<story><title>Israel airport security stole my laptop</title><url>https://twitter.com/theAlexLavin/status/1089036484735262720</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>boltzmannbrain</author><text>Curbside security guard asked a couple basic questions (&amp;quot;How long were you in Israel? Where are you traveling to?&amp;quot;). The guard at the first security gate inside asked ~20 questions (4-8 is normal). I think answering that I&amp;#x27;m a SW engineer to &amp;quot;What do you do for a living?&amp;quot; made her suspicious. I was then directed to a side security area where they searched my bags and discovered my laptop. A few guards then escorted me to a side room. Here there was one guard interrogating me on and off for ~2 hours. Just about any question I asked was met with &amp;quot;We can&amp;#x27;t tell you that.&amp;quot; They confiscated my laptop b&amp;#x2F;c they had to &amp;quot;run more tests&amp;quot;. I said several times I would wait for the tests, but they &amp;#x27;insisted&amp;#x27; I leave. As soon as I was through security I went to Turkish airlines for help, but their immediate (read: scripted) response was &amp;quot;We do not deal with airport security.&amp;quot;</text></comment>
<story><title>Israel airport security stole my laptop</title><url>https://twitter.com/theAlexLavin/status/1089036484735262720</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>boltzmannbrain</author><text>Yes this could have been worse, and is relatively minor compared to other mideast travel horror stories. Nonetheless I feel frustrated not only losing my computer and non-backed up materials, but because this occurs as I am helping an Israeli tech company by sharing my knowledge and expertise. There has been incredible outreach initiative in the AI research community as of late -- e.g., DL Indaba in Africa -- but this makes us feel unwanted. I will continue working with the Israeli startup, but from my office in SF.</text></comment>