Two Israeli women, one formerly held in Gaza captivity, lodged complaint against Pakistani-origin employee for publicly shaming them; incident resolved after Israeli ambassador contacted; ‘It was clear he targeted us after seeing our Israeli passports and going berserk’
A Dutch airport security worker at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport harassed, detained and humiliated two Israeli women, one of them a former hostage held in Gaza, who were in the Netherlands for an advocacy visit sponsored by the Defense Ministry.
Without arguing, the two moved to the regular line, but oddly, the worker called them back, stating they could use the fast track but warned the accompanying Israeli of a 350-euro fine if they weren't entitled. He then opened the barrier, asking them to proceed to the fast-track queue.
As they were about to go through their hand luggage screening, the same supervisor aggressively pulled them out of the line. He positioned them in front of dozens of waiting passengers, deliberately humiliating them by loudly accusing them of fraud and ordering their detention for further clarification. He also loudly identified them as Israelis, repeatedly mentioning "El Al," the Israeli flag carrier.The Israeli companion informed the security worker she was contacting the Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands and involving him. Initially skeptical, the security worker's demeanor changed once he realized she was indeed speaking with Ambassador Modi Ephraim. He quietly murmured that he made another call, and, going beyond the letter of law, the security team decided to release them, saying they would "settle the fraud account with El Al." Meanwhile, the ambassador contacted El Al's security officer, who quickly arrived to assist the Israelis.
