Anyone else feel targeted as a solo traveler at Israeli immigration?
I’ve recently crossed at both the Eilat/Acaba and Taba borders into Israel, and both times I was heavily questioned. The focus was on why I was alone, and the first time I told them all my friends had already visited on birthright and I don’t qualify. They then made me name at least a dozen people I knew, along with very intense questioning for another hour, and repeated questioning with other officers about all aspects of my life. The second time, I did the same, but the officer didn’t seem to grasp birthright and continued to ask why I was alone. I finally said they don’t have the money to come, which set of a set of questions as to why I make more than my friends....in my life, I’m only child, my parents don’t have passports, and a majority of my friends don’t travel, so I feel like it’s hard to explain.
At Taba, they also asked to see my phone, but it was dead and they were “upset” about that and asked me why I would let my phone die.....like you think I have control over that? I had been in a car for 18/40 hours, followed by standing outside at immigration for 3 hours when it was 42F out. Yeah, the battery on an old SE is going to crap out. I understand they are cautious of lone wolves and such, but I have a diplomatic visa in my passport and a clean record. Just seemed odd that in my travels, it seemed to be derogatory to travel alone into Israel. Anyone else go through something similar, or was it just my luck these 2 times?
Submitted January 04, 2019 at 05:29AM by darkmatterhunter http://bit.ly/2AvkpWS
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