> "... because he repeatedly set off the bomb detector."
No, the initial pat-down set off a chemical detector. He set it off once before being pulled into the private room. From that point on, it doesn't matter how many more times it was set off. It shouldn't increase the level of suspicion each time.
Would they have let him go if one time it suddenly stopped giving a positive signal? I doubt it.
> "These sorts of batteries were pioneered by the Israelis and are very effective."
I .. don't want to offend and all (Amir? Sounds Israeli to me, but I don't claim to be an expert).
But this 'It works so well at Ben Gurion' statements get old, really quick. It doesn't.
Traveling to TLV is fine and no problem. Getting out just sucks. I feel treated like shit every single time, it's just borderline acceptable half the time (the other half it's really, really annoying, causing delays and trouble, stupid, braindead, unnecessary, idiotic, etc. etc.).
This coming from a German that lived for one year in TLV and works for a company that sits in IL, so I've been there before my relocation and afterwards. Currently I'm at 14 or 15 visits only, so .. my data points are obviously too few and I just managed to pick the wrong time? Right?
I wasn't clear enough in my comment. My point was that the entire process is different, so to single out the piece regarding questioning and suggesting that it works in this other context is not a fair comparison (regardless of how good/bad the Ben Gurion approach is overall).
Also, I'm not in the slightest bit offended. I'm not Israeli and although my name is Persian in origin (I think?), I'm British. When I travel to the US, I usually get sent to 'secondary', so I've hsd a little experience with this type of questioning. It's just tedious.
The Israeli procedures are kinda interesting, the second you enter the airport you are put in a line, you'll probably end up waiting in that line for about 15 min before you get to the "questioners" but once you're through everything else is really quick, especially the formal security check, you don't have to take off your shoes, remove your wallet, keys, etc or even take your laptop out of it's bag, just drop your bags on the belt, and walk through metal detector. Easily my favorite airport.
I wish I were wealthy enough to buy you a return ticket to Rome Ciampino airport, or Pisa for that matter and let you experience some of the easiest airports I've ever been to. Not like taking the train, but close…
Anywhere else I've been including UK, US, Ukraine Odessa, etc, there's intimidation in the air, ready to hit. And that's really unpleasant.
> "... because he repeatedly set off the bomb detector."
No, the initial pat-down set off a chemical detector. He set it off once before being pulled into the private room. From that point on, it doesn't matter how many more times it was set off. It shouldn't increase the level of suspicion each time.
Would they have let him go if one time it suddenly stopped giving a positive signal? I doubt it.
> "These sorts of batteries were pioneered by the Israelis and are very effective."
But this is not how the Israelis run their security procedures, so the comparison isn't fair. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Gurion_Airport#Security_pro...