Tervidytė was stopped when passing the David Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv by Israeli officials who deemed her a threat to national security and denied her entry into the country. The Lithuanian says it has to do with her human rights work in Palestine.
“I am really sad that human rights activism caused so much fear for the state of Israel that it declared me a threat to the nation, a threat to its society and a threat to its state,” Tervidytė told BNS at Vilnius airport.
She said she had been working with non-governmental organizations on projects in Palestine for the past few years. In Tervidytė’s words, some of them were financed by Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Tervidytė said the last project involved cooperation with a Palestinian organization that develops technologies to help autistic children. She believes that this was the work that red-flagged her to the Israeli authorities.
Tervidytė was detained at the David Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv last Wednesday.
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry intends to send a note to Israel with a request to explain the reasons behind the Lithuanian citizen’s detention.
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