How would you like to have been a good, honest traveler who declared their iPad upon arriving at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, only to have it confiscated.  On top of that, the officials will charge you approximately $12 per day for storing it, and you can pay the ransom and get your iPad back when you leave Israel.  Oh let’s see now.  If I visited the Jewish State for two weeks, I would be paying 14 days x 12 dollars per day = $168 dollars for the privilege of having my iPad confiscated.  So, I pay all that amount to ensure that I don’t have a computing device of any sort (assuming I left the notebook at home, as I most likely will when travelling with the iPad).  So how does this make any sense at all?

The official explanation by the Ministry of Communication, which handed down the ban, is that the iPad is transmitting at a higher power level when using wireless frequency, and that it may affect other devices that use the same frequency.  Prominent Israeli experts refute this “official” explanation, and note that they cannot discern any credible angle regarding the ministry’s draconian actions.  Dor Zakai, a self professed technology freak working in Israel’s OS and Hardware industry notes that he cannot understand “why they are banning the iPad,” and adds “What’s next?”  Israeli business leaders are concerned about the fallout from the ministry’s actions, noting that it really does not help Israel’s reputation as being policed, Big Brother style.

Conspiracy theory fans are coming out of the woodwork and putting their own twist on the matter.  Given that Apple’s sole distributor in Israel is iDigital, which is owned Chemi Peres, son of the Israeli president, conspiracy fans theorize that the ministry is acting to benefit iDigital; that is, it is preventing iPads from sneaking into the Jewish State so that Israelis have no option but to buy the iPad from iDigital when Apple releases the iPad internationally.  For now, it is only available for purchase in the United States.

Believe what you will, but one thing is for certain.  This latest fiasco is not going to help Israel.  As Harel Shattenstein, analyst and prominent tech blogger noted, “Poor old Israel.”

Tags: Apple, iPad