A well-known American Jewish journalist, Peter
Beinart, was detained for questioning by Israel’s secret service, at Ben Gurion
airport. The observant Jew from New-York was on his way with his wife and two
young kids to celebrate a family event in Israel.
In his article I Was Detained at Ben-Gurion Airport
Because of My Beliefs , Beinart writes “An Israeli government led by men who respect
neither liberal democracy nor the rule of law now knows it has kindred spirits
in Washington. […] Israel, like America, is getting uglier. And yet I
can’t imagine not coming here. I’ll keep doing so until they bar me outright.”
Israel’s security services have been questioning more and more people
about their political views. This would not have become a public issue and
excited the Israeli as well as Jewish media outside Israel, had the detained
not been well-known and influential. That influential, that Bibi Netanyahu
half-apologised, by explaining that Beinart’s questioning had been an
administrative mistake by a local officer.
