Anti-Zionist Israeli academic Ilan Pappe detained and interrogated by FBI at airport
Detroit, Michigan - Esteemed Israeli academic Ilan Pappe – a vocal opponent of the ongoing Gaza siege – said he was detained by the FBI and interrogated for hours upon arrival in the US.
Pappe, who is known for his anti-Zionist research, said he was detained by agents at the airport in Detroit, Michigan, after an hours-long international journey.
"The two men team were not abusive or rude, I should say, but their questions were really out of the world!" the 69-year-old history and political science professor shared on Facebook.
The investigators reportedly asked: "am I a Hamas supporter? do I regard the Israeli actions in Gaza a genocide? what is the solution to the 'conflict'?"
Pappe also said he was questioned on who his Muslim and Arab friends in America were and how he knew them.
"They had long phone conversation with someone, the Israelis?, and after copying everything on my phone allowed me to enter [the US]," he wrote.
Ilan Pappe puts his detention down to pro-Israel "desperation"
Pappe's scholarship includes such titles as The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine and Ten Myths About Israel. His detention came amid a string of violent clampdowns on Gaza solidarity protests, including at university campuses across the US.
Public opposition to Israel's brutal actions in Gaza is growing as the Palestinian death toll continues to rise and the threat of famine and starvation grows ever more dire.
Although the airport experience was unsettling, Pappe saw a silver lining.
"The good news is – actions like this by the USA or European countries taken under pressure from the pro-Israeli lobby or Israel itself smell of sheer panic and desperation in reaction to Israel's becoming very soon a pariah state with all the implications of such a status."
Cover photo: IMAGO / CTK Photo