--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sgrayatlarge no_re...@... wrote:
Is this the only passenger that has been subjected to this
kind of treatment or have there been others? We wouldn't
know because the The Hindu article didn't say. So is this
an isolated incident? Perhaps some investigative journalism
would help here.
Sounds like somebody's Zionist button got pushed. :-)
El Al is widely known in Europe as the worst airline
to fly in terms of treating its passengers badly. Many
travel agencies will actually advise you not to fly on
El Al if you have a skin color any darker than an Irish
summer tan, because the extra time you'll spend in sec-
urity checks can make you miss your flights. Passengers
flying El Al out of one airport in Spain were strip-
searched often enough (and without finding even a single
instance that justified the strip searches) that the
airport considered banning the airline entirely. The
company I work for no longer books flights on El Al
for its employees.
If it was a Saudi airline employee sticking a flashlight
up your ass, you wouldn't be making noises about how
one incident doesn't necessarily make the whole airline
bad. But when it's El Al, you want more investigative
journalism.
The results of such investigations are long since in.
Israelis in security positions often seem to go out of
their way to be hated. And then people like you imply
that they're drawing fire only because they're Jews.
It's not because they're Jews. It's because they're
assholes.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Jason jedi_spock@ wrote:
News » Cities » Bangalore
âIsraeli airline security check dehumanising'
Staff Reporter
Frequent fliers may have become accustomed to
intense security checks at airports. Baggage
screening has extended to footwear, banned
products now include toothpaste, and it may not be
long before controversial full-body scans are
routine.
A letter to the Ministry of External Affairs,
however, suggests that invasive security measures
used by some airlines can push even the most
seasoned travellers beyond endurance.
Scientist S. Chinniah, in the letter dated August
18, alleges that she was subjected to a
four-and-half hour âdehumanisingâ security check
by the Israeli airline El Al at the Mumbai
airport.
Ms. Chinniah, who lives with her husband and two
daughters in Bangalore, travelled on a vacation on
June 24 to Tel Aviv to see her friends from
Cornell University, where she studied. At the
Mumbai airport, she said, she was subjected to a
traumatic interrogation, for no apparent reason,
and without explanation.
Having arrived several hours early, she was in the
security-check line when El Al security led her to
a small room at the back of the airport and kept
her there for the next four-and-half hours.
Their aggressive questioning included queries on
her recent travel to Malaysia and Dubai, including
whom she visited there.
To her mortification, she was asked to remove her
trousers and shoes. Ms. Chinniah was concerned
that a woman security was not present. She was
left with three men, who refused to show her any
identification. She said she was not allowed to
eat, drink water or go to the toilet.
âNo Indian security personnel were present during
this process, given that it was conducted on
Indian soil. Only Israeli security personnel (all
of whom spoke Hebrew) were present when I was
taken aside,â she said.
Ms. Chinniah has sent copies of her letter to El
Al Airlines, the Israeli Embassy and the United
States consulates in Chennai and Mumbai.
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