The 'Israelification' of airports: High security, little bother

The Star ^ | 12/30/09 | Cathy Kelly

[LibWhacker]

While North America's airports groan under the weight of another sea-change in security protocols, one word keeps popping out of the mouths of experts: Israelification.

That is, how can we make our 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.

[LibWhacker]

An oldie but goodie that seems especially pertinent to Americans right now.

[Finop]

We (America) needs to implement racial profiling.

[absalom01]

The main difference being that Israel's primary mission is to enact a security system, while we want to appear to be addressing security while not offending any possible interest group, ethnic identity, or liberal pundit. The Feds really don't care about security -- it's secondary to the political considerations. Nothing will change until that priority gets changed.

[paul51]

we need to hurry up and unionize the TSA workers so they can resist any changes to the current protocols / system

[brownsfan]

Spot on.

[ken21]

yes.

the u.s. system promotes political correctness.

[Enchante]

Israel knows how to do this right, but we cannot possibly implement their security approach at airports so long as political correctness and legalistic b.s. prevail.

One cannot give special scrutiny to “profiles” of likely terrorists under the current politically correct regime — we have to pretend that EVERYONE might be a terrorist and then inconvenience everyone, without even a hint of common sense.

[databoss]

Right on the money! Common sense gets thrown out the window. How about infant flights? (NO FOREIGNERS ALLOWED)

[Jewbacca]

If they were serious:

1. They’d stop looking so much for weapons and start looking for terrorists.

2. The security lines in the USA are very vulnerable. Me, I’d set some bombs off while waiting in line, and have another set of much-larger bombs go off in a pinched section 20 seconds later as the crowd rushes away, and another 60 seconds after that somewhere else.

[databoss]

Right on the money! Common sense gets thrown out the window. How about NFA flights? (NO FOREIGNERS ALLOWED)

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

RE: Your post #8...

Still working those bugs out of the voice recognition software, eh?

[Clairity]

EDITORIAL: Obama’s hand in your crotch
White House denial of Islamic threat to blame for TSA groping

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/15/obamas-hand-in-your-crotch/

when a TSA worker asks to examine your private parts, don’t blame the terrorists, blame an administration that refuses to admit that America is at war with Islamic radicalism.

[onedoug]

ping

[Uncle Miltie]

My daughter was quizzed by the El Al official before being allowed into the boarding area. There is no way a terrorist could have passed that quizzing. The questions were about religion, culture, education, family background, knowledge of Israel, etc. I’m quite sure the Muslim Bomber would have failed every single time.

[Vigilanteman]

"First, it's fast — there's almost no line. That's because they're not looking for liquids, they're not looking at your shoes. They're not looking for everything they look for in North America. They just look at you," said Sela. "Even today with the heightened security in North America, they will check your items to death. But they will never look at you, at how you behave. They will never look into your eyes ... and that's how you figure out the bad guys from the good guys."

That's the process — six layers, four hard, two soft. The goal at Ben-Gurion is to move fliers from the parking lot to the airport lounge in a maximum of 25 minutes.

Mr. Sela pointed out something profound. It should be obvious, but it is profound to the bureaucratic mindset which staffs the TSA. Sleep apnea machine, laptop computer or more than 3 ounces of liquid, they will catch every time because they are trained to follow theatrical procedures. But they won't look Mohammad in the eye or look for suspicious behavior because that's profiling and could result in a lawsuit.

[Glenn]

Israel knows how to do this right, but we cannot possibly implement their security approach at airports so long as political correctness and legalistic b.s. prevail.

You are exactly right.

Well said.

[butterdezillion]

Exactly.

[databoss]

No its the key rec on the droid ...you type something and it changes it to what it thinks you wanted ...lesson learned is preview before posting

[2banana]

“Israelification” = profile those who commit terrorism

[ml/nj]

Another problem is that the security people at the Tel Aviv airport all seem to be educated. We would need an entirely new class of people to implement Israeli security, and these are not the people who "need" jobs.

ML/NJ