The daily reality demands that Israeli police should ask questions - by Stephen M. Flatow

...The police wanted to know why Koplow had taken a tour of Palestinian areas in Judea-Samaria, and why he had a Palestinian pamphlet in his suitcase. What exactly is wrong with the police wanting to know more about that? Are they supposed to have a special list of prominent donors to Brandeis University, like Mr. Koplow, who have the privilege of being in the “no-questioning” category, no matter what is found in their luggage? Even as the parent of a victim of terror that took place on Israeli soil, I get handled just like everyone else when I fly.

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
07 August '18..

In recent weeks, a handful of American Jews have loudly complained about being questioned by the Israeli police over their contacts with Palestinians. They would have us believe that the Israeli authorities are a bunch of iron-fisted totalitarians who are trying to suppress dissent. I don’t buy it.

The latest complainers are Simone Zimmerman and Abby Kirschbaum, who spent last weekend in the Sinai (that is, Egypt) and were questioned upon their return.

Zimmerman is one of the founders of the Israel-bashing organization “IfNotNow.” Her hostility to Israel is so extreme that she was too much even for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, himself a harsh critic of the Jewish state. She was fired from the Sanders’s presidential campaign after using obscenities to describe the prime minister of Israel.

Kirschbaum works for what she calls “a dual-narrative travel company dedicating to exposing the many faces and places of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” In other words, regular travel companies are not sufficiently sympathetic to the Palestinians, so Kirschbaum’s group steps in to provide the other “narrative.”

It’s not hard to understand why the Israeli police might want to ask them a few questions. What’s so awful about that?

(Continue to Full Column)

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