Originally Posted by
GUWonder
I think there are some places worth visiting even if it may require going through some nonsense .... and Israel is one of those places. Worse case, the over-the-top aspects will make for a good personal account/story to share.
(Reminds me, yet again, that there are some stories about bizarre airport "security" that I must share.

)
Here is a boring one:
I get to the airport 2 hours before a flight last week out of TLV, and because I completely over packed my bag they asked to open it.
The conversation was ride, abrasive, and tiring (it WAS 3:00am)
At the end, the security officer thanked me for my cooperation and I thanked him for putting my mind at ease.
Now a hilarious incident is below:
When my sister and I went for the first time in the 70s she was pulled aside for what was the equivalent of what I went through... While going through her toiletry bag, the very young and inexperienced officer (couldn't have been more than 22) pulled out a tampon, wove it around for all to see and said (abrasively) "What is this!" When I explained it to him he was horribly embarrassed...
...Now its a wonderful story to tell newcomers to our Passover Seder
By the way, Hebrew (like German) translates poorly into English and can sound downright aggressive. I often find this with newer security personnel at TLV, or even hotel workers, as they have less English-language experience. Older ones often seem to have a better grasp of a verbose language such as English and the intricacies of how using seemingly innocent words make it seem as if you are trying to be aggressive.