Concern and intimidation at Newark airport

I’m no stranger to political repression and censorship. I’ve lived in Germany for 5 years now, and as a Palestinian journalist concerned in pro-Palestinian advocacy, I’ve skilled repeated harassment by the hands of the German authorities.

My husband, a German citizen, and I, an American citizen, have grown accustomed to being held for hours at a time, subjected to invasive interrogations about our travels, and having our belongings totally searched with out clear justification. However we had been shocked to search out out that these techniques, designed to intimidate and deter, have now been taken up by the US to focus on Palestinians amid the continued genocide.

I all the time knew that citizenship provided solely restricted safety, particularly when dissent is concerned. However deep down, I nonetheless believed that freedom of speech, the precise to talk with out concern, meant one thing in my nation of delivery.

I used to be mistaken. The harassment we endured on March 24 upon arriving within the US shattered that phantasm. Our Palestinian identification, our political work, our household ties – all of it makes us everlasting targets, not simply in Germany, however now within the US, too.

Previous to departure, whereas we had been at our gate in Frankfurt airport, 4 brokers approached me and recognized themselves as officers from the US Division of Homeland Safety (DHS). They mentioned they had been particularly in search of my husband, who had simply stepped apart to purchase water and juice for our sons.

“We simply need to be certain that your ESTA visa is so as,” certainly one of them mentioned.

They took his passport, flipping by way of it and photographing each single web page whereas certainly one of them stayed on the telephone, relaying info. They requested about our go to to Gaza in 2022, after seeing the Rafah border stamp.

“The place did you go in Gaza?” one agent requested.
“Khan Younis,” my husband replied.
“The place does your loved ones reside now?”
“Throughout,” he mentioned. “They’re dwelling in tents throughout the Strip, you recognize, due to the warfare.”
“What did you do whilst you had been there?”
“Visited household,” he answered.

It was clear we had been focused. I didn’t see another passengers present process an identical examine. This meant that both DHS was actively researching passengers earlier than their departure to the US, or – much more troubling – the German authorities had been speaking straight with DHS to flag the background and political exercise of “suspect” travellers.

Upon arrival at Newark airport in New Jersey, my husband and I had been separated and individually interrogated, every of us nonetheless holding a sleeping youngster. The lads questioning us didn’t determine themselves; I imagine they had been DHS brokers, not border police.

They first requested me in regards to the function of my journey and my journey to Gaza. They wished to know who I had met in Gaza, why I had met them, and whether or not anybody I encountered was affiliated with Hamas. At one level, an officer intentionally turned ambiguous and as an alternative of referencing Hamas, requested if “anybody from [my] household was part of the federal government in Gaza”.

At one level, they requested whether or not I skilled violence from Israeli troopers, to which I responded: “Israeli troopers weren’t in Gaza in 2022.”

“Did anybody in your loved ones expertise violence throughout this warfare?”
“Sure,” I responded. “Fifty had been killed.”
“Had been any of them Hamas supporters?” was the response I obtained.

As if political affiliation might justify the incineration of a household. As if youngsters, elders, moms, decreased to numbers, should first be interrogated for his or her loyalties earlier than their deaths may be acknowledged.

They knew I used to be a journalist, in order that they demanded to know the final article I had written and the place it was printed. I instructed them that it was a chunk for Mondoweiss in regards to the abduction of Mahmoud Khalil, by which I additionally warned in regards to the risks of the Trump administration’s insurance policies. This appeared to intensify their scrutiny. They demanded my e-mail deal with, my social media accounts, and jotted down my telephone quantity with out rationalization.

Then they took our telephones. Once I requested what would occur if I refused, they made it clear I had no selection. If I didn’t comply, my telephone would nonetheless be taken from me, and if my husband didn’t comply, he could be deported.

After they lastly returned our electronics, they issued a chilling warning to my husband: “You’ve got been right here seven instances with out a problem. Avoid political exercise, and every part shall be tremendous.”

Subsequently, I used to be suggested by authorized counsel to not attend any demonstrations, not even on my own, throughout our keep. Our actions, our phrases, and even our silences had been underneath watch, and something might be used in opposition to us.

What occurred to us was not random; it was intentional. It was meant to scare and intimidate us. Whether or not it’s in Germany, within the US, or elsewhere, the objective of those techniques is identical: to make us really feel small, remoted, criminalised, and afraid. They need us to doubt the price of each phrase we write, to query each protest we be a part of, to swallow each fact earlier than it reaches our lips. They need us to overlook the folks we’ve got misplaced.

Fifty members of our household had been murdered within the US-backed genocide in Gaza. Fifty souls, every with their very own desires, laughter, and love, extinguished underneath the roar of bombs and the silence of the world. Our household’s story isn’t any completely different from 1000’s of others – tales that vanish from headlines however reside perpetually within the hearts of the survivors.

They count on us to hold this insufferable weight quietly, to bow our heads and proceed dwelling as if our world weren’t ripped aside. However we don’t bow.

And that’s the reason they concern us; they concern a individuals who refuse to vanish. Palestinians who dare to talk, to organise, to easily bear witness are marked as harmful.

I used to be warned that talking about our expertise on the airport would make the following encounter even harsher, much more punishing. However we should keep in mind: there’s nothing this state can do to us that may examine to what’s being performed to the folks of Gaza. Our passports are solely paper. Our telephones are solely steel and glass. These are issues they will confiscate, issues they will break. However they can not take away our voices, our reminiscences, and our dedication to justice.

On our method out, the officers requested my husband one final query: “What do you consider Hamas? Are they good?”

He responded: “My concern is preventing a genocide that has taken the lives and freedom of my household and my folks. The rest, I’m not all in favour of answering.”

That needs to be all of our concern. Nothing ought to distract us from the pressing, simple fact: a individuals are being slaughtered, and our duty is to face with them.

The views expressed on this article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.