Outrage in Lebanon over Israeli blogger's 'undetected Beirut trip'

Outrage in Lebanon over Israeli blogger's 'undetected Beirut trip'
Lebanese activists slammed Beirut airport officials who failed to detect the arrival of American-Israeli blogger Alyne Tamir.
2 min read
03 January, 2021
Tamir shared with her Instagram followers that she had been on a "secret trip" [Instagram]
An Israeli blogger's visit to the Lebanese capital this week has sparked outrage among activists, leaving authorities under renewed criticism for failing to detect her entry at Beirut's airport.

American-Israeli blogger Alyne Tamir shared with her 300,000 followers on Instagram on Saturday that she had been on a "secret trip" on New Year's Day.

On her Instagram stories, the blogger posted a picture of herself holding a US passport with a plane ticket tucked in, which Lebanese activists spotted belong to an Emirate flight from Beirut.

"It's clear she used her US passport to enter [Lebanon], and flew [in] via Dubai International Airport, given the UAE and Israel normalized relations recently," prominent Lebanese activist Gino Raidy revealed on his blog.

Tamir, who is also known for being the girlfriend of controversial Arab-Israeli vlogger Nas Daily, posted some pictures from her location, which activists were able to identify as numerous spots in Beirut.

"With security agencies known for fabricating Israeli espionage cases against innocent Lebanese citizens, it's quite sad to see them miss an actual Israeli citizen flying in through the airport," Raidy wrote.

"They don't even let Palestinians living in Israel come into the country sometimes, but this very famous Israeli just flew in, spent a couple days and left without anyone in the government noticing."

Lebanese activist group ThawraMap also shared the story on their social media platform.

"We understand that she might have entered the country using another passport. But how weak is our intelligence [for] not realizing they are letting a famous Israeli influencer who is dating an Israeli propaganda machine in our country?" the group posted on Instagram.

Lebanon is technically still at war with Israel and forbids its citizens from travelling there.

Lebanese authorities regularly arrest people it suspects of spying on behalf of Israel, slapping many with life sentences.

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