Opinion: What Happens at Israel’s Border Crossings Is Calculated Humiliation

• Opinion: What Happens at Israel’s Border Crossings Is Calculated Humiliation
  by Amira Hass, https://www.haaretz.com/
  Humiliation in guise of security questioning has been the norm for many non-Jews at the crossings for years.
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  Why is everyone getting all upset over the interrogation at the border crossings of a few left-wing Jews, a young friend of mine who is neither Jewish nor Palestinian asked me indignantly. Her work has frequently brought her to these parts, and each entry and exit has brought with it questioning, strip searches and humiliations.
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  I related her experiences in this column in January 2014, conscious of an inherent trap: On one hand, readers are liable to conclude that the incident deserves coverage because it is an exception, meaning that the overall situation isn’t so bad. On the other hand, what is routine is by definition not worthy of coverage. And since it goes unreported, it is not terrible and it does not exist. I explained to my friend that this is how journalism works, and that it’s a good thing that thanks to a few privileged Jews (see under Peter Beinart and Simone Zimmerman), the entire issue has been opened up.
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  The humiliations in the guise of security questioning and aggressive questions like the ones Nadim Sarrouh was asked (Haaretz, August 24) are the norm for many non-Jews at the border crossings: Palestinians with Israeli or Western citizenship and non-European-looking tourists, not to mention Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But the latter already know that the Shin Bet security service is in power.
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  The similarity of the questions and the degree of rudeness show that it’s not an issue of particularly backward interrogators, but rather a calculated method of humiliation. That said, the recent questioning of anti-occupation Jews may be the result of the testosterone levels of the Strategic Affairs Ministry and the desire of Gilad Erdan, the minister who heads it, to make his mark on history with the aid of the Shin Bet.
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