Waleed Aly has shared details of a “horrific” incident where he was detained and searched at the airport while trying to leave Israel.
The Project host told his experience after the show aired a segment about the number of strip searches performed by NSW Police, which more than doubled from 2016 to 2017.
In the first five months of 2018, 735 strip searches were recorded.
An inquiry from the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission claimed children as young as 11 have been strip searched.
The Project panel interviewed activist Rachel Evans about her experience being strip-searched, which led Aly to say he could relate to her trauma.
“It’s very hard to understand what it’s like because we don’t experience strip searches very much. I’ve only experienced it once, and it wasn’t here, it was overseas,” he said.
“I was trying to leave Israel and as I was leaving they just picked me out and just took me aside and it just went for hours, basically.”
Aly, who did not specify when this took place, said his experience didn’t go as far as Evans’ “but I did have to undo my jeans and all sorts of stuff”.
“The thing about it is you don’t know where it’s going to end and they explain nothing.
“So you’re just in this situation, you don’t know why, the power imbalance is horrific and you have no idea where it’s going.
“I’ve never left a situation more shaken or angry than that particular thing. We don’t need more of that.”
Evans shared her story of being strip searched during a protest about asylum seekers on Manus Island.
She was ordered into a paddy wagon and said police gave no justification for the search.
She called her experience “really scary and really intimidating”.
Top Comments
People are dying almost everyday in israel due to terrorism. Waleed would be considered an extremely high risk individual.
But yeah i dont think many people would appreciate a cavity search, although some may.
People forget Israel is surrounded by many extremely hostile countries that dont recognise that Israel has the right to exist.
Oh, boo hoo Aly and Rachel Evans. Israel has always had very thorough searches of every passenger departing the country and given its history of aeroplane hijackings, bombings etc, it is quite understandable. In 1978, as a young female, I was taken into a separate room and thoroughly searched, even my lipstick was checked. It was not personal, unlike the female Saudi airport security guard who used to search only western expat woman and were rude and extremely intrusive with their wands.
Rachel Evans was at a peaceful protest, which is legal here in Australia. She had done nothing wrong but was taken and strip searched and then released without charge. Why anyone would think that this kind of move towards authoritarianism is justified is beyond me.
The so called 'strip search' is carried out on all females exiting Israel. You have obviously forgotten the countless hijackings, shooting up of passengers in airports, bomb threats that were carried out on Israelis both in Israel and at overseas airports. Israeli security might be considered extreme by non Israelis, but it has stopped the above scenarios. As for Rachel Evans, she was an Australian citizen in a foreign country demonstrating against Israeli policies. They have every right to subject her to closer scrutiny.
Sorry, I re- read the article about Rachel Evans and she wasn't in Israel. Before I can comment on her experience she needs to explain the circumstances surrounding why and where she was strip searched. But there are Australians (and foreigners) travelling tomIsrael with the specific purpose to participate in anti Israeli (pro Palestinian) and have been subjected to much closer security scrutiny.
No she wasn't, she is an Australian citizen demonstrating (as is her legal right) in a protest in Australia. She wasn't charged with anything, the police asked her no questions or told her any reasons for being taken to the station and strip searched. They literally took her away, even though she wasn't doing anything against the law and strip searched her. Which is just bizarre.
I appreciate Israel is a different story and they have their reasons for heightened security.