sussman, 21, wrote on her blog that border police subjected her to two hours of questioning and searches prior to shooting her Apple Macbook three times.

"They had pressed every sock and scarf with a security device, ripped open soap and had me strip extra layers. They asked me tons of questions?where are you going?" Sussman wrote, describing the experience.

"Who do you know? Do you have a boyfriend? Is he Arab, Egyptian, Palestinian? Why do you live in Egypt? Why not Israel? What do you know about the 'conflict' here? What do you think? They quizzed me on Judaism, which I know nothing about," she continued.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1135243.html

[ProgressiveMuslim]

1. That's it? No private room with female guard, who runs the "wand" around the underwire bra?

Geesh. Airport personnel are slipping these days!

[bemildred]

2. Hey, the laptop was trying to escape. nt

[Ken Burch]

3. Stupid questions time:

1)Why would they destroy the laptop, but not the mainframe, if they were suspicious of the woman's intentions? Wouldn't you NEED the hard drive to do anything explosive?

2)Has anybody actually ever used a laptop as a bomb?

3)Would an actual terrorist go through Customs? wouldn't he or she sneak through those tunnels we keep hearing about?

[azurnoir]

4. You have to read her blog entry on this

http://lilysussman.wordpress.com/

apparently she forgot to delete some pictures that the border guards found offensive

I Googled this a couple of hours ago what I noted this time was this link up near the top had been added since that claimed to have her home phone and address and pointed out there is only one Lily Sussman in the United States

[bemildred]

5. Kafka, not Orwell.

We have thought crime, to be sure, either way.

Try these too:

MacBook Not Bulletproof

http://www.barking-moonbat.com/index.php/weblog/border_security/

Haaretz: Shirt Detonation Procedure

Border policemen at the Taba border crossing decided that the contents of a holiday bag belonging to a new immigrant from the US, so they exploded it.

Katie Miranda, a new immigrant from the US teaches art in the West Bank. She's used to lengthy checks at border crossings. Despite this, border policemen succeeded in surprising her last week at the border crossing in Taba when they exploded the bag she had taken with her on vacation in Sinai.

After the policewoman entered her name into the computer and saw that she is an activist working in the Occupied Territories, says Miranda, the friendliness disappeared from her face and she was asked to undergo a further check. While checking her bag, policemen found political comics she had drawn and asked why she draws such things. When Miranda was asked if the contents of her bag belong to her, she replied that she had taken a few things belonging to a friend she had met in Sinai and offered to show them. Before she could explain that those 'things' consisted of a few shirts, the bag was taken from her, she was moved to a side room and was strip-searched. After about an hour had passed, a message was heard over the loudspeaker that the crossing had closed due to a suspicious object. Then two explosions were heard. Around an hour later, a policeman approached Miranda and informed her that her bag had been exploded by the police. The stunned Miranda said that the bag had contained her laptop, an ipod and original art she had created. "Don't worry, we'll compensate you for everything" said the policeman to the now crying Miranda. A policewoman who was standing to the side, she recalls, burst out laughing.

At the Eilat police station, Miranda received the remanents of her bag. She was told that the compensation form would not include her artistic creations, described as 'pieces of paper'. Left with no other option, Miranda signed and left to Sinai. When she returned to Israel, a private appraiser explained to her that there is no legal obligation to compensate her for her loss and that the state of Israel by the 'tradition of the law', without regard to her art, of course.

http://moomin13.livejournal.com/79068.html

[azurnoir]

11. Thanks one has to wonder if the "Ministry of Tourism"

doesn't have a word with these "guys" actions such as those described in all of the articles can not be inducement to visit Israel

[shaayecanaan]

6. This is why Syria gets 6 million tourists a year and Israel gets three (nt)

[proteus_lives]

8. Deleted.

[Ken Burch]

7. Sickeningly, a huge number of comments at the Haaretz site

actually DEFENDED the border guards on this.

[LeftishBrit]

9. What I don't understand here...

is what in any case is the point of SHOOTING a laptop??? Did they think it concealed a bomb? - but even if it had, surely shooting it would seem just as likely to make it go off as the contrary? Does anyone here have any idea?

[azurnoir]

10. You should read Ms Sussman's blog entry on this

it gives a "feel" for what transpired it almost seems IMO that the answer would be "because they could"

:shrug:

[bemildred]

12. It does not speak well to me of the training or the mental state of the persons that did it.

It suggests a sense of arbitrary and unaccountable power.