Shin Bet confirms PM critic held at border, denies political queries

The Shin Bet internal security agency on Monday confirmed it was involved in the questioning of two American left-wing activists at the Egyptian border the previous day.

One of the pair was Simone Zimmerman, a former adviser to US Senator Bernie Sanders, who was suspended by Sanders after reports surfaced of her harsh and foul-mouthed criticism of Israeli policies and of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The other was her friend, Abby Kirschbaum.

The two were allowed to enter from Sinai into Israel after several hours. Zimmerman later recounted that she was asked multiple questions about her political positions, including her thoughts on Netanyahu.

The Shin Bet told the Haaretz newspaper Monday that border control personnel with the Population and Immigration Authority questioned the two under its guidance. It said the focus of the questions that it relayed to the authority were the pair’s “involvement in violent protest against Israeli security forces [in the West Bank].”

The Shin Bet said border control personnel were not instructed to question the two about their political leanings, and that any queries of such a nature were not made at its behest.

Officials in the Population and Immigration Authority also denied asking the two women about politics. They told the paper that the Shin Bet closely dictated the questions asked of the two.

“During her questioning, the traveler did make a statement of her own accord about the prime minister,” the authority said.

In its statement, the Shin Bet said it “did not ask to question the travelers about their opinions on state officials or ask to question them on their political positions. After being provided answers to the questions raised…[we] recommended allowing the travelers into Israel.”

Zimmerman tweeted that she felt she was being intimidated over her ties to Palestinians.

She said she told the authorities that she is currently living in Israel and works for an Israeli human rights organization, Gisha. She claimed she was asked: “Why did you come here to work with Palestinians? Why not with Jews?”

“We are being questioned solely about our political opinions and activities vis a vis Palestinians esp in the occupied territories,” Zimmerman tweeted.

The left-wing activist tweeted that she was not concerned that they would be deported, as there were many people advocating on their behalf. However she was concerned by what she perceived to be an attempt to stop Jews from working on behalf of Palestinians.

“The scariest part is the horrifying realization of how badly the Israeli government wants to scare Jews away from Palestinians. They are using all tactics to make the cost of knowing & working with Palestinians too risky that we don’t dare to do it at all,” she tweeted.

Zimmerman was suspended from her position with Democratic presidential candidate Sanders in 2016, after reports surfaced that she called Netanyahu a “manipulative asshole” who sanctioned mass murder of Palestinians.

Zimmerman, a former J Street student activist, wrote on Facebook in March 2015 that “Bibi Netanyahu is an arrogant, deceptive, cynical, manipulative asshole,” according to the Free Beacon. “Fuck you, Bibi… you sanctioned the murder of over 2,000 people this summer.”

Zimmerman later revised the post, excising the profanity, according to the report, which featured screenshots of the original and edited posts.

During the 2014 Gaza war, Zimmerman was one of the leaders of a group of young Jews that held regular protest vigils outside the offices of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, reading the names of Palestinians and Israelis killed in the conflict.

Zimmerman opposes Israel’s policies in the West Bank, wants Hillel to allow participation by groups that support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, is against Jewish federation funding for Israeli projects in the West Bank, and wrote favorably of the efforts of Jewish Voice for Peace, a pro-BDS group, to get “international corporations to stop profiting off human rights abuses.” (The Anti-Defamation League has called JVP one of America’s top 10 anti-Israel groups.)

Zimmerman is active in IfNotNow, which was founded in the summer of 2014 to organize young Jews opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza, but has since evolved into an activist community steeped both in left-wing protest and Jewish tradition. It rails against Israel’s control of the West Bank, the incoming Trump administration and Jewish organizations it accuses of supporting both those things.

Zimmerman has said Israel is “dear to my heart” and an “important part of my life,” but that she supports “economic and diplomatic action and pressure against the occupation.”