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Moriel Rothman-Zecher @Moriel_RZ
, 16 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
After ~3 hours being detained by security in Ben Gurion Airport (see previous tweets) I've not been released and crossed the border. What a bizarre experience.
After ~two hours, I was called into the back room, searched and metal detected by a kid who looked like he was 14, then told to wait.
Then a guy comes in, introduces himself as "Gever," Hebrew, more or less, for "Dude", from the Shabak.
Dude: where are you coming from, Moriel?
M: From the US
Dude: How long were you there?
M: Since October
Dude: Long trip. Do you live there?
M: For now, yeah.
Dude: But you're Israeli, right?
M: Right.
Dude: You were born here?
M: Yep.
Dude: but you grew up there?
M: Mostly.
Dude: High school here?
M: 12th grade, and then college in the US.
Dude: Army?
M: No.
Dude: Why?
M: [shrugs]
Dude: Like an ideological thing?
M: yeah. I didn't want to be part of a institution that violently maintains a system of inequality.
Dude: you think the army is violent?
M: Armies are violent. That's the point of armies.
Dude: what do you think would happen to us if we didn't haven't our army?
M: that's not--
Dude: and after all that happened to us throughout history?
M: Dude, I am exhausted, and want to get to back my daughter. Am here to have an ideological discussion?
Dude: No, no. Why do you think you're here?
M: You tell me.
Dude: have you ever been arrested?
M: Yes. I was arrested in Hebron for nonviolently protesting the segregation of Shuhada Street.
Dude: when was this?
M: 2013
Dude: any other arrests?
M: I was detained another time in Hebron and in East Jerusalem.
Dude: which groups are you part of?
M: what do you mean?
Dude: whose actions do you go to?
M: various. When I lived here, I would go to actions by groups who used nonviolent means to protest the occupation and promote equality.
Dude: Would you go to a Breaking the Silence action in Hebron? Breaking the Silence is not illegal, you know
M: I know.
Dude: So did you ever to Breaking the Silence actions?
M: Yes.
Dude: And what about "All That's Left?"
M: Yes.
Dude: What is All That's Left? Can you tell me who is in charge?
M: No one is. It's a group whose members believe in nonviolently working for equality
Dude: Can you tell me some names of prominent members?
M: No.
Dude: ok. [takes notes]. So, let me tell you why we detained you. We work on dealing with extreme right and the extreme left. For example, Baruch Goldstein, or the ones who burnt Abu Khdeir and the Dawabshe family--
-that sort of extreme right.
M: that is an insane parallel to draw, between those folks and left wing groups who nonviolently protest in order to bring about equality.
Dude: I'm glad you keep emphasizing non-violent. I didn't say you're extreme left.
M: but how can you possibly frame the left groups that you talked about as having any parallel to extreme right?
Dude: Someone slapped a nine year old boy in Hebron a few days ago.
M: what? Who did? Slapping a kid is anti-left.
Dude: an international. Anyway. That's just an--
Example. I know lots of other things. But you seem like a decent fellow, and I want you to be able to get back to your daughter. Just remember that these things can be slippery slopes.
M: i don't think nonviolent protests are slippery slopes to violence.
Dude: Glad to hear that
Dude: Just listen to my warning. Make sure not to go down the slippery slope. You can go now. They'll bring you your passport.
And now I'm through. What a bizarre way to start this visit. It felt like he was most interested in diaspora Jewish stuff, and in telling me his "warning" about slippery slopes. Ugh. Well. Onwards.
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