Originally Posted by
Dovster
Israel has been under constant attack since it was created. To be able to continue to exist, and to protect ourselves, we have to do things we don't particularly enjoy.
When we go into any large building, be it a bank, a restaurant, a mall, or one of many hotels, we are wanded and any bags we are carrying are searched.
At particularly sensitive places, like hospitals, we go through metal detection machines.
Our daughters spend two years of their lives in military service. Our sons go in for three years and then spend one month a year until their mid-40's on active reserve.
The situation right now promises to be worse than usual. After Hamas lauched about 50 kassam rockets at the town of Sderot within one week, the Israeli Air Force shot back. Hamas considered this particularly not nice and said it was the end of the "ceasefire" (which they apparently understand to mean that Israel should cease and Hamas should fire).
In return, they said a few days ago, they will restart suicide bombings from the West Bank.
We realize that we have to protect ourselves and if part of the cost is going to be having you empty your wallet in Jordan or Egypt instead of Israel, so be it. We would rather risk losing some tourism than losing a number of lives -- we're just strange that way.
Well, until Israel gets its act together as far as a reasonable amount of safety while preserving civil liberties, I am indeed quite pleased to spend my money elsewhere. I'm just funny that way too.
Originally Posted by
Dovster
You are making the same mistake as the TSA -- looking for the weapon instead of looking for the terrorist. An M-16 in the hands of someone who has no intention of using it presents little danger. On the other hand, even the most banal (and permitted) object, like a laptop computer, can kill -- just swing it at someone's head.
(Indeed, if you know how to do it, a rolled up newspaper shoved into someone's solar plexus is deadly.)
I really don't care. If someone wants to do me harm, they can try all those things at the mall, in the park, etc. I'm not going to live in fear of the remote possibility of an attack by a not-properly-armed assailant on a plane who has been screened for real weapons. I'm also not going to spend my life looking over my shoulder in fear of an unknown assailant shooting or stabbing me in the park. That's a sure ticket to an early grave - via hypertension/stroke/etc.
Originally Posted by
Dovster
In 1972, three members of the Japanese Red Army boarded a flight to Israel on Air France. No inspection of them or their hand luggage would have produced any results. They were completely unarmed.
Their checked luggage, however, was a different story. It included automatic rifles and upon retrieiving it at the airport they opened fire -- killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
This tragedy might well have been avoided if Air France used the same procedures as El Al.
They could have done that in any US city - without flying first.