Claims of contemptuous treatment of religious people at the airport

Rabbi Nimrod Zota, the Chabad emissary in Madagascar, was forced to leave Israel via Egypt after his flights were canceled following the war, but according to him the journey became a humiliating experience for him and other religious passengers. According to him, during the security check at the airport in Sharm el-Sheikh, they were forced to remove religious symbols and received disrespectful treatment from the security personnel.

Yesterday the family members left their relatives in Kiryat and began the long journey from the north to Eilat, from there to the Taba crossing, then another trip to the airport in Sharm el-Sheikh. “We already had three flights that were canceled, and because we had already arrived on a date close to Seder night, we made a decision to cancel the holiday celebration due to the situation and instead decided to arrive for a period of mission in Brooklyn,” says Nimrod in a conversation with mako. “It’s not an easy way, because in the end I’m with my wife and a small child and we had a lot of equipment and personal bags, but we decided we’re doing it because we haven’t found any way to leave Israel in the last few weeks,” he adds. “At the border crossing in Taba, everything was perfectly fine, we were with a large group of Israelis who also made the journey. Everything started to go wrong when we arrived at the field in Sharm.”

The rabbi testifies that already at the initial check the Egyptians force all religious passengers to take off their hats and also their kippahs. “It really felt like everything was done on purpose. There was a security guard with a magnometer and next to him an AHMAS who shouted ‘This is Egypt, this is our law and you will do what I tell you.’ I approached him and told him that there is also God’s law and what they do here to religious people is not nice at all, and he said that he is not interested and there is no such thing. It was persecution for all intents and purposes, we felt that we were really being searched for in the smallest things. It started with the stares when we entered the field, and continued with the security check which felt humiliating for all of us. Other people who were next to me were afraid to say anything about it.”

Rabbi Zota says that they saw workers at the airport looking at them while they were carrying their luggage and bags and laughing. “They just laughed in our faces without shame, it was a feeling of disdain that I didn’t see. At one point my wife and the child also started crying because they were teasing us from place to place and I can say for sure that it was intentional. It didn’t bother them to see a child and a woman crying, on the contrary, it gave them another reason to chuckle from the sidelines. I didn’t ask any of them to help me, I didn’t turn to them at all, I did everything by myself and my wife was with the stroller, but they enjoyed watching it from the sidelines and at one point he also approached A security man came to me and again asked to take off his hat, then I started arguing with him and he threatened that I wouldn’t fly.”

After long hours of waiting at the airport, with Zota and his family members alongside other Israelis testifying to the feeling of humiliation, they boarded a connecting flight from Egypt en route to New York. “Unfortunately, we had no other option because we were unable to board a flight during the war, and we chose to make this journey together with many Israelis just before Passover and in order to advance in our mission. I hope that we can return to Madagascar as soon as possible after the holiday and continue our activities in the hope of good and peaceful days.”