Israel, a Police-State: An Anecdotal Experience

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Here in Israel, there are security check points EVERYWHERE. Not manned by police or military, just security dudes with handguns. But they are literally everywhere (grocery stores, IKEA, movie theatres etc.) Paranoia is God here.

So this weekend on our Dead Sea vacation, we were coming back to the hotel from a hike in the desert, and while going through security with the car, everyone was being asked to open their trunks. I was driving, so when we pulled up I obliged, and the guy checked. Then this other guy came to the window, stuck his head in and flashed a police badge. Starts talking to me in Hebrew, and I had no idea what was going on. Yotam passes him the car registration (we had taken his father's car for the trip) and then the police officer (in plain clothes, by the way) asks me for my license... I asked why and what was going on, and they (there were two of them) told us to pull the car over to be searched. Great. So we grudgingly oblige (keep in mind we have done nothing - we are simply returning to our hotel THEREFORE there is total profiling going on here... they see Yotam's facial hair and my pierced nose and assume there's going to be an easy drug bust here.... assholes. Not that cops in Canada are sweet, but they at least need some reason to search your vehicle, personal items, and body... apparently, not so here. All they need to do is look at you, and based on their own stereotypical conceptions and prejudices, are permitted to search anyone they like, in the name of 'security'.) So, at this point both of us are pretty pissed, and Yotam is voicing his outrage - this inspires more bullying from the cops, and they proceed to search Yotam... I ask what they think they're looking for "Drugs and weapons". Ok... So after searching Yotam, my purse, our backpack, they turn to going through every inch of the car, and are rewarded by finding a camping knife, belonging to Yotam's father... You know, kind of like a Leatherman, with a three-inch blade that pulls out of a decorative bone handle... not exactly a lethal weapon, but because we weren't cowering in fear and reverence, they took the knife, and told Yotam to get in their car, me to follow in our car, to the station to be processed and interrogated. Ridiculous!

Basically what's happening here is that Israel is a highly militarized police state, which has far more soldiers and police than it knows what to do with... yet they have to have them do something, can't just be standing around on tax-payers (Israeli and American) money. So, they station them at hotel entrances to harass hippie-types who might have a piece of hash on them... not that this will eradicate drug use and sales on any meaningful level... it just gives two guys something to do for an afternoon of "work'. In this case, because we didn't immediately kiss-ass, they needed to assert their authority, by any means necessary, so this "weapon" allowed them to haul us in, interrogate Yotam, finger-print him, and open an investigation on him. Which is ironic seeing as I was the one driving the car, a car which wasn't registered to either of us.... but I think this little game would have been complicated by having a foreign national be the subject of their bullying, so they picked on him instead... and they probably didn't have good enough English to 'interrogate' me anyway.

So, if anyone ever tries to tell you that Israel is a "developed," "Western" country, that it is the "democratic hope for the Middle East," that it has "all of the comforts and luxuries of North American countries", please laugh and relate this story to them. Never believe for a moment that Israel is anything more than a fascist, apartheid, militarized police-state, masquerading as a democracy. I forgot for a moment, while enjoying the luxuries of a resort in the Dead Sea, and this is what it got me.

*insert theatrical yet poignant spitting on the ground here*

And yes, this is anger speaking. Quite justifiably, in my opinion.

Harsh words for a harsh experience.

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Photos

Security Check at IKEA
Sensible Swedish homeware has never felt so dangerous...

Comments

[sam]

Next time I hope they will kick your ass
Stupid college boy