Is Israeli airport security the way to go?

December 31, 2009 - 10:37 AM by

ben-gurion-airportWhenever the American comedians who make up the annual Comedy for Koby shows in Israel gather fresh material upon their arrival here, they usually end up commenting on the security personnel at Ben-Gurion Airport.

Like the Mossad, tank drivers, and air force pilots, Israeli airport security have that reputation for super hero, no-nonsense, get to the point directness and efficiency. “Who packed your bags?” “What was your bar mitzah portion?” “Why are you even here visiting?” The rat-a-tat- interrogation can be disarming, but most of us here now take it for granted.

In light of the recent attempt to detonate explosives aboard an airliner from Amsterdam, the tactics employed at Ben-Gurion are increasingly being looked at as the way to go to safeguard passengers.

The Toronto Star recently ran a story touting the ‘Israelification’ of North American airports, that is, how to make airports more like Israel’s, which deal with far greater terror threat with far less inconvenience.

“It is mindboggling for us Israelis to look at what happens in North America, because we went through this 50 years ago,” said Rafi Sela, the president of AR Challenges, a global transportation security consultancy. He’s worked with the RCMP, the U.S. Navy Seals and airports around the world.

“Israelis, unlike Canadians and Americans, don’t take s— from anybody. When the security agency in Israel (the ISA) started to tighten security and we had to wait in line for — not for hours — but 30 or 40 minutes, all hell broke loose here. We said, ‘We’re not going to do this. You’re going to find a way that will take care of security without touching the efficiency of the airport.”

That, in a nutshell is “Israelification” – a system that protects life and limb without annoying you to death.

I’ve met Rafi Sela, and he’s a straight shooter, one of those Israelis who you know you would immediately trust in an emergency to know exactly what to do. According to Rafi, the whole issue of profiling has been distorted as a political catchword. What the screeners are targeting isn’t race, but behavior.

The layer of actual security that greets travellers at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport is a roadside check. All drivers are stopped and asked two questions: How are you? Where are you coming from?

“Two benign questions. The questions aren’t important. The way people act when they answer them is,” Sela said.

Officers are looking for nervousness or other signs of “distress” — behavioural profiling. Sela rejects the argument that profiling is discriminatory.

“The word ‘profiling’ is a political invention by people who don’t want to do security,” he said. “To us, it doesn’t matter if he’s black, white, young or old. It’s just his behavior. So what kind of privacy am I really stepping on when I’m doing this?”

Whether the methods employed at Ben-Gurion are eventually adopted elsewhere remains to be seen. But I know that I breathe a sigh of relief whenever one of those earnest young security personnel start asking me who packed my bags.

Tags: , , , • Category: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Technology, Travel 

Comments

2 Comments on Is Israeli airport security the way to go?

  1. Brian G. on Thu, Jan 21st 2010 9:03 AM

    2. Unfortunately for the United States citizen, the US government has become so politically sensitive, that they can’t make good decisions. They are too worried about their money, and whether or not they will be re-elected on voting day. Israel’s efficient airport security could never be implemented in the United States because the politicians would beat it to death and call it “unconstitutional”, just in case it offended a minority group that is within their constituents.

  2. syra on Thu, Nov 11th 2010 1:43 PM

    3. We should care and realize that Officers are People and if the x-ray officer is not moving the belt forward then there is a reason for it. Take a deep breath and be patient. They do not want to hold you up they are just doing the job to the best of their abilities. The officers are just like us. They have good days and bad. There are nice security officers and mean security officers. If you treat them with respect they will treat you with respect. There are those officers that have big heads because they wear a badge and those that realize that the badge is just a sign of what their job is.
    http://www.airports360.net/airport-security-body-scanners-can-be-harmfull-for-the-human-body.html

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