Video: Interview With Owner of Bullet-Riddled MacBook
8:00 pm, December 16th, 2009, Leander Kahney
Remember Lily Sussman, the 21-year-old American tourist whose MacBook was shot up by Israeli security?
TheDailyNewsEgypt interviewed Sussman, who explains what happened. She also gives some different views of the destroyed machine. Look what a rifle round does to a MacBook.
- Look at those nasty exit wounds.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Apple, MacBook Pro, News | Comment on this article
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There’s really no comments? Wtf. Truly unbelievable. They shot her computer because she was smirking and not a true believer. I guess it’s true what they say about Apple users being smug and Israeli police being fascistic nut cases.
It makes sense.
Daniel, on December 16th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Daniel, you are either blind or just…. blind and not-very-bright. Your random anti-Apple-user statement proves that you are more likely bordering on idiotic.
There were dozens of posts on this topic, much of it bordering on flames. Those were contained on the original post. The link is here:
http://www.cultofmac.com/welcome-to-israel-we-shot-your-macbook/23431
Chances are that most everyone is now tired of this subject and have already had too much to say on the topic? Duh.
gilliam, on December 16th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Yeah, this story doesn’t surprise me in the least. This exact same thing happened to a good friend of mine (a Canadian) traveling into Israel a few months ago. He went from Egypt into Israel (without incident) and then into Jordan. Upon returning to Israel from Jordan they pulled him in and shot up all his stuff. Even worse, he’s legally blind and they also destroyed the equipment he had to, you know, see things. Oh, they also strip searched him and interrogated him for three hours.
He speaks perfect English, lives in Toronto and had a valid passport, not to mention they let him into Israel only just a week earlier. Their reasoning for all this? He’s brown, so obviously he’s a terrorist.
After the ordeal they told him to get reimbursed from some government agency, only partially of course. After several days of red tape, Hebrew only paperwork (which he doesn’t speak) and being yelled at by several bureaucrats he gave up and came home. To date he hasn’t been reimbursed a single penny to my knowledge. He hasn’t been given any apology either.
Truly disgraceful behaviour on the part of Israeli security and the Israeli government. I obviously understand the need for security, but instead of shooting peoples belongings, how about just taking them apart? Or maybe better scanning equipment? Sheesh..
Steve Wellman, on December 16th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Israel is disgusting! Bunch of warmongers. Why isn’t mainstream media all over the injustices and brutalities that Israel inflicts? Oh right. Murdoch, Bloomberg, and a greater majority of power-wielding politicians, movers, shakers and decision makers are all pro-Israel, no matter what the cost.
Saj, on December 16th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
In this case, the cost was simply a MacBook. To helpless Palestinians, whose land was snatched from them, the loss is much, much greater.
Saj, on December 16th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Bang! Bang! Bang!… OK it’s not a bomb or a chemical weapon, because shooting it sure as hell would have killed a lot of people.
Yohsemmiti Sham, on December 16th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Although in no way condoning the actions of the Israeli’s, it’s being reported by ‘Undercurrents’ (a pro-Palestinian news outlet in the UK) that Lily Sussman was wearing a T-Shirt with the words ‘Safe Sex Is Breast Relief’ on the front. Although this doesn’t justify the actions of the Israeli’s, it seems a rather contentious (and immature?) sort of T-Shirt to be wearing in a country that has a proven track-record of arresting and detaining people for even minor infringements. Just a thought….
Andrew Lainton, on December 17th, 2009 at 5:51 am
What I don’t get is , why do you shoot it?
If there was a bomb you can scan it and disconnect it, but shooting a laptop?
That might set off the bomb wouldn’t it?
Israel has been killing arabs for the last 50-60 years a laptop is simply nothing, but I am surprised they would do this to a westerner because I thought they were promoting tourism and working on their public relations with the rest of the world.
Any how, why would any one want to go to Israel? Unless you are Jewish, its not safe.
king, on December 17th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Sounds like a family guy episode! To stupid to believe….
Brandon, on December 17th, 2009 at 8:51 am
the level of historical and contemporary ignorance in these comments is astounding. it’s tempting to write a categorical rebuttal to all the calumnies in these comments, but I’ve learned that presenting contextualized facts to anti-zionists is almost always a waste of time. cause the hate feels so good, right? I only hope these comments (thus far) are not representative of this blog’s readership.
Neighborhood Bully, on December 17th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Neighborhood bully. Everyone should be anti zionists just like im sure every sane person with an ounce of morality is anti naziism.
How can you possibly be pro zionism? Its a racist fascist ideology. If youre not Jewish then you have no right to be on our land. If that isn’t racist then what is? In no way is an anti Semitic statement. You can be anti zionist without being anti Semitic (despite what the zionists will tell you). Not all jews are zionists.
Liam, on December 17th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Here’s a crazy idea: DON”T GO TO ISRAEL.
Or, if you absolutely HAVE to, don’t take anything you don’t want shot.
Fucking simple.
Church of Apple, on December 17th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
So why was the laptop shot at? To make sure there wasn’t a bomb inside?! I don’t understand what shooting it did other than say “f*ck you” to the ownder of the laptop.
Nathan, on December 17th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Liam: “If youre not Jewish then you have no right to be on our land.” Not true. Christians can and do own land in Israel. Arabs can and do own land in Israel. Christians control their holy places in Israel. Muslims were even ceeded control over the Temple Mount after the ‘67 war despite the fact that it is *the holiest site* in Judiasm. In contrast, Jews are not allowed to own land in any of the neighboring countries, let alone worship in peace. If you want to call Israel’s zionist heritage “fascist,” then what do you call the PA, Egypt, Syria, etc, where there is no freedom of speech, no democratic tradition, no supreme court that often overrules other branches of government, etc. Yeah, in Israel some lame-brained 17 year old soldiers shot up a MavBook. In Egypt, Lily Sussman would have had the soles of her feet beaten…if she was lucky. Your ignorance (and prejudice) is truly astounding.
Neighborhood Bully, on December 17th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
i know that it’s terrible to have your precious macbook shot full of holes, but how it looks like a piece of artwork to me. if it were a dell, it’d just be a pile of plastic…
erfon, on December 17th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Shooting a suspicious package IS NOT a standard bomb threat procedure. They really wanted to say you’re not welcome here to the laptop owner.
The message is clear: Don’t come to Israel unless you’re jewish.
Ana, on December 19th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
@Ana – Not True, from another news article (or google bomb defuse techniques):
” But in this case, an Iraqi explosives team is on the case.
The Iraqi police start shooting at the potential bomb, hoping to set it off. But to no avail. The convoy continues to sit and wait. An hour passes. As Sgt. Lord watches, the Iraqi police move closer to the suspected bomb.”
@Ana – All religions have only been allowed to practice in Israel since the Jews took power. It should also be noted the countries she visited first usually dont let you in if there is an Israeli stamp in your passport. She is lucky to not be in jail for being so ignorant. I know people that have been held for hours and stripped searched in the U.S. because they visited Cuba to often. airport security is no joke. Nice on Israel to buy her a new laptop. More than I would have done in their case.
All the haters on this site should still know that if it were not for Israel, none of your cool mac products would even exist. Every great feature is based on a paten from Israel. Even the CPU’s are made in Israel. Apple has a huge RnD department in Israel and Steve Jobs visits all the time. He even personally choose an Israeli song for the MacBook Air commercial.
JB, on December 22nd, 2009 at 3:19 pm