A young Israeli man was detained at the Taba airport in Egypt on Sunday after praying with a tallit and was not allowed to board his flight. He was released and permitted to fly only after intervention by Israeli officials.
Due to restrictions at Ben Gurion Airport, many Israelis have been using the small international airport in Taba — located about a 40-minute drive from Egypt's Taba border crossing — to leave or enter Israel.
Aviel, an Israeli passenger on the flight, witnessed how some of his fellow Jewish passengers were treated by Egyptian security officers.
“I arrived at the airport early. It’s a very small terminal with no internet and almost nothing there. We were flying to Athens on a plane carrying 180 Israelis. Sitting next to me in the terminal was a Haredi man reading a Gemara and moving his head. Suddenly, an Egyptian security officer pounced on him and said: ‘It is forbidden to pray in this terminal. Give me your passport immediately.’”
Aviel said he stepped in and told the officer the man was not praying but reading, and the Egyptian security officer was convinced and left him alone. However, later, as passengers waited to board, another young Israeli took out a tallit and tefillin. A military officer approached him, said prayer was not allowed and demanded his passport. The young man was detained, taken away and did not board the flight.
Following intervention by Israeli officials, the young man was eventually released and allowed to board a later flight.
“In Egypt you have to be careful,” Aviel said. “It was really frightening. They don’t allow anyone to pray there. People were afraid to speak up or get involved.”