US authorities interrogate renowned Israeli historian on Gaza position

Prominent Israeli historian Professor Ilan Pappe's two-hour-long interrogation by US authorities at the airport in Detroit as he was questioned if he was a "Hamas supporter" has been severely criticised online.

Pappe, whose research focuses on the Middle East, particularly the history of Israel and Palestine, recounted his experience on Facebook, questioning if "70 years old professors of history are threatening America's national security."

Prominent American author and blogger Max Blumenthal slammed US officials in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"FBI agents detained and interrogated trailblazing Israeli revisionist historian Ilan Pappe upon his arrival to Detroit, asking whether he was a "Hamas supporter," and who his Arab and Muslim friends in the US were," he wrote.

Blumenthal pointed to what he believes are the close ties between the US and Israel, insisting the "US security state is taking orders from apartheid Israel".

Earlier this week, after arriving at Detroit airport, Pappe explained that U.S. authorities took him for a two-hour-long interrogation by the FBI while later issuing a clarification it was the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as his phone was also taken.

Several pro-Palestinian solidarity activists have touched on the pressure from Western nations against those vocal about Israel's war in Gaza, describing "incredible repression" amid their knowledge and ability to challenge world superpowers.

Pappe said the two officials who interrogated him "were not abusive or rude" but described their questioning as "really out of the world!"

Such actions led Craig Mokhiber, an American former United Nations (U.N.) human rights official and a specialist in international human rights law, to question the underlying nature of the authorities.

"The US government, on behalf of an oppressive foreign regime, is expediting its slide into authoritarian repression & the targeting of #HumanRights voices. The great Israeli historian Ilan Pappe is the latest target," he wrote.

In his Facebook post, Pappe, whose work has explored the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, said he was asked a range of questions by the officials.

"Am I a Hamas supporter? Do I regard the Israeli actions in Gaza a genocide? What is the solution to the "conflict" (seriously this (is) what they asked!)," he wrote.

Pappe said he was also asked about his Arab and Muslim connections, including how long he had known them and what type of relationships he held with them.

Other X users described what they believe to be "a whole new level of insanity and paranoia" amid Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.

Others said that the detention and interrogation of Pappe is the latest "intimidation and bullying across the West to defend” what ti called “the Israeli genocide of Palestinians."

During the interrogation, Pappe said he pointed the officials to the books he had authored and, at other times, "answered laconically yes or no," after his 8-hour flight he said left him exhausted.

Pappe said he believes there was a phone conversation potentially with the Israeli authorities.

The academic, whose works include the book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, providing an analytical assessment of the Nakba in the late 1940s when around 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced and their land seized for the establishment of the State of Israel, added that "after copying everything on my phone [the US authorities] allowed me to enter."

Like others in the West, Pappe also touched on the negative experiences of those standing in solidarity with Palestine.

"I know many of you have fared far worse experience, but after France and Germany denied entry to the Rector of Glasgow University for being a Palestinian...God know(s) what will happen next," he said.

Pappe went on to underscore how he believes Zionist organisations have become alarmed.

It comes after more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed - largely women and children amid Israel's retaliation for Hamas' incursion into Israel that killed 1200 Israelis.

"The good news is - actions like this by the USA or European countries taken under pressure from the pro-Israeli lobby or Israel itself smell of sheer panic and desperation in reaction to Israel's becoming very soon a pariah state with all the implications of such a status," Pappe said.

The former lecturer in Israel, the UK and now at the University of Exeter for Middle Eastern studies in the US was reportedly heading to Michigan to speak at several public meetings regarding Gaza in the state which has the largest population of Arab Americans in the US.

In March, Pappe suggested the events taking place in Gaza could be understood "as the beginning of the end of the Zionist project."