Shin Bet insists it was border patrol that questioned left-wing Jewish activists at border

The Shin Bet security service denies having questioned a pair of left-wing American Jewish activists at Israel’s border with Egypt.

The agency says that while it had ordered that Simone Zimmerman and Abigail Kirschbaum be questioned upon their re-entry into the Jewish state, it asserts that the interrogation was run by border crossing officials.

“At no point were the two passengers questioned by the Shin Bet at the Taba crossing,” the Shin Bet says in a statement carried by the Haaretz daily. “When they arrived at the border crossing the two were questioned by a border control official.

“This questioning raised information that was referred from the border control official to the Shin Bet. Therefore, the official was asked by the Shin Bet to ask the passengers several questions, especially regarding their participation in a violent protest against security forces in Judea and Samaria,” the Shin Bet adds.