My experience at TLV was far more reassuring than anything I live through in the FRAs, LHRs, JFKs of this world. As others in this thread have pointed out, TLV security is about security - finding the terrorist before he/she boards a flight. My guess is that they couldn't care less about liquids so long they were satisfied you (and not your shoes/jacket/laptop) were not a problem.
In some ways I found parallels in BOG, where all passengers go through a second degree (searching primarily for drugs). Again - the staff scrutinize the passenger, though the bags are also thoroughly searched, but it's done without barking (even though there are also dogs present) and the staff are genuinely pleasant and polite.