Journalists complain after Palestinian-Finnish reporter strip-searched at PMO

The Foreign Press Association in Israel is speaking out against an Israeli demand to strip-search a Finnish journalist covering the visit by US Vice President Mike Pence.

The woman says she was taken behind a curtain at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office earlier this afternoon, where she says she was questioned, patted down, and then asked to remove her bra for an inspection. She says she refused and was barred from covering the event.

The woman, who was born and raised in Finland, believes she was singled out because her father is Palestinian.

The FPA, which represents some 400 journalists working for international media in Israel and the Palestinian territories, accused Israel of ethnic profiling. It calls the Israeli practice of strip-searching journalists a “mark of shame” aimed at intimidating reporters.

— AP

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