The story began at the beginning of the last decade. Salim graduated high school with honours specializing in computers and electronics and for a time worked in Israel's high tech sector. He nevertheless felt a sense of victimization as his childhood ambition was always to become a pilot. Refusing to volunteer for either the Israeli Defense Forces or the National Service in line with most Israeli Arabs, he missed his opportunity to integrate within Israel's security services.
Photo by: Fotolia
Following the end of his stint in high tech, in 2003 he attempted to fulfill his childhood dream to become a pilot and attempted to join the Israeli Air Force which rejected him for reasons he believed was pertaining to his ethnicity. In an interview with an Israeli Arab Newspaper Salim said that he was not allowed to enter pilot school or studies in avionics because he is Arab. With a lack of options available he then turned to a flight academy in Jordan. After a period of brief struggle, he passed the Jordanian intelligence assessment required and began studying avionics in Jordan in October 2003 with cadets from other Arab countries. A year later he received his commercial pilot's license.
Salim first attempted to fly with Israeli airlines, but received no reply from these companies. He then attempted Arab airlines, but was rejected because he was an Israeli citizen. Afterwards, he began to explore the idea of pilot work in Western countries.
His Canadian connection began soon after his rejections. He contacted the Canadian consulate in Tel Aviv over the possibility of work in aviation in Montreal. However, due to his lack of French knowledge skills and accumulated flight hours the odds of his acceptance were regarded as slim. In light of his rejection he flew personally to Montreal in 2005, earned a pilot's license that gave him flying capability, accumulated flight hours, and enrolled in French language courses which he never completed.
After achieving his pilot license in Montreal, Salim filed a request for refugee status in Canada in 2007. His request was based on two arguments. The first was a sense of being "persecuted" by the Mossad intelligence services. The second was the fear for his safety due to his ethnicity as an Israeli Arab and as such a threat to Israeli security. His argument was based on the systematic discrimination of Arabs in the Jewish state, with a lack of general equality for Arabs, including discrimination in housing and other aspects of Israeli culture. After his brother was interrogated by Israeli Intelligence Officials regarding Salim's role as a pilot in Canada, he expressed concern that Israel may hunt him down as a threat to national security. In order to strengthen his case, he said that he was flagged at Ben Gurion Airport upon departure to Canada for his training as a pilot, marked "personal".
Canadian Immigration Officials noted that while discrimination may exist against the Arab minority, a lack of evidence existed of Israel's threat to Salim's life or on his perception as a threat to Israeli national security. The court further noted that despite his claims, the fundamental rights to education, self expression, and movement were kept by Israel, which as a democratic state respects the rights of its citizens. As such, immigration authorities deemed his case not one of political persecution.
His case also witnessed holes of his own personal account. According to an interview with him in Israeli Arab press in 2005, Salim repeatedly claimed that he had no problems in Israel and came to Canada just to visit a friend. The friend later told immigration authorities that Salim was interested in applying for refugee status and planned to meet with an attorney about this issue.
The judge in the case rejected application for refugee status. As noted, expressions of racism have been condemned in Israeli society, with the national carrier El Al forced to pay compensation to Arab victims of acts of unjust treatment and racial discrimination. The judge also claimed that Salim never applied for permanent residency and instead is using Israel's discriminatory policies as basis for filing refugee status. Salim may appeal the ruling, however has not even attempted to immigrate to Canada through normal channels.
