14 DAY TRIAL // As reported earlier this week, American tourist Lily Sussman had her Apple laptop destroyed by gunfire in an Israeli airport as she had just arrived from Egypt, via the Taba Border Crossing. An interview with the young woman, who blogged about her experience, sheds more light on the incident. The coverage, however, conducted by The Daily News Egypt, still doesn’t reveal why the Israeli police felt so suspicious about her luggage.
According to The Daily News Egypt, Lily Sussman traveled to Israel from Egypt via the Taba Border Crossing on Novermber 30th. “During the Israeli security check, her computer was deemed a suspicious package and destroyed,” are the publication’s exact words. The spokesperson for the Israel Airports Authority (which manages the Taba Border Crossing) released a statement saying that, “During the security check performed on Ms. Sussman, an indication was raised that required the security representative to follow procedure and call the police bomb sapper, and that he did.”
Softpedia note
Needless to point out, something is dead wrong with the security checks performed in Israeli airports, while the part with following the “procedure” is downright scary (makes one wonder what the procedure is for suspicious individuals). But there could be at least one simple explanation for the incident.
It is fair to assume that, like everywhere else in the world, the Israeli police are trained to scan luggage keeping an eye out for particular substances and materials. Perhaps not realizing that Ms. Sussman’s bag was housing an Apple laptop (and it had happened before), while detecting something flagged by the state authorities (a certain substance employed by the notebook, perhaps), the people inspecting the luggage became alarmed, thinking it was some kind of explosive device. We could be way off, but since the IAA spokesperson’s statement is so ambiguous, we’re only left with speculation. What do you think happened?