Border guards fired, but not prosecuted, for stealing from Palestinians
Airports Authority cans five workers who were stealing at Allenby Bridge crossing, but doesn’t hand them over to police
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
Five border security guards were fired for stealing from Palestinians traveling through a crossing between the West Bank and Jordan. But despite multiple incidents over an extended period of time, the authority did not hand the case over to police, according to a Tuesday report.
The Israel Airports Authority — which, in addition to monitoring Israel’s civilian airports, also manages its land-to-land border terminals — began investigating allegations that the contract workers were robbing Palestinians crossing through the Allenby Bridge in February.
Upon being presented with the results, the workers admitted to stealing personal items, Ynet news reported.
“It seems that since it deals with Palestinians, the authority did not think it was so serious,” an anonymous source at the crossing said.
Thousands of Palestinians pass over the Allenby Bridge, which is controlled by Israel, each day and undergo a security check before being allowed through.
The five security personnel used that as an opportunity to steal tobacco and other small personal items that the travelers put in the X-ray machine, they admitted.
A spokesperson for the Airports Authority said in a statement that the body was “looking at the case seriously and is working proactively to prevent occurrences like this.
“We do not take lightly, in any way, the issue of integrity,” the communique added.
