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Hi everyone! We are Joshua and Valerio
as you can see in the passport we have been expelled from Israel
this means that for the next 10 years we are not allowed to enter Israel and therefore Palestine.
At our arrival in Tel Aviv we have been put under custody
At the first passport control they asked us the reason of our trip
and as soon as we pronounced the word "Bethlehem" they got suspicious
We flew to Tel Aviv to take part to a humanitarian project
that consisted in building a school for Palestinian children, in Betlehem.
We just want to let you know about the suspension of human rights we underwent
we are here to tell all this story, but other people are still in jail and their faces have been smashed.
The police took us in an underground room, through many burrows
almost 40 cops were there. They stared at us, laughed and mocked at us
they separeted us from each other, they took my iPad (stating the Mossad would do deeper checks)
and they gave us this sheet
I hope you can read this.
It declares that the Israeli Minister of Interior has the right to deny, with no explanation
the entrance into Israel to undesidered foreigners
When I asked them if I was going to be expelled and why
(they didn't talk nor gave any explanation)
they laughed at me and told me: "You have no right to know anything"
when we started asking questions they got really mad
and started having inhuman behaviours
They rudely pushed and shoved us into a plane, they wanted to send us back to Kiev
they throwed us in the plane and other passengers were obviously confused about what was going on
we refused to take the plane because we had no idea where our luggage were
they took my iPad and I need it to work
when I asked about it they answered: "You'll get it sooner or later"
So we started to rise and claim our rights
And by saying "we started to rise" we mean that we told them we didn't want to take the plane
they rudely pushed us into the plane, once again, without our permission (breaching the international laws)
we asked to speak to the Embassador and they answered:
"You have no right to do that, you'll speak to the Ambassador as soon as you get back to Rome"
It's a complete nonsense
and their boss, who mostly pushed us and used hands against us,
invited us to do humanitarian activities in Syria, where you would get shot
We refused to depart and we claimed to speak with the pilot of the plane
because the pilot has to be aware of each passenger on board
and if he does not take full responsibilty for each passenger he cannot be forced to take off
So our "friends" at the Israeli police laughed at us: "Do you think you are so important to the point of getting the attention of the first pilot?"
The hostess called the captain and as soon as we explained him the situation he got angry at the police
because he didn't want to take on board two people who had been expelled from Israel and were considered potentially dangerous.
You can see how "dangerous" we look, can't you?
Anyway, the police led us through the entire airport treating us like criminals
and all passengers stared at us with contempt and disdein, as they considered us "dangerous criminals"
while we were convoyed by 15-20 police officers.
They took us in a detention center.
We asked to talk with the Embassador
and, after several refusals, we finally could call the Consul
Nicola Orlando, who has been truly critical to the solution of our vicissitude.
The police tried to prevent us from keeping speaking to him
and told us: "Cut off the phone, you cannot talk to him, you spoke enough!" obviously treading upon our rights.
They took our phones, our billfolds, they took all our stuff
and they separeted us from each other. They put me into an isolated cell, but Valerio went somewhere else...
When they pushed me into the cell I realized I was not alone. A guy lied on a bed, I thought he was an activist, too
but after the watchman locked the door I spoke to the guy and he told me he was a prisoner.
Andrej, a Russian prisoner who had already been in prison for 6 months,
waiting to be deported back in Russia.
You can see how difficult it was for me to understand why I had to sleep nearby a Russian convict.
He was there to serve a sentence, we were not. We were just impounded and not in criminal detention at all.
There were no toilets in the cells and you needed to knock and shout long before they listessly opened your locked door.
They once refused to give me water. And a "funny" thing happened to Valerio...
After I knocked over and over again, because I needed the toilet, they finally gave me the permission
and, with an excuse, they put Andrej out of the room.
When I returned from the toilet I saw that the sealed sandwich they gave me for lunch
had been opened and bitten;
there was no one in the room except the watchman,
therefore he was the only one who could do what he did, as an obvious mockery against me.
It's funny, isn't it? They keep you there, refusing to give you water and biting your lunch!
When the Consul came to visit us we found out that everything we endured, was not legal
because, as we were impounded, police officers should have only forbidden us to leave the detention center.
We should have been granted the right to keep our phones, to be together and not to be in locked rooms...
...and we obviously had the right not to be in room together with ordinary criminals!
This is what was done before the Consul's arrival;
after that the situation totally changed. They allowed us to stay together, they served a good and warm meal
and they opened our room, giving us the possibility to go to toilet without asking any permission.
After we spoke again with the Consul, and later with the lawyer, we decided to accept the deportion.
The situation has been obviously severe. And notice, we are not talking about politics nor about the Israelo-Palestinian controversy.
Afterall we were not able to testify about anything in Palestine.
We want to underline that the Israeli police, in obbidience to their superiors' orders, behaved really badly.
Human rights have been forgotten. Our face is, as you can see, unharmed.
But not everyone was so lucky. A spanish activist refused to enter into the cell and got brutally hit. He got kicked, pushed and slapped.
In conclusion, this is what we finally got:
a) we are enemies of Israel and antisemitics (in their opinion, of course!) and we cannot enter Israel, and therefore Palestine, for 10 years
b) we have no idea where our personal belongings, our luggage and my iPad are
c) if you want to enter Palestine you got to go to Tel Aviv because Gaza's airport was bombed
We don't want to make a political case of it, but we'd like to make you think a bit