Ditto that!!!

Actually, with the way things are at TLV, I'd only consider visiting Israel by crossing from Amman or Cairo. If entering from one of those two cities also prompts an interrogation, I'd be pleased to empty my wallet in either Jordan or Egypt instead.

Royal Jordanian is a member of Oneworld and BA flies into both AMM and CAI. :)

You consider going through all that quite pleasant? To each his own, I guess.

Interesting post, though, thanks, and welcome to FT.

Do you get that grief if you fly in on another airline like LH, or is it just an El Al specialty?

Intensive security is fine, if...
 

It is effective. I don't mind the third degree provided it's not for show. I'd rather sit through an extensive screening that was conducted properly than be subjected to a half-a**ed dog and pony show.

I was really skeeved by Heathrow security's "pat-down", not because I was being patted down, but because I was delayed while the outside of my legs and my armpits were repeatedly checked. I could have hidden a kilo of C-4 in my crotch and they never would have found it. NOTE: I absolutely do not advocate anything like this. My point is simply that even the longest security checks are worthless if done improperly. So if an intense screening is effective and relatively pleasant, kudos.

When flying into Israel, it's generally more of an El Al thing and is not anywhere near as common or "comprehensive" :rolleyes: as on most other nation's carriers.

On the way out of Israel, whether you are on El Al or Lufthansa or any other commercially scheduled flight out of Israel, the process is basically the same (i.e., there's the "interrogation").

They've missed people and prohibited items before too; however, they don't miss as much as the TSA. (It would be very hard to do worse than the TSA. ;) )

The OP's story is another good reason why I don't have the urge to visit Israel, ever.

And it's also a reason for me that I WOULD be visiting Israel. I like the feeling of real security-not the ballet we're used to in the States.

I can't imagine a security clearance keeping someone out of visiting anywhere. Especially when we hear that the original story is out of the norm.

Funny thing is, I went thru a 10 minute interrogation at the gate on my flight back from AMS..... :rolleyes:

I'm really not worried about what would happen if there was only a competently administered WTMD, x-ray, and chemical test with absolutely no questioning. Things would be plenty safe as far as I am concerned.

It is only one of the reasons. The main reasons for not visiting are more appropriate for OMNI.

Only when you fly on a US based airline and at the request of those airlines, so easy to avoid if you don't like it.

It's not a reason for me to visit Israel. (I have better reasons to visit Israel than experiencing yet another "interrogation". ;) )

Flying a US carrier from AMS? ;) Then the "questioning" is no surprise -- and yet another reason to avoid flying US carriers from Europe. The AMS "interrogators" are acting the part of clowns too. Want to get me started on the the "security" training and "interrogations" being done by Israeli "security consultants" at various other European airports too? They mostly are clowns as well, despite many of them having worked at TLV.

:like clockwork: ;)

That's all I'm saying. :cool:

Just because the person doing airport "security" questioning has never come across a person meeting those criteria is no reason to badger someone.

Do you think that the person's ethnicity came into play at FCO? Obviously it wouldn't be the first time that racist profiling has happened there for the flight to TLV.

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.


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.)

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.

You like using loaded words, like "badger" and "racist" -- but neither is correct.

The OP certainly did not complain about being badgered. Neither did my Air Force friend or Traveller. Indeed, all three remarked about the professionalism and friendliness of El Al security.

Did my friend's "ethnicity come into play at FCO"? Yes, it did -- but that is not the definition of racism. Indeed, had she been a member of a Black Church group coming to Israel for religious purposes she would have most likely gone through Security quickly -- it is a scenario which the Security people have seen over and over.

It was the combination of all the factors which I mentioned, her race, her rank, boarding in Rome, and her NATO intelligence credentials which made them somewhat suspicious.

(Incidentally, I don't think I am revealing any personal secrets -- certainly not to those of us who have had the pleasure of meeting her in person, or seeing her posted picture on F/T -- but Traveller is not Black. Still, Security called me about her, too.)

Should race be ignored? In many cases, that would be very silly. Right now, much of the European police is busy looking for a four-year-old blonde British girl who was kidnapped in Portugal.

They obviously don't have the manpower to check every single blonde girl of that age who is travelling anywhere, but if a Black couple were to be spotted driving with a young girl meeting her description, the police might well stop them and ask a few questions. If they claim that this little blonde girl is their own daughter, I am certain that the police are going to ask for a bit of proof.

It is one thing to live in an ivory tower or in the La-La Land inside the Beltway and pontificate but quite another when called upon to deal with the problems that the real world faces.