University of Miami president detained, questioned for three hours at Israeli airport

University president questioned at Israeli airport

MIAMI — The University of Miami’s president says she was interrogated at the Ben-Gurion International Airport in Israel last month.

Donna Shalala, who is of Lebanese descent, was visiting Israel in July as part of a delegation of university leaders invited by the American Jewish Committee’s Project Interchange. Shalala, former secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, stayed after the convention to meet with a group setting up a new medical school in Israel.

University spokeswoman Margot Winick said in an e-mail that Shalala was delayed as she was leaving Israel with security questions and a luggage search that took nearly 3 hours. But she didn’t miss her flight.

Israeli airport authority officials said there was no record of the search.