Black performer: Israeli security made me dance

Black performer: Israeli security made me dance

JERUSALEM — A performer with the renowned Alvin Ailey dance troupe was ordered to perform steps for Israeli airport security officers to convince them of his identity, a spokesman for the company said Tuesday.

Abdur-Rahim Jackson was singled out from other members of the black American dance ensemble when they arrived at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Sunday night at the start of a six-nation international tour, said publicist Shauli Baskin.

“They stopped him ... as he has a Muslim name,” Baskin told The Associated Press. “He told them he was a dancer and was here to dance with the Alvin Ailey dance troupe and they told him, ‘So dance.’”

The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, which first reported the story, quoted Jackson as saying that his father had been a convert to Islam and subsequently gave him a Muslim name.

Baskin said that waiting for him in the group was Jackson’s fianc e and fellow Alvin Ailey dancer, Olivia Bowman, who has a Jewish mother with family in Israel.

Israel is constantly on the alert for attack because of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and extremist Islamic rejection of the Jewish state’s existence. A key element in its security checks is ethnic profiling, criticized by Israeli human rights campaigners as racist because it singles out Arabs for tougher treatment.

Today’s birthdays

Singer Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night is 66. Singer Jose Feliciano is 63. Guitarist Joe Perry of Aerosmith is 58. Director Chris Columbus is 50. Actor Colin Firth is 48. Guitarist Stevie D. of Buckcherry is 42. Director Guy Ritchie is 40.