Awful check-in experience, baggage missing
 

I was held back by security due to the countries I have traveled to in the past, and then forced to check my carry-on baggage in addition to my luggage. Both bags were missing upon arrival. Claim was filed. 48h hours later, suitcase shows up with the delivery tag of the carry-on and carry-on is still missing. I bought some items while I waited and I believe the airline will cover up to $150/day after 24h.

I'm on a birthright program, multiple participants experienced this but all got their luggage already and I am the only one missing a bag now, that I was forced to check-in.

Questions:
If the carry-on doesn't show up, how much is El Al liable for? LAX to TLV.
In this case, should I go to the police in the US once I land back and file a police report?
I was treated extremely poorly by El Al security during check-in... do these people steal in addition to being rude?

I don't plan on ever flying with El Al ever again and I encourage others to do the same.

I fully intend to fly with them again, there is a coherent rationale behind the security protocols. I have nothing but admiration for those who do an immensely difficult job in a highly pressurised environment and whose judgement, if incorrect, can have catastrophic consequences for passengers, families, staff and the country it seems, you are travelling to on a subsidised trip.
They deserve your praise, not criticism.
They are not rude, merely professional with an apparent detachment that is part and parcel of the difficult assessments they have to make. They often have to face entitled passengers who believe that they have the right to be treated differently from everyone else.
They are not thieves, they are highly trained and vetted.
I value the service they provide to me, my fellow passengers and the State of Israel.
I do hope you get your bag back.

Regardless of whether these general statements are accurate, it's not clear that they apply to OP's comment. Perhaps the agent(s) encountered were rude and deserve criticism. That's not necessarily evident from the post (nothing really to judge), but the fact that the vast majority of security agents are fully qualified and act correctly doesn't guarantee that OP got the same experience.

And OP, I'd recommend following up with El Al regularly; their customer service can leave something to be desired. A few years ago, I was flying TLV-USA (with a connection to AA) and LY failed to load one of the bags at TLV. Despite the delay being LY's fault (and the bag being appropriately screened at TLV), their security protocol dictated not sending the bag on the next flight, but waiting for the missing bag report from AA (which LY took no steps to obtain). I ended up sending a copy myself and calling them daily for 4 days. My flight departed Sunday morning and I didn't get the bag until Thursday night, despite LY knowing where the bag was the whole time.

Those are some pretty incredible and far out accusations. I'll try to respond point by point ( more for others since I have a feeling nothing anyone says could convince you that you just may be wrong!)

A. Unfortunately luggage sometimes goes missing. It is NOT considered lost at this point in time. It will be at least 21 days before it receives that label. It is very possible that the mess-up occurred with baggage handlers NOT El Al personnel. Does the missing bag have your name in it? Also, make sure you provide ( and update if needed) a totally accurate description of the BAG. IF A BAG doesn't have a label it sits ( this is ALL AIRLINES) until it is manually matched with a description on the complaint. So, the more details, the better.

Now in response to your questions.

YOU should NOT go to the police to report your bag missing! Why would the police do anything --or even care.

El Al security personal have a very important job. They are not there to be your friend. They ARE there to keep you and everyone else on the flight safe! You may have noticed that there are some people in this world who would like to see Israel and anything or anyone connected to it vanish. The questions they ask are hard, they sometimes appear to be nonsensical. They aren't and they are being asked for very specific reason. If you start responding with attitude or arrogance, it only makes things worse. (remember this for your return flight) Your mantra is to be calm and polite! If you don't want to be calm and polite--be calm and polite anyway! You comment asking if they steal--is so so reflective of your attitude! How about loosing it. If you think they want whatever you have in your suitcase you are very very far off base!

In terms of not flying with El Al again--your choice and your lose!
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Completely agree.

Airport security staff do not steal. Elal staff do not steal. They are not rude - they are there to protect your plane from being blown up.

I'm late to this thread, I know, but in my anecdotal experience, I've found El Al security people to be quite friendly. I realize that as a Hebrew-speaking Jew (albeit not an Israeli citizen), I'm probably seen as a pretty low threat level. But I've generally found them to be professional and polite (by Israeli standards - which are admittedly very different from those in the US, and OP may not be wholly familiar with how the culture operates there.)

I'm not sure how much of my experience has to do with me speaking the language proficiently, and maybe I've been unusually lucky. I'm sure that like anywhere there are people who are nicer and less nice in the role, but I agree that most of the complaints I've heard about the LY security screening come from people who seem to not quite understand what the process is and why it's there. Or else they're people who have been to hostile countries or have family links there - but that's a special case and probably not relevant here.

Funnily enough, on my last LY flight back from TLV - pre-pandemic, sigh - the security guy at the gate was really friendly and quite apologetic with me because he had to go through my bag to ensure I only had the small travel-size liquids. He made it very clear that he thought it was silly and that it was entirely a US rule, not Israeli..

And even if that's true of 99.9999% of staff, generalizations don't speak to the OP's actual experience one way or the other.

From a customer service perspective, I'd bet that there are many choices superior to LY.

These are not security people, they are airline personnel.