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JERUSALEM – A performer with the famed Alvin Ailey dance troupe on Tuesday said he was twice forced to perform steps for Israeli airport security officers to prove his identity before he was permitted to enter the country.

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Abdur-Rahim Jackson, an eight-year veteran of the dance ensemble, said he was singled out by Israel’s renowned airport security because he has a Muslim name. He called the experience embarrassing and said at one point, one of the officers even suggested he change his name.

“To be greeted like this because of my name, it took me back a little bit,” said Jackson, who is black.

Israel is the first stop on a six-nation tour celebrating the New York-based dance company’s 50th anniversary. Earlier this year, Congress passed a resolution calling the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater a “vital American cultural ambassador to the world.”

Jackson said he was pulled aside from other members of the troupe when they arrived at Israel’s international airport on Sunday night. He said he was taken to a holding room, where he was asked about the origins of his name. When he explained he was part of the dance group, he was asked to perform.

“I stood up. I asked what type of dance?” he explained. “He said, “Just do anything.’ I just moved around.”

Minutes later, he said a female officer put him through a similar interrogation and asked him to dance again.

“The only time I’m really expected to dance is when I’m performing,” he said.

Jackson said he received his name because his father was a convert to Islam. Jackson said he was not raised a Muslim, does not consider himself religious and is engaged to a Jewish woman in the troupe who has relatives in Israel.

Jackson said he did not plan to press the matter further, saying the numerous apologies he has received from American dignitaries and his Israeli hosts is “enough for me.” The Israel Ports Authority said it had no comment because it did not receive a formal complaint.

The incident was reported in Israel’s largest newspaper and on an Israeli television news and interview program. “The security guards should be sent home or (the airport) will become a mental asylum,” said Motti Kirshenbaum, a veteran commentator and host of the Channel 10 TV program.

Israel is constantly on the alert for attack because of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and extremist Islamic rejection of the Jewish state’s existence. Security is strict at all entry points and inside the country.

Israel is famous for the effectiveness of its airport security. But a key element in its security checks is ethnic profiling. The practice has been criticized by Israeli human rights campaigners as racist because it singles out Arabs for tougher treatment.

Such profiling is illegal in the United States, but Jackson said that the only place he has had the similarly humiliating experience of being forced to dance in the past was at a U.S. airport when he returned from a vacation in the Dominican Republic. He did not say when or where that took place.

Jackson said that since the Israeli airport incident, the reception in Israel has been “amazing.”

“We’re only here to bring positive light to our lives and the people here,” he said, calling the group’s multicultural appeal “an amazing bind you can’t touch, you can only experience.”

What did he think was going to happen when he signed the prenup?? What does he think it is for? He seemed intelligent enough to understand what he signed.

GO AHEAD STAR!!

Uh, hello Al, you married A LAWYER!!!! Slow-ass. What the hell do you think she does all day? Get a grip on life and…howudoin?!!!

Howyoudoin’Al? I guess it’s back to getting on your knees to make that dough, Al. And I don’t mean praying. LOL.

Smart move Star, smart move.

OH MY!…grab some tissues AL…POOR baby!

*snickers*

@ Sawyer….

So true….

@I’m just me…

DAMN! we gets NO RESPECT! I hope someone was fired…but I doubt it!

Yeah, but when it’s Kimora Simmons getting $1,000,000 a week for sitting on her ass everybody’s all “OOH, YOU GO GIRL!”

Come on Al baby, Star is a lawyer U know her pre-nup was going to be TIGHT, should of stayed in there Al. There a 2 things Star luvs, CHEAP SHOES (Payless) & $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Al, I think Lance Bass is single?

He’s gayer than a threesome with Neyo, Usher and Ken Paves.

Poor little Al wanted more dough, ehh? Here’s an idea; get a motherf*cking job.

________

Sounds good to me. My mother told me the sign of a real man is that he NEVER feels comfortable taking handouts from anyone and money from a woman, especially a woman with kids.

WTF is wrong when me feel like it’s their right to take money from a woman. And that is NOT the same as marrying a woman that makes more money than you, but you should have your own spending money.

Al Reynolds has bird legs. Back to you pre-Star life you go my friend!

I thought he worked on Wall Street prior to being Mr Star Jones. He should have embezzelled ’cause he signed the freaking agreement! Glad you’re free Star!

These comments have me LMAO!!! That’s what he gets–he better start reading the want-ads…

That n*gga don’t deserve shyt! Good for you Star – don’t give his ass a cent!

Why are you crucifying Al for wanting money when a lot of you Black loose tramps would do the same thing?!?! Black women are a mess. That’s why I only deal with men and like it in the sh!t cute.

My question is was he supposed to hang in there for 3 years and the pre nup would have been null and void…What a dumb ass

That’s why you always marry someone on your current economic level or higher. And never marry anyone on your payroll. It didnt work for J-Lo or Britney Spears so it wont work for you either.

@ Terminator Hex

The thing is Kimora Lee probably signed a prenup that gave her that amount. Everyone is only saying you get what you signed for. If he got more then he got more but that is what he co signed for. It is not about man vs woman it is about you being smart enough to sign in the beginning for what you want in the end.

Star must have been a desperate something to wanna marry that guy… I mean I could see from a mile away that he was sneaky & something was off about him, SMH

dayum his shoes are laced tight.

On the real, he probably would have gotten more money in the event that Star was not released from The View. Most prenups only protect the assets you already have coming into the marriage. Any additional income you earn while married is what is in question.

Star’s prenup probably only allowed for Al to get a certain % of her earnings (along with other stipulations) after they went into their union. Since she probably hasn’t earned any big bucks since her View days he didn’t have much to latch on to, combine all the stipulations she probably added in addition to the above mentioned fact and AL get’s a total of “NOTHING”. He was marring an attorney, and not a dumb one at that! What a duffous.

(LMAO) Did his dumb azz forget he married a LAWYER…Good for you Star!

I saw Al in person in Publix in Miami not to long ago. He’s not that bad looking. He has NO ASS though. Star needs to keep stepping with her new “hunk.” (please…)

Good for her. I hope she has fun with her new guy.

I know bro is upset. To think of all the times he done laid up with that obese stretched out ass coochie. Just thinking of the smell he had to endure while sleeping next to her makes that nicca want to cry. To top it off Big Gay Al gets nothing!

If you are foolish enough to get married, especially without a prenup, then you deserve to have half your money taken away from you. Someone please tell Star Jones that having a man isn’t the key to happiness.

Be a MAN (for once) Al!

Seriously! What was he thinking? He MARRIED a LAWYER. Sheesh….

Star is a lawyer, she ain’t stupid!! She knew in the event of a divorce she had to protect her stacks! I hope he’s not salty about it, had he been workin his bank account would be as pretty as Ms. Star’s!

All right now, Star. Pay him and move on..The next guy hopefully, you ‘ll find happiness…Wish you much success and happiness!..

Ewww… he, presumably had to screw star jones!!! You gotta get something for that! I’m a straight dude and I find the idea of copulating (having sex) with star, repulsive. I can’t imagine how gross it must have been for a gay guy… OK, now I’m queezy!

Star really lost more than what people realize. Fooling with this gay ass hustler, she lost out on millions when she was fired from the View. With the lost of that job Star lost her endorsements like Payless. She also lost her A-list status to the biggest hollywood parties & designer freebees. Now she has to join all her bridesmaids that were in her wedding on the D-list. In the end Star was really the bigger loser.

I ain’t sayin’ he a golddigger but he don’t wanna be a broke nucca…..

Get down low, go ‘head get down low….

What’s the use of bangin’ her if she can’t give up the stacks?

Shhhiitttt !! If I get to spend nights with Star might as well get paid for it!!!

lol..thats the smartest thing star did! writing that prenup! besides breaking up with him!

hope she’s hiv negative. downlow men hate women and infect them with aids.

star’s new boyfriend is better looking than sweet honey al!

F Al gay ass and F Star ugly, deformed looking ass.

I like Star Jones but I am sightly concerned that she is dating a chef. Old habits die hard. I wish them both the best of luck

I thought the brother had a job before Star? Thought he had paper x2 from some grt colleges? Dog, it musta been luv to give all that up! Or maybe a brother luvin and supportin his woman. Hey she musta liked it too. At least for a while. Guess they both lost. And we did too on this one. Y’ALL STOP HATIN

At some point you lazy sloppy no job having folk will stop hating on these two black people who have more paper, status and education than any of you. So their marriage didn’t work. Most of ya’ll aint never gonna get married…certainly not as fly as their wedding was. These grown ass people have moved on with their lives. Al is a professor in Florida and Miss Star is happily traveling the world with the money she got from her Court TV gig. She looks better than ya’ll got a fine new man with his own paper and ya’ll are made because you know she wouldn’t walk across the street to piss you any of ya’ll if you were on fire…that’s why you hate on her. Like my girl Jill Scott says: “Hate on her Haters…what she got SHE paid for!”

Yeah…I said it!