Unimpressed – Dov Hikind
צילום: מירי חסון
'This wouldn’t happen in U.S.’
Prominent American pullout objectors who arrived for Gaza Strip tour questioned at airport
TEL AVIV - Members of an American delegation set to tour Gaza communities and offer support to settlers there were questioned at the airport upon arrival to Israel, the group’s leader says.
New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind is leading a 40-member delegation, which includes two New York Supreme Court judges, leading bankers, doctors, teachers, and students.
“In the democratic United States things of this sort don’t happen,” Hikind said at a press conference at Ben Gurion International Airport Monday. Some delegation members were delayed for a half-hour questioning session, he said.
The delegation has a busy schedule and is expected to visit several Israeli Gaza Strip communities and meet with local officials and terror victims. The visitors will also head to the memorial for Tali Hatuel and her four daughters, murdered in a Gaza terror attack.
‘Land of Israel is my home’
Thousands of American Jews are planning to arrive in Israel and show their solidarity with Gaza Strip settlers slated for evacuation, Hikind said, and added he hoped the evacuation of Jews would not materialize.
If genuine peace is to prevail between Israelis and Palestinians there is no need to evacuate Jews from Gush Katif, he said.
One visitor, Batia Gordon, said she is even planning to move to Israel with her husband next year.
“The Land of Israel is my home,” she said.
Gordon said she arrived to back settlers slated for evacuation and noted that she has two grandchildren who may also arrive here later.
Another visitor, Wolf Sender, said he too traveled to Israel in order to show solidarity with the thousands of Jews about to be uprooted from their homes.
“We are here so they know there’s someone who thinks about them and understands them,” he said.
