A British student was deported from Israel after being
declared a “security threat” by authorities due to his use of social media.
BBC News reports that Gary Spedding of Belfast arrived at
Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport Thursday afternoon to meet Israeli politicians
and NGOs.
He was taken to an interview room and subjected to a full
body search and interrogation.
Spedding states he was told he would be deported and banned
from entering Israel for 10 years due to his presence and activity on Twitter
and Facebook.
Spedding’s case is thought to be the first in which comments
made by an individual on social media have been labeled a risk to Israeli
national security.
While in detention, Spedding used Twitter to provide live
details of what was happening. His first tweet said: “Being detained at Israeli
immigration. Lots of threats, they’ve went right through my phone. I’m about to
be transferred to detention centre.”
In another tweet he wrote: “Just been subjected to another
horrendous set of searches including very personally invasive ‘body search’ -
felt all near my underwear etc.” Then added in another, “Just been informed
they have booked me a flight tomorrow 5pm to deport me and I am now banned from
Israel for 10 years.”
Israel’s interior ministry has no comment at this time.
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