Rapper Lowkey of outspoken new collective Mongrel has given a new interview alleging that he was detained in an Israeli airport and subjected to hours of interrogation.
Mongrel were formed around singer Jon McClure, also of Reverend And The Makers. In a series of outspoken interview McClure has stated the band’s aims, with Mongrel set to tour impoverished parts of South America soon.
Before then, however, Lowkey had been due to travel to Tel Aviv in order to perform in a series of charity shows. Amongst the shows booked for the musician were performances in Paletstine and Palestinian refugee camps, designed to raise funds for those affected by the recent fighting in the area.
In an interview with NME Lowkey claims that he was detained at Tel Aviv airport on February 27th.
“As soon as I stepped off the plane with my AA guide to Israel tucked under my arm, I was pulled away to the side and interrogated as to why I was in Israel, by a man who wore no uniform identifying himself as any type of security but was clearly heavily armed,” Lowkey explained.
“After this I carried on through to passport control. After giving over my British passport it was confiscated. I was then detained for nine hours. During this time I was interrogated about many aspects of my life, what the purpose of my trip was, where my parents are from and where I planned to go in Israel.”
“Eventually I was told my story was a lie and was subjected to a bout of the Israeli polices paranoid mind games. I was eventually released, knowing that no matter how frustrating what I just went through was, I knew that it was not even a miniscule fraction of the degradation Palestinian people are subjected to on a daily basis.”
Israeli authorities have yet to comment on the allegations.
