Shibel Karmi Mansour: Airport security should check people fairly

The radio broadcaster, who is an Israeli-Druze, said he nearly “fell out of the seat” when Israeli Airport Authority stated they don’t discriminate.

AUGUST 4, 2019 16:22

Airport travelers [Illustrative] (photo credit: PIXABAY) — Airport travelers [Illustrative]

(photo credit: PIXABAY)

Complaints regarding Ben-Gurion Airport security procedures being unfair are back, after Israel’s ambassador to Panama released a social media post in which he complained they make him want “to vomit” on Saturday.

The ambassador, Druze-Israeli Reda Mansour, was supported today by radio presenter Shibel Karmi Mansour, who said he nearly fell out of his seat when he read the airport's official statement, claiming that it does not have a security policy which is racially discriminating.

Mansour said he experienced discrimination when going abroad and that in other countries, like the US, all people are examined in the same way.

The ambassador related how, at the checkpoint on the road to the airport, the driver of his van was asked where they were coming from.

When he replied Usfiya, the car was ordered to the side, and the passengers were ordered to show passports. Mansour – traveling with his wife and daughters – was asked where he was going. He replied to Paris, and from there to Panama where he works at the embassy.

In Mansour’s telling, the female security guard – whose role is known as a scanner – spoke sharply, gave a long glance at each passenger, with her glance lingering especially long at his youngest daughter, before saying they could go on.

After the incident, he wrote, his daughter said, “It is very upsetting how she talked to you while you were smiling and replied politely.”

“Go to hell, Ben-Gurion Airport,” he wrote.