 Hi Benjamin, it's nice to see you. Tell us where you are right now. I mean Aman, wait just a second because I'm in a room with a lot of people. Guys, I'm doing live for Cold Pink now, you can say hi to them. We're gonna talk about Palestine so be a little quiet please. So I mean Aman, after they rejected me from the border I went back to Aman and I'm staying here a couple more days until I go back to Sweden. Could you begin by just telling us what happened at the border and then we'll go back and talk about your journey to the border? Yeah, I guess the same thing as for you, like a long interrogation. For me it took six hours, I don't know how long the interrogated you though. Seven hours, yes. Seven? Yes. I had to do something bigger, we had to compete the most hours of interrogation. What did they interrogate you about, if you could talk a little bit about what happened? They really wanted the names, they wanted places, they wanted to know exactly everything I was going to do, who I was going to meet, their telephone numbers if I could provide. Obviously I don't give the Israeli authorities names of Palestinians because that's like a one way ticket to jail for them I figure. So yeah they would just keep pushing for that and since I knew they were going to reject me to begin with I didn't really have any plans in Palestine so I just told them I would go around as many places as possible for the whatever time frame you would allow me to be there and they're like no you didn't walk here for 11 months just to not have a plan of what you're going to do there I said, you don't really know me. And it's my understanding that they accused you of planning a protest or demonstration in Navi Salah? They gave me two official reasons, like I was falling asleep a lot because I was so tired. And when they said they like bombard you with questions for I don't know an hour or two and then they send you out and then they take you in again and bombard you with questions so when I'm out I'm just falling asleep because I had worked for 12 hours that day in 40 degrees heat and finally they came out and said like you're not allowed entry into what they call Israel occupied Palestine and the two reasons were one they thought I was lying during the interrogation which I was not but they thought so and two that I was going to arrange a demonstration in Navi Salah which is very the weird accusation like even if I was intending to do that why would that be a reason for not allowing me to Palestine if they say there are democracies right well demonstrations are allowed in democracies as to my knowledge but apparently they think that's too big a threat for them to arrange a demonstration. This wasn't even my intent I honestly don't know where they got that idea from. They kept asking are you going to visit this place and I kept just replying yes to every place because I don't know probably every place if I had time. And I know the village of Navi Salah well and I know that the Timimis have been posting about seeing that you were accused of that I'm wondering if you've had a chance to be in touch with them and. No not really but I think I would contact them like pretty fast if they would let me in of course I want to meet them they are so brave they are true heroes and I really want to meet them. So maybe you could tell us a little bit about I know it was 11 months and I've seen the AJ Plus video but maybe you could tell us a little bit about your journey to Palestine why you know what your thoughts were choosing that journey and maybe some highlights. Sure so the whole idea behind the journey is that the world moves with pressure Israel will not stop occupying Palestine just because it suddenly wakes up one day and realizes that it's breaking international law and not respecting human rights I mean there was stuff because there will be pressure to stop and pressure doesn't come by itself it usually requires mass movements of millions of people demanding but people don't just wake up one day and realize everything that's wrong about the world and start demanding justice they need to be informed first they need to have their awareness and it requires a lot of organization and mobilization to inspire people to do something about all the injustices we have all around so one way I figured to erase a lot of awareness would be by walking because in nature of it being difficult would just I don't know motivate people to ask like why would this crazy guy walk so long like that's a really weird thing to do it's really hard why walking so then I will get the chance to talk about the occupation in Palestine all the human rights violations that is the conversation would always come up like why am I doing it and I would always try to engage as many people as possible in what's happening over there and been happening the last and for the journey in itself it's been so long I don't know what to say I've been working in the snow in Bulgaria and the last day took 12 hours in 40 degrees heat in the Jordan Valley I've been meeting amazing people I've been alone for a long time also between cities and between villages it really really tough walking up and down mountains walking in valleys just everything it's been such a long time wow um you gave talks along the way yes yeah yeah that's a good way of raising awareness I tried to organize lectures at universities at organizations whatever I could find a venue the most spontaneous one was at the bar in Croatia where I just asked the bartender if I could use his huge flat screen TV to plug in my uh I have a presentation about Palestine so he turned down the music and I started talking to the crowd about Palestine it was really fun and we just gave a quick lecture about the human rights violations they kind of killed everyone's mood but there was good discussions afterwards but people were like what the fuck is happening and like why is he talking about this and oh those pictures I haven't seen before that was nice you can always like you create your opportunities you can talk as much as you want if you take the initiative and don't ask for permission and just go ahead ask a little bit that's be very proactive what kind of responses would you say you got from people that were not previously familiar with the issue do you feel like you changed hearts and minds along the way well I certainly hope so and I think so but it's difficult for most people this information that we are sharing is completely new and I respect the people not taking it as face value and just going in doing their own research they shouldn't trust me right with everything I'm saying they should go and do the research and see if what I'm saying is true or not so hopefully I inspired some curiosity as for people to go and find out more about what's happening and as soon as anyone starts reading human rights reports they will see the ugly truth of occupation so raising curiosity I think it's really important and I could tell that I touched quite a few people also on the way I know that you've gotten quite a lot of media upon your denial which is is really fabulous and successful I think that it you really reached out and Palestinians I know have responded with just real applause and gratitude to you for this opportunity to raise awareness and I heard as well you were even offered like an honorary citizenship yeah that's what I heard as well but you know I read it in the media as everyone else not like I heard anything from the person in charge so I know it's been in the media a lot but if you could give a message to folks on the ground in in Palestine to the Tamimis and to people in Ramallah and Bethlehem and Hebron and everywhere what would you like to say to them what would have you like to say to them in person that instead well don't lose hope the world is with you and nothing comes cheap and nothing is for free we need to struggle to gain our rights everywhere all the time the world doesn't change itself it is changed by people Palestine will not free itself and in the end it will be freed by the Palestinian people and not some Swedish guy of course I will have as much as I can but the work on the ground is what's going to be most important in the end and like the first Intifada a mass movement of non-violent resistance and mass boycotts the Israeli forces were scared in their beds when the Palestinians had their 18 cows in Bait Zahur and started producing their own milk that's what's gonna scare the occupation you becoming self-sufficient and not relying on the occupation anymore for anything and as soon as you manage to really push that mass movement and starting to use the BDS as a tactic inside Palestine also mass boycotts of the Israeli occupation until they become serious about pursuing some sort of solution or some sort of peace they have to be pressured into doing so and the most powerful pressure is from inside Palestine and we will do everything we can from outside to support and to help and to pressure our government to stop supporting the occupation while it lasts I know that my my own story specifically and then all the other stories of recent denials Israel really seems to be cracking down on solidarity activists and human rights advocates being able to enter and stay in the country do you do you feel like our solidarity and our work on the ground with Palestinians is having that type of an impact that Israel is really afraid of this growing support across the world yeah of course I mean why else would they react the way they are reacting why would they deny me entry if they didn't fear anything what it would they deny you entry especially as a Jewish person I mean all their fallacies are just falling to the ground it's not like they have anything to do with they just keep mounting these excuses but we keep proving them wrong while all we are seeking is peace and human rights no matter who we were and for me as a non-religious Swedish person like why would they deny and human rights activists from Sweden for empty it just proves our point that they have a lot to hide that the agniphate of occupation prefers to stay hidden and continue its dirty business unnoticed and when we expose the truth by just letting the Palestinians have a voice and trying to share their stories to the world Israel starts reacting heavily investing millions of dollars on tracking us hacking our phones countering our initiatives it proves that it's working and that it's that it is activism that's going to have an impact I mean in the end words are cheap but when we start to do actions they have to react and every reaction is a proof that what we are doing is working um do you have any plans for what's next I imagine you must want some time off and a little bit of time to rest but do you have next plans for how you'll continue your advocacy you know 11 months on the road you get a lot of ideas on what to do next I have a lot of big projects in mind all human rights related and I'm going to make some sort of grand announcement with a video about my next big project but in the near future I'm just going to do speaking tours in as many countries as possible go to the universities and try to speak about the occupation and the human rights violations like you can contact every single school in every single country that's a massive work but I will try to get people to work on that with me and see whatever schools would have me come and talking about my experience on the road and in Palestine and just about human rights and this region and how we can progress well I know we at Code Pink would love to be a part of and support in whatever way we can actually coming to the US that's one of my nearest plans so for sure we will meet there I hope well absolutely so we're based in I work out of Washington DC and we're based here in Washington DC and we can't wait to to see you here and yeah both the we'd be thrilled to plan some speaking events maybe to go around and meet with offices in Congress and speak to them about your experience that would be amazing that would be really amazing let's do as much as we can yes let's be in touch immediately I'll follow up with this to see when your plans to arrive are and we'd love to also put you in increase any contacts that you can use in the US for all of that and to work with you in that way and in all of your next adventure I'd really like to thank you for coming on with us and we were speaking with Benjamin who was just denied entry at the Jordanian border as he tried to enter Palestine Israel denied him entry saying that they were afraid he might participate in a demonstration in the village of Nabisala he had walked for 11 months from Sweden to Palestine to raise awareness for Palestinian rights and we're going to be continuing to follow what he does and to push back against Israel's denial of entry to nonviolent human rights activists I'm going to bring him back on for a moment to see if he has any last words for us before we end this video Benjamin I'm adding you back in just going over again with people what happened on your journey and how thrilled we are to be with you today I want to know from you also what happened during your interrogation what did they say because you even had a visa right I did I so I had been in Palestine last summer right at the same time last summer and I was physically assaulted by a settler in in the city of Hebron I was there staying with Palestinians and being part of that community and so this settler physically assaulted me and soldiers stood by and watched her do that and I went on camera during the assault and you can hear me in the video talking to the soldiers and saying you have an opportunity to protect me and what you're doing here is not in accordance with Jewish values so when I left the country after all of that I was there for about six weeks um when I left the country I was informed by the government that in order to come back I would have to have a visa in advance I needed permission in advance from the government and so I got that permission I got a visa in advance from the Israeli consulate in New York City and I entered with that visa and boy were they unhappy that I that I had that visa and they went through quite a process it seems to revoke the visa and then deport me from the country my my interrogation was was quite interesting and the beginning of it which might be before they fully realized who I was because I'm Jewish the beginning of my interrogation the first round of it was very friendly um you know just a warm conversation about one two and um that I raised my children Jewish and you know you have a visa it should just be a few moments and then it got ugly after that and it was a period of seven hours all together and it was a lot of the same things they demanded to look at the contacts in my phone and they started going through the contacts looking for Arabic or Muslim names just disgustingly racist um yeah why do you have these names in your phones why would you know Palestinians and I was like you know well because unlike you I think that all people are equal and uh appreciate relationships and friendships with all people and they started yelling at me who do you know in Palestine who would you be in contact with they started yelling so even though you gave them your phone and they looked at all your contacts they still denied you entry this makes me this makes me so much happier that I did not give them my phone and let them see who I know and who I don't know it's not like I know any dangerous people but I just don't want any normal Palestinian guys and girls to get into any trouble which they would because as we know the Israeli states like to make trouble for normal people they they they absolutely like to make trouble and you know so for example they you know started um saying you know what is this work you've done you know with with Issa Amra who I've worked with and who we got advocacy for in congress and I said you know what you can you can look it up um quite proud of my my work and he supported by Amnesty International and um they started yelling at me about what happened in Hebron last year why would you make our soldiers look bad why would you tell them well they are doing a good enough job themselves to make themselves look bad I think they don't need anyone exactly what I told them well you know it's not me that's making them look bad it's what they're doing the actions like don't film me when I'm harassing people it makes you look so bad but maybe you shouldn't harass people in the beginning what do you think about that exactly and you know a lot of like where are you gonna go same thing as you where are you gonna go do the plans to go into the West Bank you know why would you be with Palestinians a lot of that we know last summer you spent the time in Hebron with Palestinians and you're a Jew you shouldn't be with Palestinians they said that you're a Jew you shouldn't be with Palestinians which is what the soldiers had told me the previous year in in in Hebron and I think really they pretty much they say they said it like that or that's just the like gist of it that's the gist of it yeah just pure pure racism that's pure racism yeah you're Jewish so you shouldn't spend time with Palestinians what about the Jewish Palestinians what about human rights I'm a non-violent advocate for human rights for all people and they would just go on yelling at me at one point they yelled at me why do you have this visa who gave you this visa they said you gave me the visa your government gave me the visa which made them unhappy they uh interrogated me about Code Pink um my organization and uh said um you know what is Code Pink what does it do and I explained we are an anti-war organization and we oppose militarism and we're women's land we do not like anti-war right they're not anti-war they are not into anti-war and peace unfortunately yeah just you know really quite nasty and unpleasant and then they after about six hours they told me you're being denied entry and basically started racing me back to an airplane to send me back to New York did you have to pay for that or did they pay they paid for that I would have liked to have flown over to Jordan and I would have paid for that but apparently you're deported from Ben-Gurion they have to send you back to whatever flight you came in on basically um and you know I feel badly I was planning on spending the summer uh working with Code Pink's partners on the ground with Coalition of Women for Peace um an incredible Israeli activist organization that challenges Israeli weapons companies yeah the thing is they are even preventing us from meeting the wonderful Israelis that are working for peace I mean they are preventing these contacts between the Israelis that are working actively towards a better world and us who are also trying to do the same I think they're not so fond of those particular Israelis as well unfortunately not but they are the heroes working from inside it's really tough I can imagine absolutely and Palestinians you know in on the ground are just becoming more and more isolated as more and more people are denied entry we had um two leaders from Center for Constitutional Rights uh in the US that were denied entry recently Israel is trying to remove human rights watch from the country so they can't do their work on the ground it's just a case of strangling and isolating Palestinians as and trying to you know make them alone in their struggle for freedom and equality yeah with a new law that's being discussed to forbid any photography and videos of soldiers it's just screams that they have everything to hide I mean once they expel every single human rights activist peace activist human rights organization and forbid all cameras and videos then there's no obstacles right to carry out more massacres and atrocities I guess absolutely so before we start again we have to be active that's what it's all about there's activities we just have to be the counterweight to that because they are working hard I mean they make no illusion they're spending their money and their time investing in making that happen so we need to work even harder work smarter and just invest all our time and energy as much as we can afford to try and be the counterweight because it's not like they're gonna give up by themselves and they they will move with pressure and we are the pressure I love how you said that so let's um all of us and and as a message to our audience yeah and it's not just you and me either it's everyone watching it's every person in every country of conscious it's about us normal people just standing up for our principles because even if you say that you have a principle if you will never act upon it it's like you never had it in the beginning we need action we can't just talk about peace and human rights if we never take action because words fall short of action always so I want to thank you for taking action and thank you for speaking with us today and you and I will continue to be in touch and I look forward to meeting you in person me too all the best and let's meet soon all the best to you thank you so much for your work