Neutralizing cargo bombs – Israeli style

November 3, 2010 - 9:37 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Technology, Travel, War 

A passengers has his luggage checked by security personnel, inside the Ben-Gurion airport terminal. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Sure, people make fun of the Ben-Gurion Airport security officers who grill passengers upon arrival at the airport on everything from who packed their bags to if they can recite the words to ‘Hatikva.’

But when international near-calamities take place – like last week’s cargo bombs that were intercepted at airports in Britain and Dubai on their way to the Chicago Jewish community, likely courtesy of Islamic al-qaeda terrorists based in Yemen – all eyes end up turning to our shores to learn what we do right.

Just so happens, coincidentally, that there’s a Homeland Security Conference taking place this week in Israel, with 50 visiting security experts from around the world exchanging information, learning procedures and talking in code.

As part of the event, they visited Ben-Gurion Airport for a rare glimpse into the security procedures that have made it the world’s safest airport. Nahum Liss of the Israeli Airports Authority, showed off everything from bomb-sniffing robots to verbal procedures to keep passengers safe – including that bogeyman word in the West, profiling.

According to the Canadian Press, the visitors watched as security officers staged a live simulation, stopping three armed “terrorists” who broke through a rear gate. Then they observed an unmanned vehicle patrolling the airport perimeter by remote control — a technology soon to be introduced at the Israeli airport.

They also learned what we all know – before even entering the airport, all cars are stopped for a security check by armed guards. Cameras scan license plates to match them with a database of suspicious vehicles. But the security officials added that there are many more security filters that we don’t know about, and nobody’s going to disclose it here.

However, it can be said that the main terminal is equipped with 700 closed-circuit cameras and is fortified against explosions. The large glass wall at the front and even the trash cans inside are also bombproof.

I always feel safe leaving Israel at Ben-Gurion Airport, and if other airports around the world adopt some of their procedures, maybe everyone else can breathe a little easier when flying the not-so-friendly skies.

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Anatomy of a flu panic

July 28, 2009 - 2:50 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: General, health, Israeliness, Life 

swine flu in the UKIsrael had its first death from swine flu yesterday. It hit the front pages of the online newspapers yesterday in a fairly modest way, and today has already been pushed off the all-important page by stories about foiled terror plots, the chances of a summer war with Lebanon, talks with the Palestinians and the ever-looming threat of Iran.

Compare it to Britain. For the last few weeks the country has been in the throes of swine flu panic, with scare stories predicting 65,000 deaths by Christmas, figures showing 100,000 new cases in one week alone, threats of mass school closures across the country, warnings of a break down in vital services, and pictures of commuters donning face masks on the underground.

Women were advised not to get pregnant during the crisis – then told it was ok, but now the government is threatening to shut down programming on the BBC and replace it with educational programs if schools have to close.

With a trip to various epidemic hot spots in the UK planned for August, and not much sign of swine flu here, I took the opportunity of asking my children’s doctor what she thought. (I had plenty of chances, my children have been sick with assorted bugs every week for the last three).

On the first visit she told me that she’d just seen two patients that she was sure had swine flu from the village next to mine. On the last she told me she thought half the village already had it, and the same was true in Petah Tikva, where she also has a clinic.

So what’s the difference? “We don’t check to see if it’s swine flu unless the person is hospitalized,” she told me. “We won’t ever know the real figures, but maybe it’s better that way, because no-one’s in a panic.”

Whatever the reason, swine flu remains low on the list of news items this summer in Israel. It may not be passing us by, but it definitely isn’t generating many headlines.

Perhaps the panic is still to come as more deaths follow. Perhaps it’s just too hot to think about right now. Perhaps we’re all too busy entertaining the kids during the long holidays. Perhaps Israelis don’t worry about their health so much, or perhaps – most likely of all – we’ve just got other more pressing things to worry about. There’s nothing like an existential threat to put things in perspective.

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