Israelis humiliated at Istanbul airport

Dozens of Israeli passport holders were detained for questioning and forced to undergo humiliating strip searches at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Monday morning. The Israelis had their passports confiscated after landing on a Turkish Airlines flight from Tel Aviv and others who arrived from Bangkok en route to Israel. They were questioned for more than an hour and subsequently released. While they were detained they were asked to remove clothing in dark rooms and were forbidden to go to the bathroom. Turkish officials said Monday's incident was in response to the humiliating treatment a group of 40 Turkishnationals received at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday. However Israeli officials said theTurks were detained for twenty minutes and subjected to questioning after they told security personnel the purpose of their trip to Israel was to visit the AlAksa mosque. An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said the incident was under investigation and officials had already been in contact withTurkey to find out if the incident was the result of a new directive or if it was a local initiative by airport authorities.