<\/p>\n
In this Edition:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n ACRI Presses Gov’t to Stop Searching Tourists’ Emails<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n <\/a> ACRI Op-Eds<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n What\u2019s So Special About One Israeli TV Personality\u2019s Racism \u2013 April 29, 2013 (Haaretz)<\/a> by Rawia Aburabia<\/strong>, ACRI director of project on Rights of the Negev Bedouin<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAfter decades of discrimination and neglect, the Bedouin community is ready for change. It is better educated, and it is much more willing to participate in civil discourse and constructive dialogue with the authorities and with Israeli society as a whole. A government policy whose entire purpose is to reduce the Bedouin community\u2019s living space while cutting off its livelihood will result only in poverty, frustration, and alienation.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pushing Israel\u2019s Asylum Seekers Into A Legal Twilight Zone \u2013 April 18, 2013 (Haaretz)<\/a> by Oded Feller<\/strong>, ACRI Attorney<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cFor years, the State of Israel has implemented a policy full of contradictions. It avoids deporting most of the asylum seekers from Sudan and Eritrea because of the danger awaiting them in their countries of origin. Yet, at the same time, it refuses to recognize them as refugees and insists on calling them \u201cinfiltrators.\u201d \u2026 In this way, the State of Israel pushes asylum seekers into a legal twilight zone.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Are We Closer Or Further Away From An Israel To Be Proud Of? \u2013 March, 21, 2013 (The Jewish News, UK)<\/a> by Hagai El-Ad<\/strong>, ACRI Executive Director<\/p>\n \u201cThis is about an ongoing reality which, in and of itself, creates endless human rights violations that will end if \u2013 and only when \u2013 the occupation itself ends\u2026 While we look away, a system that no matter how you call it will always remain unjustifiable only keeps getting further entrenched.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Separate Buses Just A Symptom \u2013 March 16, 2013 (Y-Net)<\/a> by Maskit Bendel<\/strong>, ACRI attorney<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe separate bus lines are merely a visual expression of the complete segregation that exists in the West Bank between Israeli settlers and Palestinians in every aspect of daily life. This segregation is both physical and legal.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Racism Epidemic \u2013 March 27, 2013 (Y-Net)<\/a> by Sami Michael<\/strong>, ACRI President (adapted from speech on March 17th<\/sup>)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI cannot comprehend how victims of racism can themselves be racist; how the remaining two-thirds of the fatal epidemic of racism could establish a state in which racism holds a chilling grip, from the soccer stadiums to the political world, and on to all forms of culture.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n ACRI Takes Discriminatory Municipalities to Court<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jerusalem\u2019s Begin Expressway Plan Angers Arab Neighborhood \u2013 March 7, 2013 (Los Angeles Times)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n If completed as planned in 2015, the nearly 1-mile extension of Jerusalem\u2019s Begin Expressway will slice through the neighborhood of Beit Safafa, home to about 12,000 Arabs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThere is a big gap between what the city says and what is happening on the ground in East Jerusalem,\u201d said attorney and Beit Safafa resident Nisreen Aylan of the Assn. for Civil Rights in Israel. \u201cNo other community has been divided like this.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tel Aviv Homeless Shelter Illegally Bars Entry to HIV Carriers \u2013 March 11, 2013 (Haaretz)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A Tel Aviv homeless shelter for drug and alcohol addicts bars entrance to HIV\/AIDS patients in violation of the law but says the move is necessary due to concerns about needle sharing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Under no circumstances can services be denied to a homeless HIV carrier on the grounds that the nature of the service or place requires it,” said Attorney Gil Gan-Mor, director of the Association for Civil Rights’ Right to Housing Program. In a letter to City Hall, he added that even if HIV carriers weren’t considered people who suffer disabilities, it would still be illegal to deny them access to homeless shelters based on the constitutional right to equality.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Modi\u2019in Nixes Policy Keeping Nonresidents Out Of City Park \u2013 March 21, 2013 (Times of Israel)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Several months after closing a large park in the city over the holiday to keep out nonresidents, the city of Modi\u2019in said it would rescind the policy, which drew fire from civil rights activists and neighbors who said it stood on dubious legal ground.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In response to the restrictive policy, which was enacted shortly before the Sukkot holiday in October 2012, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel sent a letter to the municipality, warning that the restriction was illegal as it violates the right to equality and in practice constitutes prohibited discrimination against a religious group.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cRestricting nonresidents\u2019 entry to the park is illegal and constitutes prohibited discrimination,\u201d said ACRI attorney Gil Gan-Mor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n C\u2019tee Accused Of Illegal Construction Plan In E. Jerusalem \u2013 April 22, 2013 (Jerusalem Post)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In a petition submitted Sunday to the Jerusalem Administrative Court, two human rights organizations requested the District Committee for Planning and Building cease treating the unauthorized \u201cJerusalem 2000 Outline Plan\u201d as a ratified legal document.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe already limited opportunities faced by east Jerusalem residents in developing their neighborhoods and receiving building permits are being further restricted by the decision to consider the unapproved outline plan as a \u2018policy document\u2019\u201d she [ACRI attorney Keren Tzafrir] continued.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NGOs Slam J\u2019Lem City Plan For Harming Palestinians \u2013 April 23, 2013 (The Times of Israel)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Two human rights groups on Sunday petitioned the Jerusalem District Court to prevent Jerusalem City Hall from using a non-approved plan as a formula for rejecting new building and development plans, specifically in East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n The petition was submitted by The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Bimkom.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In a media statement issued Sunday, Bimkom and ACRI stressed that the \u201cunreasonable state of affairs has caused particularly severe\u00a0harm to the rights and living conditions of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mayor Plans To Limit Arab Growth in Nazareth \u2013 April 18, 2013 (Al-Monitor)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is estimated that close to 20% of Upper Nazareth\u2019s 52,000 residents are Arabs. The Arab students \u2013 who currently number about two thousand \u2013 have to travel to schools outside the city, in nearby Arab villages. \u201cIn the absence of adequate educational frameworks, the Arab residents\u2019 right to accessible and available education and equal allocation of public and municipal resources is infringed on,\u201d states Ashraf Elias from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) in his appeal to Mayor Gapso, demanding that an educational framework for the Arab students be set up.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Fighting Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Israel\u2019s Latest Trend: Using Courts to Cow Critics \u2013 March 20, 2013 (Haaretz)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Together, the trends could potentially deter citizens from speaking out on issues of public concern, out of fear of exposure to potentially expensive, long-running defamation suits whose outcome is uncertain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Association for Civil Rights in Israel recently issued a survey of the filing of defamation suits aimed at curbing criticism and freedom of expression on issues of public concern, or SLAPPs \u2212 Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. According to the ACRI report, \u201cThe Silencer: Libel Litigation as a Threat to Free Speech,\u201d the number of threats to file such suits and actual suits is increasing in Israel.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Challenging the Infiltration Law and Protecting Refugees<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n High Court: State Must Defend African Migrant Law \u2013 March 12, 2013 (The Jerusalem Post)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The High Court of Justice on Tuesday issued a conditional order against the state regarding the Law to Prevent Infiltration, demanding that it respond to the claim that the law violates the fundamental rights of African migrants. The law authorizes the administrative detention of migrants without a trial for a term of three years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to ACRI, most of the people being held under the law are citizens of Sudan and Eritrea, countries to which \u201cthe Israeli government itself recognizes that it cannot deport people because of their expected fate upon their return.\u201d The petition argued that Israeli and international law prohibit the detention of migrants in cases where they cannot be deported.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n UN Refugee Agency Petitions High Court To Overturn \u2018Infiltration\u2019 Law \u2013 March 12, 2013 (Haaretz)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In a precedent-setting move, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees submitted a request to file a friend of the court brief with the High Court of Justice last Thursday. The case is a petition by all the human rights organizations fighting for refugee rights in Israel and a number of illegal immigrants seeking asylum \u2212 and it asks the High Court to make an exceptional decision and rule a law unconstitutional: The Law for the Prevention of Infiltration.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Deputy AG Clarifies: Israel Does Not Rule Out Deportation Of Sudanese Migrants \u2013 April 9, 2013 (Haaretz)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein’s decision to ban the deportation of Eritrean nationals in Israeli custody does not apply to migrants from Sudan, according to a letter by Deputy Attorney General Dina Silber obtained by Haaretz.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Following Silber\u2019s letter, Yonatan Berman of the Clinic for Immigrants\u2019 Rights and Oded Feller of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel asked Weinstein for clarifications.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bill Cleared To Prevent Migrants In Israel From Transferring Money Abroad \u2013 April 22, 2013 (Haaretz)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A committee of legislative ministers on Sunday approved a bill that would forbid illegal migrants from sending money abroad while living in Israel. The bill was proposed by Interior Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar, who said it is \u201cmeant to use economic means to deal with the phenomenon of infiltrators in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Association of Civil Rights in Israel attorney Oded Feller said Sunday that the bill is flawed. \u201cThe bill essentially seeks to allow the state to steal money and property from refugees as they leave Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Setting the Agenda for Obama\u2019s Visit to Israel<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n You\u2019re Not A Tourist, Obama. Go To Israel With A Message \u2013 March 15, 2013 (The Guardian)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n If he actually means the words he\u2019ll spend several days repearting \u2013 about the great friendship between the US and Israel \u2013 if he truly cares about Israel, he cannot come as a mere tourist. He must come with a message. He should listen to those who understand this occupation best, because they understand that it has to end.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As Hagai El-Ad of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel puts it, when things seem to be standing still they are always changing, most obviously through the creation of \u201cfacts on the ground,\u201d the expanding Israeli settlements on the West Bank.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n ACRI’s Conclusions from the Case of Prisoner X<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n New Details Released On Death Of Israeli Spy \u2013 April 25, 2013 (The New York Times)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The reports released Thursday include previously unreported narrative details of that day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, an advocacy group, noted that the judge had found both \u201csystematic failures\u201d of communication among prison workers and \u201cpinpoint failures\u201d specific to Mr. Zygier, like the camera and staffing problems the day he died.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Combating Racism in Schools and on the Street<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When Racist Expressions Are No Longer The Exception \u2013 March 23, 2013 (Haaretz)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Over the past four years, the Education Ministry has been apathetic, at best, to efforts to battle racism and to promote the study of coexistence between Jews and Arabs. In other cases, it has even censored information relating to more than a few incidents.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A conference was to be held last Sunday at the Seminar HaKibbutzim Teachers College, in conjunction with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, focusing on the war the education establishment should be waging against racism.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Attacks And Anti-Arab Bigotry \u2018More Acceptable\u2019 In Israel \u2013 March 8, 2013 (The National)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A spate of epithet-laced attacks by young Israeli Jews against Arabs indicates anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry is becoming more acceptable in many sectors of Israeli society, according to rights workers.<\/p>\n Auni Banna, the director of the Arab minority rights department at Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), partly attributed the violence to years of “institutionalised” discrimination against Arab citizens, who face restrictions on land ownership and access to housing and education not experienced by Jewish citizens.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Fighting the “Prawer-Begin” Plan on Behalf of Negev Bedouin<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bulldozers Flatten Bedouin Village 49 Times \u2013 April 18, 2013 (Al Jazeera)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The village [Al-Araqib] is one of dozens that has never been recognized by the state, and doesn\u2019t feature on any official maps. Its residents are denied access to water, electricity, paved roads, hospitals, schools, and other basic services.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHome demolitions are taking place on a weekly basis. They are becoming more often and more brutal. Of course, once [Israel] will have a law, it will have the legal basis to even further enhance these policies,\u201d said Rawia Abu Rabia, a lawyer with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Liberman: Jews Are Losing The Battle For The Negev \u2013 April 18, 2013 (Jerusalem Post)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yisrael Beytenu leader MK Avigdor Liberman expressed concerns that Jews may be losing the battle for land control in Israel during a tour of the central Arava settlements on Thursday, Israel Radio Reported.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Though Israel has tried to regulate Beduin building projects by offering the Beduins certain areas in which to build, activist groups have called on the government to legalize the current settlements.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to The Association for Civil Rights in Israel\u2019s website, many Beduins \u201care forced to continue living in unrecognized villages that are denied basic services and infrastructure, such as electricity and running water.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a> Reporting on Poverty and Neglect in East Jerusalem<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Environmentalists Tap Palestinian Schoolchildren To Clean Jerusalem\u2019s Holy Valley, Christian Science Monitor \u2013 April 22, 2013 (The Christian Science Monitor)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Much of the environmental education effort in East Jerusalem started four years ago as a part of a plan to clean up Jerusalem\u2019s Kidron Valley, which abuts the city\u2019s most historic sites and separates East and West Jerusalem. It\u2019s also full of trash and raw sewage: 15 to 20 million cubic meters are dumped each year \u2013 enough to fill six Olympic swimming pools.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some analysts say resistance is due to poor infrastructure and environmental movements that lag a few years behind the United Sates and Europe. The left-leaning Association of Civil Rights in Israel reported in 2009 that the Jerusalem municipality provided only 104 trash bins for 15,000 people in Sur Baher and its neighbor, Umm Tuba.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jerusalem Palestinians Face Neglect, Displacement \u2013 April 19, 2013 (Al-Monitor)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cut off from adjacent Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank by Israeli army checkpoints and a separation barrier, residents of east Jerusalem say they struggle to protect their livelihoods and presence in the city.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some 360,000 Palestinians live in mostly crowded, run down, garbage-strewn neighborhoods in Jerusalem. They constitute 38% of the city\u2019s total population.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Association for Civil Rights in Israel says 78% of residents live below the poverty line.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n East Jerusalem Economy Struggling \u2013 April 16, 2013 (The Media Line)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2026 The economy in east Jerusalem, which Israel conquered in 1967 and later annexed, is declining. A 2012 report by the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) found that the 360,000 Palestinians in east Jerusalem (38 percent of Jerusalem\u2019s total population) have a poverty rate of 78 percent. Some 40 percent of the men are unemployed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n ACRI Petitions Courts on Behalf of Palestinian Residents of the OPT<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n CPT Walks With Shepherds Threatened In Firing Zone \u2013 April 1, 2013 (Mennonite World Review)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n About 1,000 Palestinians living in Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills face expulsion from their homes because they live within an Israeli firing zone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Christian Peacemaker Teams is working to prevent the forced removal by maintaining a presence in the area reminding the Israeli soldiers of a court order preventing any removal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Association for Civil Rights in Israel filed a petition on behalf of residents on Jan. 16, and the Israeli court granted a temporary order preventing forcible transferring of the families pending further decision.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Just 0.7% Of State Land In The West Bank Has Been Allocated To Palestinians, Israel Admits \u2013 March 28, 2013 (Haaretz)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Over the past 33 years the Civil Administration has allocated less than one percent of state land in the West Bank to Palestinians, compared to 38 percent to settlers, according to the agency\u2019s own documents submitted to the High Court of Justice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Three years ago the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Bimkom \u2013 Planners for Planning Rights asked the Civil Administration, by dint of the Freedom of Information Law, for figures on the extent of state lands in the West Bank. The Civil Administration refused to provide the information and the organizations asked the court to intervene.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n ACRI Condemns Violations of West Bank Palestinians’ Individual Rights<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Emergency Law Limiting Detainee Rights Extended \u2013 April 30, 2013 (Jerusalem Post)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee decided, regarding certain security detainees, to permit extending their detention without them being present in court, delaying court oversight and delaying access to a lawyer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After the committee meeting a representative of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel argued that there were multiple issues with the emergency law\u2026 She said [that] democracies should be ready to pay some price to balance security with civil rights.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Har Adar Is Over The Green Line, But Its Residents Don\u2019t Like To Be Called Settlers \u2013 March 15, 2013 (Haaretz)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Israel Defense Forces\u2019 directives regarding the entry of Palestinian workers to communities beyond the Green Line say that workers shall not be permitted to walk around the settlements. They also say that workers are supposed to be checked with a metal detector if available, and warn that it is strictly forbidden to humiliate the workers during this inspection. The procedures say there is to be one armed guard for every 10 workers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Attorney Tamar Feldman, director of the human rights department at the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, says that such directives are unreasonable, disproportionate and should be annulled: \u201cThe security officials are the ones who issue permits to the Palestinian workers in the settlements on the basis of comprehensive security checks that they do. If they\u2019ve decided to issue a permit to a worker, that means they don\u2019t think he presents a security risk, and therefore there is no justification in placing conditions upon and restricting his movements in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n ACRI Presses Gov’t to Stop Searching Tourists’ Emails<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Israeli Security Allowed to Seek Check of Tourist\u2019s E-mail \u2013 April 25, 2013 (CNN)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Israel\u2019s attorney general said Wednesday that Shin Bet, the country\u2019s internal security force, can search a foreign traveler\u2019s email, but only in exceptional cases in which \u201crelevant suspicious signs\u201d are observed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Association for Civil Rights in Israel received the information from the Attorney General\u2019s Office after it asked whether Israel\u2019s security forces could demand travelers\u2019 e-mail and social media passwords.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lila Margalit, an attorney for the Association for Civil Rights, said the practice is a violation of privacy rights.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Israel: Security Officials May Keep Searching Emails of Suspicious Foreigners Entering Country \u2013 April 24, 2013 (The Washington Post)<\/a> (Fox News)<\/a> (AP)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Israel\u2019s attorney general on Wednesday upheld a practice to allow security personnel to read people\u2019s emails accounts when they arrive at the airport, arguing it prevents militants from entering the country.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The attorney general\u2019s office wrote the letter in response to a request for clarification by ACRI after incidents were reported last year, said attorney Lila Margalit of the organization.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt was a concern because of the level of invasion inherent in (checking) a personal email account,\u201d Margalit said. \u201cIt constitutes a violation of privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Top Israeli Lawyer Rebuffs Criticism Of Email Checks At Border \u2013 April 24, 2013 (Reuters)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Israel\u2019s top legal advisor on Wednesday rebuffed criticism of authorities for asking travelers entering the Jewish state to show border officers their emails, saying the checks affecting only certain foreign nationals were lawful.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein\u2019s written legal opinion was given in response to a query by the Association or Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), which first questioned the practice last year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On Wednesday the group called the checks a \u201cdrastic invasion of privacy\u2026 not befitting a democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shin Bet: They\u2019ve Got Mail \u2013 April 25, 2013 (The Daily Beast)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Responding to petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein chooses not to interfere with security procedure, stating its \u2018performed only in exceptional instances, after other relevant incriminating indications are found.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Israel Approves Email Checks At The Border \u2013 April 24, 2013 (Israel HaYom)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe threat of using foreign citizens for terrorists purposes is a growing trend,\u201d the Attorney-General\u2019s Office warned, in a missive to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which had petitioned the Justice Ministry to overrule such invasive security measures.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ACRI attorney Lila Margalit said, \u201cInvading a computer or an email account constitutes a grave violation of privacy and dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shin Bet Can Continue To Access Tourists\u2019 Emails Upon Arrival At Ben-Gurion \u2013 April 25, 2013 (Haaretz)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shin Bet<\/a>\u00a0Security Service personnel can proceed to access emails of tourists landing at\u00a0Ben-Gurion Airport<\/a>, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said Wednesday, choosing not to interfere with the procedure.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ACRI attorney Lila Margalit said that after a person has paid for a flights, made the trip and then learned upon arrival that refusing to open his email bout lead to denial of entry cannot be assumed to be giving consent to such a search of his own free will.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Israeli Airport Security Given Green Light To Search Tourist Emails \u2013 April 25, 2013 (RT)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein defended the practice in a statement, saying that such searches \u201care performed only in exceptional instances, after other relevant incriminating indications are found.\u201d He added that travelers were not required to give security officers their password, but instead open the accounts on their own.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But Marc Grey, an attorney for the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), said the situation has little to do with passwords. “Passwords are not the issue, email accounts are about as private as it gets,”\u00a0he told Reuters.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Israeli Tourists Face Email Inspections \u2013 April 24, 2013 (The Guardian)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The attorney-general’s approval of the measure follows a petition lodged by the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), based on media reports of individuals being requested to disclose email correspondence during interrogation at Ben Gurion airport.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lila Margalit, a lawyer for ACRI, said: “‘Consent’, given under threat of deportation, cannot serve as a basis for such a drastic invasion of privacy<\/a>\u2026 Allowing security agents to take such invasive measures at their own discretion and on the basis of such flimsy consent is not befitting of a democracy.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Israel Airport Security \u2018Allowed To Read Tourists\u2019 Email\u2019 \u2013 April 24, 2013 (AFP)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Israeli security officials at Ben Gurion airport are legally allowed to demand access to tourists’ email accounts and deny them entry if they refuse, the country’s top legal official said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “In a response dated April 24, 2013, the attorney general’s office confirmed this practice,” ACRI said, quoting sections of the document which said it was only done in exceptional cases where “relevant suspicious signs” were evident and only done with the tourist’s “consent”.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Allowing security agents to take such invasive measures at their own discretion and on the basis of such flimsy ‘consent’ is not befitting of a democracy.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In this Edition: ACRI Op-Eds ACRI Takes Discriminatory Municipalities to Court Fighting Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) Challenging … Read more\n
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