• About
  • Jewish Community Directory
  • Subscription Information
  • Contact Us
American Jewish World
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    From Jerusalem with love and compassion

    From Jerusalem with love and compassion

    Jewish groups fight for abortion rights in Minnesota

    Jewish groups fight for abortion rights in Minnesota

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    Poems wanted

    Poems wanted

    Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

    Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

    Searching for a bridge to the past

    Searching for a bridge to the past

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Hey, Kids: The 2021 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest is accepting entries!

    Hey, Kids: The 2021 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest is accepting entries!

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    From Jerusalem with love and compassion

    From Jerusalem with love and compassion

    Jewish groups fight for abortion rights in Minnesota

    Jewish groups fight for abortion rights in Minnesota

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    Poems wanted

    Poems wanted

    Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

    Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

    Searching for a bridge to the past

    Searching for a bridge to the past

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Hey, Kids: The 2021 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest is accepting entries!

    Hey, Kids: The 2021 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest is accepting entries!

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
No Result
View All Result
Morning News
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

My day as a prisoner of Homeland Security

American Jewish World by American Jewish World
May 23, 2020
in Opinion
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A dark complexion and proximity to two passengers who aroused suspicions on a Denver to Detroit flight result in the writer being detained, strip-searched and interrogated at the airport

By SHOSHANA HEBSHI

TOLEDO, Ohio (j. weekly) — When I wrote an article nine years ago about going on a press trip to Israel, I was just beginning to explore the implications of my Arab-Jewish heritage on my life. The trip was eye opening for me in many ways, chiefly because it was the first time I openly confronted and then wrote about living with this dual ancestry.

READ ALSO

I’m a pediatrician who sees kids with coronavirus every day. It’s changed my whole way of life.

I’m staying sane during the pandemic by reclaiming an age-old Jewish tradition: baking bread

First Person

Now I find myself again writing about the same subject, only under vastly different circumstances.
On Sept. 11, the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I was flying from Denver to Detroit. After we landed, I was handcuffed and pulled off the airplane with two Indian men for “suspicious activity.”
Following my 2002 Israel trip as a writer for the j., San Francisco’s Jewish newspaper, I wrote, “A co-worker who had lived in Israel said I should expect some harassment or strange looks” (because of my Arabic heritage). During the trip, I acutely felt the tension between the Arabs and Jews living there. It was during a peak in the second intifada, and our press trip was intended to show that tourism was still possible and attractive, though suicide bombings in public markets and on buses were common.
I was torn between empathizing with the plight of the Palestinians and feeling at home as well as solidarity with the Israelis. I marveled at the Israelis’ resilience to the violence but questioned how it appeared that the Arabs were second-class citizens. It was a powerful experience for me, and it sparked a trend of writing about my ancestral conflict.
On Sept. 11, I was returning from spending the weekend with my sister and her family in San Francisco. My flight had a layover in Denver before connecting me back to the Detroit airport. My husband, from Moraga, our two kids and I now live in a suburb of Toledo, Ohio, where my husband is doing a residency in emergency medicine.
I had been looking forward to an uneventful flight — albeit on an ominous day — and I wanted to get home to have dinner with my family. I was happy when our flight landed in Detroit on time. I sent a text message to my husband telling him I should be home in an hour. But I didn’t know that two F-16s had been following the plane to Detroit and what was waiting for us — especially my row mates and me — when we landed.
As I later recounted in a blog post, which I titled “Some real Shock and Awe: Racially profiled and cuffed in Detroit,” the events that unfolded shortly after our plane touched the ground turned an easy trip into a frightening ordeal: I was handcuffed and escorted by armed officers off the plane into a police car and placed in a holding cell.
I was later strip-searched and interviewed by FBI and Homeland Security agents about my actions and those of the two men in the seats next to me during the flight. They had detained the three of us for “suspicious behavior,” which media reports described as the two men going to the bathroom several times and remaining indisposed for long periods.
On the other hand, I did not move from my seat during the entire flight, yet was still pulled off and detained simply because — I can only imagine — I had been seated next to the two Indian men and I have a dark complexion.
The incident recalled memories of that 2002 press trip to Israel of how scared my family and I were that I would be blown up by a suicide bomber. We were all so relieved that I came back in one piece that we started a ritual feast that we celebrate on the summer solstice.
At Ben Gurion Airport, as I was preparing to fly home to San Francisco, airport security personnel started asking questions about some of the visas I had in my passport. One was from Saudi Arabia and another from Egypt — both of which I had received during a family trip in 1999. A female agent took my passport and disappeared for a while, maybe 15 minutes. When she returned, she gave me back my passport and sent me on my way.
That was the longest I had been “detained for questioning,” and I felt like the matter was dealt with appropriately. I understood the nature of their adherence to security protocol and suspicions about travel to Arab countries.
This Sept. 11 was a different story. My detainment and questioning in Detroit seemed so unfounded and unprovoked that I sat wondering where my rights had gone — or if I had any to begin with.
There is no mistaking that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were horrifying. I cannot begin to imagine the pain that those who experienced the events firsthand felt and probably continue to feel. As an American I was in shock, but I had no idea that we would still be fighting our same demons 10 years later.
This country has always been one of innovation, fortitude and pluck. I question if our lingering fears and over-the-top safety measures have dampened those strengths. Some will counter that our national security protocols and procedures are what keep us safe, but I can tell you that I would take a 15-minute investigation at the airport before I board a plane rather than an aggressive, unwarranted detention any day.
The public and media attention my blog post has received this week has been overwhelming, turning into something quite bigger than I could have ever imagined. To me it signals a dire need for a national debate on the way we are handling our national security.
I do hope that a positive outcome will come from this, and as a nation we can live less in fear and more in tolerance and acceptance.

***

Shoshana Hebshi worked for j.-the Jewish news weekly of Northern California in 2002 and 2003 as a copy editor and writer. She now lives outside Toledo, Ohio, raising her twin boys and working on freelance projects. Contact her at: Shoshana@shoshanahebshi.com or follow her on Twitter: @ShoshanaHebshi.



Related Posts

Health & Wellness

I’m a pediatrician who sees kids with coronavirus every day. It’s changed my whole way of life.

June 12, 2020
Food

I’m staying sane during the pandemic by reclaiming an age-old Jewish tradition: baking bread

May 23, 2020
Opinion

Israel’s fake rightist prime minister

May 23, 2020
Opinion

Netanyahu blundered as Syrian regime was on verge of collapse

May 23, 2020
Food

A love letter to salami and eggs

May 23, 2020
Opinion

Mental health conference offers guidance for recovery

May 23, 2020
Next Post

Gilad Hekselman expands jazz guitar horizons

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECENT ARTICLES

From Jerusalem with love and compassion

From Jerusalem with love and compassion

June 21, 2022
Jewish groups fight for abortion rights in Minnesota

Jewish groups fight for abortion rights in Minnesota

June 21, 2022
Editorial: Elections and Trump’s big lie

Editorial: Elections and Trump’s big lie

June 24, 2022
Poems wanted

Poems wanted

June 7, 2022
‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

May 11, 2022

About

Since 1912 the AJW has served as an important news resource for the Jewish community. The Jewish World unites the main Jewish communities in St. Paul and Minneapolis, as well as those in Duluth, Rochester and smaller cities, and bridges the divides between the various Jewish religious streams.

Quick Links

  • About the AJW
  • Advertising Information
  • Submission Guidelines
  • Subscription Information
  • Jewish Community Directory

Contact Us

The American Jewish World
3249 Hennepin Ave., Suite 245
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Tel: 612.824.0030 / Fax: 612.823.0753
editor@ajwnews.com

  • Buy JNews
  • Landing Page
  • Documentation
  • Support Forum

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
  • News
  • Food
  • Health & Wellness
  • Lifestyle
  • Opinion

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.