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Haredi Journalist Detained in Kuwait Over Tefillin Misunderstanding Is Released

His account says officers questioning him over photos of U.S. patrol boats mistook his prayer boxes for a spy device.

Overview

  • Yitzchak Horowitz, a BeKehila magazine reporter who reached Kuwait due to wartime flight disruptions, was detained after photographing American patrol ships and later released without charges.
  • Police searching his bag found tefillin, small black boxes with Torah verses worn with straps during Jewish prayer, and first treated them as possible communications gear.
  • Interrogators asked if he was Iranian, Israeli, or tied to Mossad, checked his passport and phone, and showed bombing footage he said was from Lebanon despite officers calling it Gaza.
  • He says senior officials reviewed his case, told him he could call his ambassador, and let him go after several hours in custody.
  • After his release, he recounted a Kuwaiti contact saying the war is shifting some views toward Israel, and both reports rely on his first-person account with no official Kuwaiti comment.