25 pro-Palestinian activists from Germany stopped upon arrival in Israel
Passengers from Lufthansa flight expected to be denied entry to Israel, after 65 other 'fly-in' activists were transferred to detention facilities and 4 were deported; police estimate that bulk of events related to 'fly-in' have ended.
By Zohar Blumenkrantz and Yaniv Kubovich Tags: Palestinians Ben-Gurion Airport Gaza flotillaA group of 25 people suspected to be pro-Palestinian activists arrived at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Friday night, and were expected to be denied entry to Israel.
The suspected activists arrived on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt late Friday night, after their flight’s departure was delayed due to runway improvement work being conducted at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Friday evening from 19:00 to 22:00.
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Israeli pro-Palestinian activists at Ben-Gurion International Airport on July 8, 2011. |
| Photo by: Ilan Assayag |
The activist aboard the plane were not on the list of 342 blacklisted passengers submitted by the Transportation Ministry to foreign airlines on Thursday, and as such were able to board the plane.
Earlier in the day, police called Friday’s operations at Ben-Gurion Airport "successful" as most of the activists were identified and taken for questioning during the afternoon hours.
Not including those passengers who arrived on the Lufthansa flight, a total of 310 arriving passengers were questioned by the Immigration and Population Authority. Sixty-nine of those passengers were found to be "fly-in" activists and were denied entry to Israel. The others were found to be regular tourists and were permitted entry.
At this time, four of the 69 activists have been deported to their home countries. The rest have been sent to detention facilities until they can be deported.
Ten of the activists arrived on an easyJet flight, while another 20 came on an Alitalia flight. The rest arrived on other flights.
Israel has thus far been successful in preventing the entry of 200 passengers wishing to come to Israel as part of the Welcome to Palestine campaign, which had organized a "fly-in" to the Middle East this weekend for solidarity visits in the Palestinian territories.
Israel Police estimate that the bulk of events related to the pro-Palestinian 'fly-in' have ended.
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These disgusting left-wing commies deserve their little Stalins in their respective countries to teach them how and where and when to "protest".
Can't the government see that by deporting peaceful activists from an EU ally will draw more attention to it than simply letting a small group of germans in to shout rabble rabble for a few days then go home feeling good about themselves, but having no impact on the political situation
Besides, they would never leave, meaning eventually Israel would have to deport them anyway. Better do it as they arrive, not after weeks of media circus.
Please understand their nature
shame on israel
That is so far from the truth that it makes me bristle with anger that someone is so unaware of the differences between a parliamentary democracy and a dictatorship (er, "monarchy"). Does it even bother you that you're so incredibly uniformed and ignorant?
do you honestly think that? if Israel was those countries you would never be hearing from those activists again.
Calling them peaceful doesn't make them so! those people juste want a fight and to humiliate Israel in the eyes of the medias! There is a rule in the airport: no demonstration, for right and left ... as equal!!!!
I hope Israel has a bit of peace..If that is too much to ask.. Enough is enough,,
Arabs have 22 nation states, but Jews have no right to a nation state?
Syria would have interogated them and then sent them home packing, as it did the Iranian-Canadian journalist. That is what Israel is doing.
don´t make me laugh! The syrians would torture them first, maybe kill them like they DO with their own people! ISRAEL IS A DEMOCRACY! learn history ivan! LONG LIVE ISRAEL
BS is what you seem to expect oh so nicely a treatment by the Syrians.. Gee how deluded some of you are... now bugger off ...You have had your FUN ha
Best thing Israel could of done
I wonder, if the Israeli government had to face wide-spread peaceful protests internally, as in Syria, how would it behave.
Israel is a democracy; the only one in the Middle East. The people rule already although there may be some delay before they kick their leaders out. In any case true democracies do not kill their people when they protest I cannot think of a single case except when there is civil war, which is a different kind of protest
In Syria people go to streets when they want to overthrow their president. In Israel they go to polls for the same reason.
Sounds like you haven't grown up yet to get out and see the world and learn something.
Israel is far more open than the US for example.
Again with the use of the abstract to hide your true meaning. The "Germans" as you refer to them are first and foremost humans, and the response internationally to Isaels actions vis-a-vis the palestinian poeple is sustained by empathy not nationality.
You'd have thought the Israelis might know better!
that are never reported on outside of Israel. why not actually donate money to us? Fatah website accepts donations, lots of Palestinian charities... or is making the Jews look bad more important than actually helping us on the ground??
First tell Fatah to stop stealing
.....nobody knows where these donations end up. The Palestinians are about the worst in the world at accounting for what they do with the money they get.
In case you are still wondering, these people don't give a **** about you. They are ready to fight Jews until the last Palestinian.
Voice of reason. Who is disagreeing?
And that's coming from a conservative jew
Sorry Samir - all the pro palistinian supporters are interested in doing is making Isreal look bad. As far as the pro palistinian activists are concerned you palistinians actually take second place. For them making Isreal look bad is more important than you are.
is that cash, money, mula, shekels, dinars, dollars, are much more important to the Palestinian national cause then "fly ins" and frankly considering the debt the PA is facing I agree.
When Muslims become pacifist and when Muslims appreciate Israel, Heaven on earth starts then and there.