Daily Archives: 16 May 2012

Israel to revive razing of homes as form of punishment

open quoteEhud Barak, Israel’s increasingly hawkish defence minister, approved an intelligence recommendation to demolish the houses of Hakim and Ajmad Awad, two cousins from the Palestinian village of Awarta.

The decision, the first of its kind in nearly seven years, will render the wives and children of both men homeless.

The two Palestinians are serving life sentences for the murders of Ehud and Ruth Fogel, as well as three of their six children, in the West Bank settlement of Itamar in March, 2011.

The dead included a three-month-old infant and a four-year-old boy stabbed to death in a frenzied attack that horrified Israel.

The Israeli authorities abandoned the once common practice of punitive demolitions in 2005 after facing heavy international criticism.close quote (Read more)

Man, 95, says $300 taken during humiliating airport search

open quoteA 95-year-old Michigan man says he was subjected to humiliating searches by security guards at San Diego International Airport and that his $300 went missing during the process.

Omer Petti, 95, said he believes an airport employee stole the cash that he was told to remove from his pocket and place in a bin on his way through security on March 29. He and his girlfriend, Madge Woodward, 85, were headed home after a family vacation in Palm Springs.

“I got set up, and they took my money,” said Petti, who has written letters to the Transportation Security Administration, elected officials and President Barack Obama demanding investigations.close quote (Read more)

TSA agents forced crying 4-year-old to undergo TSA pat-down at Kan. airport after hug

open quoteFrom The Washington Post:

WICHITA, Kan. — The grandmother of a 4-year-old girl who became hysterical during a security screening at a Kansas airport said Wednesday that the child was forced to undergo a pat-down after hugging her, with security agents yelling and calling the crying girl an uncooperative suspect.

The incident has been garnering increasing media and online attention since the child’s mother, Michelle Brademeyer of Montana, detailed the ordeal in a public Facebook post last week. The Transportation Security Administration is defending its agents, despite new procedures aimed at reducing pat-downs of children.

close quote (Read more)