Security guards pulling Arabs off public buses at entrance to Israeli medical center
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. along with Physicians for Human Rights – Israel and the Israel Religious Action Center’s Racism Crisis Center petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court on 11 September 2019 to demand a halt to the discriminatory and racist security checks on “Dan In the South” #18 bus line, which stops at Barzilay Hospital in Ashkelon.
The petition was filed by Adalah Attorney Sari Arraf and ACRI Attorney Anne Suciu from ACRI.
As outlined in the petition, hospital security guards stop the #18 buses at the entrance to the hospital and search the passengers before the bus may proceed. They demand that passengers who seem to have an “Arab appearance” show their national identification cards. If the passengers are not citizens of Israel, they must get off the bus and wait outside the hospital grounds until the bus completes its route through the hospital grounds.
In early 2019, ACRI contacted the Barzilay Hospital management, the Israeli State Attorney’s Office, Health Ministry, and Transportation Ministry on this matter, none of whom responded to the claims of illegal behavior, and stated abstractly that the practice is based on Israel Police procedures. The hospital recently responded, stating that it reviewed the security check - in partnership with the Health Ministry - and found it to be “acceptable.”
The petition claims that racial profiling based on Arab passengers’ ethnicity creates a degrading and insulting experience, labels individuals as dangerous simply because of their national and ethnic identity, and infringes on Arab passengers’ fundamental right to dignity, equality, and privacy. The petition goes on to claim that this practice, which includes heightened security and forcing Arabs who are residents of the West Bank and Gaza to get off the bus, is done without the appropriate authority.
(Photo by Muhannad Anati/ACRI)
