Omar Shakir Profile picture
Aug 23, 2019 14 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Israel regularly denies entry to those who challenge its policies & seek to see the occupation for themselves. But that’s not full story. Those who make it in face systematic harassment at Ben Gurion, particularly those of Arab descent. A thread on my experience today 1/14
Israel revoked my work permit in May 2018 over my rights advocacy, but court-ordered injunctions froze enforcement of deportation. I’ve only traveled since when gov permits me & guarantees my re-entry. Ahead of my Sep 24 Supreme Court appeal, I was permitted to visit family 2/14
At Ben Gurion Airport, security officials upon entry questioned me & gave me its highest security designation (denoted by #6 at beginning of barcode sticker on passport)- same designation I’ve gotten each of 15+ times I’ve flown from here 3/14
They directed me & others designated a ‘6’ to a special security line, out of sight for the majority of travelers who breeze through. Everyone in ‘6’ line with me this morning were Palestinian 4/14
Two agents put my carryon bag/backpack through scanner & took me to a separate area, where they searched every corner/pocket of my bags, wiped/scrutinized every single item in them & sent some, including my cologne bottle & laptop, for additional scanning 5/14
Agent took out my book (Virginia Tilly’s ‘Beyond Occupation: Apartheid, Colonialism & Intl Law in OPT’) & called security chief, who questioned me about my travel plans & work/life here. I caught glimpse of agent looking at book & shaking her head in apparent disapproval 6/14
Security chief took my passport & made phone calls, while another agent put me through body scanner, patted me down & scanned my shoes. I noticed an agent hand my memory stick & house keys to security chief for him to evaluate 7/14
Security chief told me scanner caught something in bag & that I couldn't take some items w me on plane including Beyond Occupation book, notebook, printed articles, pens, business cards/receipts, keys, pills, granola, toothbrush, deodorant, sunglasses, deck of playing cards 8/14
They placed items in cardboard box & said I’d receive it upon landing. I pressed him: what threat did granola, receipts & a toothbrush pose? How’s threat any different if items checked in? He told me that these were their procedures & that he couldn’t say anything more 9/14
1+ hour later, they said they finished & left me to repack my stuff, with my underwear & other personal items strewn about on table. I was left to fly wo my book, anything to write with/on & medicine I needed & worried that confiscated items would be searched more or taken 10/14
Such encounters common for me at Ben Gurion or flying Israeli airlines: been pulled over entering airport to have car inspected many times, asked if I pray/fast or consider Israel an apartheid state, strip searched, laptop/phone taken & seat on plane changed w/o explanation 11/14
My experience isn’t unique. You’ll struggle to find a Palestinian who doesn’t have similar stories. El Al agents once told friend they found explosives in his bag; they boarded him but left his suitcase behind & dumped his stuff in plastic bag that he only got upon arrival 12/14
We are of course the lucky who can fly, unlike scores Israel bans from travel/entry, 4.5 million Palestinian ID holders Israel bars from using airport (2 million of whom it cages in Gaza open-air prison) & millions of Palestinian refugees denied right of return or to visit 13/14
Constant humiliation & punitive measures necessary for Israel to sustain systematic repression & two-tiered discriminatory regime that treats Palestinians unequally compared to Jewish Israelis. Their harassment only strengthens our resolve to work to dismantle racist system 14/14

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More from @OmarSShakir

May 14
Israel's April 1 strike killing 7 @WCKitchen aid workers was no anomaly—new @hrw report finds that Israel has repeatedly struck known locations of aid convoys & premises. 250+ aid workers have been killed since Oct 7. Perpetrators must be held to account.🧵 hrw.org/news/2024/05/1…
Image
We @hrw documented 8 cases in which aid organizations or UN agencies shared the GPS coordinates of an aid convoy or premises with Israeli authorities & yet Israeli forces attacked them without warning. These Israeli attacks killed 15 people—including 2 kids—& injured 16 others. Image
On Nov 18, Israeli forces fired on convoy of five marked @MSF cars, killing two people. MSF coordinated their movements w the Israeli army & followed the route they designated. There were no apparent military targets in area. MSF requested an explanation, but received no reply. Image
Read 12 tweets
Apr 4
Breaking: new @hrw report documents another apparent Israeli war crime—Oct 31 strike on central Gaza apartment building killing 106+ civilians, including 54 kids, many playing football. No evidence of military target—making strike unlawfully indiscriminate hrw.org/news/2024/04/0…
350 people lived in building—including 150 who were displaced. When Israel struck, many kids were playing football outside building; others gathered to charge their phones in rare grocery store that had power amid Israeli electricity cuts. Members of 14 families killed in instant Image
This is one of 31000+ Israeli strikes. More Palestinians killed on average per day since Oct 7 than in this strike. Israel's blocking of entry to investigators & killing of journalists makes deep-dive investigations difficult, but this one points to many yet unreported war crimes Image
Read 4 tweets
Feb 20
This week's momentous Int'l Court of Justice hearings on legal consequences of Israel's 57-year occupation highlight the growing global consensus that Israel's repression of Palestinians amounts to apartheid. A🧵of excerpts from the proceedings (to be updated as statements go up) Image
South Africa "beseeches @CIJ_ICJ to examine the institutionalized régime of discriminatory laws, policies & practices applied by Israel alongside the definition of the crime of apartheid & to find that Israel subjects Palestinians to what constitutes an apartheid régime" (Feb 20) Image
Saudi Arabia to @CIJ_ICJ (Feb 20): "There can be no serious debate that Israeli policies & practices also amount to racial discrimination & are tantamount to apartheid, in grave violation of the Palestinian people’s human rights." Image
Read 31 tweets
Oct 15, 2023
Israeli authorities are signaling their intent to commit mass atrocities. They must be stopped. A thread 1/10 Image
The Hamas-led massacre shook Israelis to their core—many know someone killed when fighters shot up crowds, taken as hostages/paraded about or narrowly survived by barricading themselves as militants infiltrated homes. They committed heinous crimes & should be held to account 2/10 Image
But that’s not what Israeli officials are calling for—they want revenge, using incendiary language & suggesting that the entire population of Gaza—2.2+ million people, half of whom are children—should be collectively punished. Some examples 3/10 Image
Read 10 tweets
Feb 1, 2022
With today’s landmark @amnesty report, Israeli apartheid is now a matter of wall-to-wall consensus. As more & more recognize reality for what it is, our challenge is to take action to change it & #EndIsraeliApartheid 1/10
Amnesty thoroughly exposes a “system which operates w varying levels of intensity & repression based on Palestinians’ status in the separate enclaves where [they] live.. but ultimately seeks to establish & maintain Jewish hegemony wherever Israel exercises effective control” 2/10
Amnesty’s findings echo those of leading Palestinian & Israeli rights orgs, @hrw & others: that Israeli govt committing the crime of apartheid against millions of Palestinians & that int’l community should end complicity & hold perpetrators to account 3/10
Read 10 tweets
Jul 27, 2021
Breaking: @hrw finds that Israeli strikes in May killed scores of civilians in Gaza, wiped out entire families w/ no evident military targets in area & amount to apparent war crimes that @IntlCrimCourt should probe. Hear the harrowing accounts of survivors hrw.org/news/2021/07/2…
In one strike @hrw investigated, guided missile witnesses saw approach from Israel killed 6 kids as they played & 2 adults near Beit Hanoun. Israel said it was a Palestinian rocket, but offered no evidence & included one victim among ppl they said were killed. All were civilians.
In another, a US-made guided bomb destroyed a building in al-Shati refugee camp, one of world’s most densely populated areas, killing 2 women & 8 of their young kids as they slept, leaving only one surviving kids from each family. @hrw found no evidence of military target there.
Read 8 tweets

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