Arabs face ‘illegal’ treatment at Israeli airports: NGO

By Kaamil Ahmed

JERUSALEM

A group that advocates for the rights of Palestinians with Israeli citizenship on Monday described the treatment frequently doled out to Arab passengers by Israeli airport security personnel as "illegal".

In a letter sent to Israeli Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit and the Israel Airports Authority (IAA), the Adalah group, a Haifa-based NGO, criticized the strip-searches and "security escorts" to which Arab airline passengers are frequently subjected.

"The ability of an individual private citizen to stand up to such practices is limited," Adalah attorney Fady Khoury wrote in the letter.

This, Khoury added, "is due both to the mistaken assumption on the part of the citizen that these practices have a legal basis and justification, as well as to the declared consequences of refusing to comply, such as being forbidden to board one's flight".

The letter went on to assert that Israeli laws regarding flight security did not authorize the policies allegedly implemented at Israeli airports.

An IAA spokesperson declined to comment on the issue, but the NGO’s letter quoted an official IAA response to the claims rejecting allegations of "improper practices".