While US flying becomes more painful, El Al continues effective security
Doing more thinking about the new, more onerous restrictions on what you can carry on board flights today, I’m reminded that El Al, as far as I’ve been able to tell, has never had an in-air attack on one of its aircraft via a weapon smuggled on board. How do they do it? After all, they are target Number One of every Islamic terrorist in the world. And they don’t do it by making every passenger submit to multiple indignities and force them to fly bereft of their possessions.
The difference is that while the Transportation Security Administration screens out weapons, El Al screens out terrorists. While the TSA would not mind a weaponless terrorist on board a US flight, El Al on the other hand has no problem with a regular civilian with a potential weapon.
And they do it with a tool that the TSA, the Bush administration, and the entire left-wing establishment refuses to use: Profiling.
For decades El Al has taken its security much more seriously than the US ever has. When you check in for an El Al flight, their representative will ask you so many questions, you’ll wonder if you’re taking a flight or applying for a job. Not just the silly “Did you pack your bags” questions either, but detailed inquiries into your reason for flying, where you are coming from, your background, your job, and so on. (Here’s an October 2001 USA Today article on El Al’s security screening.) And once on board, there’s even more security, including armed guards.
El Al knows that they have much more to fear from a 35-year-old college-educated Muslim from Saudi Arabia who has spent time in Pakistan and who has a chemical engineering degree and a history of attendance at radical mosques than they do from a 90-year-old grandmother from Winchester, Illinois, carrying a bottle of Gatorade on board to stay hydrated on her flight. Heck, Grandma Millie (that’s really Melanie’s grandmother) would probably be allowed to board carrying a machete.
Reading the 10/01 article, I’m dismayed at what we’ve failed to do and lessons not learned in the past five years.
For Americans considering an end to free and easy flying in the USA, El Al provides a glimpse of what might lie ahead after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. [Unfortunately, not an accurate prediction.] ... Despite their current anxieties, Americans also might balk at El Al-style ethnic profiling. Staff scrutinize the passengers’ names, dividing them into low-risk (Israeli or foreign Jews), medium-risk (non-Jewish foreigners) and extremely high-risk travelers (anyone with an Arabic name). These people automatically are taken into a room for body and baggage checks and lengthy interrogation. Single women also are considered high-risk, for fear they might be used by Palestinian lovers to carry bombs.
To sift out who is who, screeners usually begin by asking passengers whether they understand any Hebrew, which most Jews do. Officials argue that such blatant discrimination is necessary.
... In fact, El Al’s security kicks in long before the passenger will notice. Call an El Al office in any city to book a ticket, and your name will be checked against a computer list of terrorist suspects compiled by Interpol, the FBI, Shin Bet (Israel’s intelligence service) and others.
... Once you board, up to five armed undercover agents will travel with you in strategic aisle seats, ready for attack. Furthermore, like many Israelis, cabin crews are former soldiers in the Israeli military who have received combat training. The cockpit door, of reinforced steel, is locked from the inside before passengers board and is opened only after everyone has disembarked at their destination. No matter what’s going on in the rest of the plane, it is never opened during flight.
... By El Al’s standards, my screening was light — only 10 minutes of questioning by two well-paid officials with full military training. It ended with one of them locking all the zippers on my suitcase with plastic ties.
... A lot happens behind the scenes, too. Once luggage moves from the check-in desk to the conveyer belt, it is put in a pressurized box that detonates any explosive before the bag is loaded on the plane, Dror says. No unaccompanied bags are allowed. Those bags remain behind.
By contrast, our new government bureaucracy has given us pat-downs of 10-year-old girls, grandmothers forced to remove their shoes, mothers forced to taste test their own bottled breast milk, and hundreds of thirsty passengers forced to sit through transcontinental flights without books, music, or movies to pass the time. All because we don’t want to take the politically incorrect step of profiling. I’m glad political correctness trumps safety and convenience.
You missed the part of the article that discussed that very point about profiling. They don’t just profile based on national origin. Their detailed questioning and checking of backgrounds looks at larger patterns as well.
And we may not need to take the extreme measures that El Al goes to, but if we stop the time-consuming and expensive flailing of the TSA and replace it with more effective measures could be safe.
The fact is, Trubadour, that the use of non-Muslims as terror bombers has not happened. It is a joke around here that everytime something like this happens it’s a Muslim man (or a whole gang of them) usually less than 40 years old. It’s generally not women, and never Christian. These are the facts.
And yet, I—a middle aged Michigan woman—am repeatedly searched while middle eastern men are not. I travel a lot and have experienced this on nearly every flight. I suspect it’s because they have a quota, I’m law-abiding and don’t travel with things they’d have to worry about like a laptop.
We’re not trying to prevent what has not happened. We are trying to prevent what has happened. Let’s use some common sense. Young middle eastern men are the problem, especially those with active middle eastern connections. Keep them off the planes and it will be a lot safer for the rest of us.
Posted by michigancatholic [ip: 71.193.100.146] on 08/11/06 at 06:46 PM
Actually, if you read the linked article, a Palestinian terrorist tried to plant a bomb on his pregnant Western girlfriend who was to unknowingly carry it on a flight. It was a caught in time, but the point is that El Al has already dealt with such matters in its security procedures.
Yes, but Domenico, how many times has that happened in comparison to the normal under 40 muslim male?
Can you imagine planting a live bomb on a girl pregnant with your own child? These people are pigs. Worse than pigs.
Posted by michigancatholic [ip: 71.193.100.146] on 08/12/06 at 05:01 AM
Israeli security is never about ethnicity because if you have ever been to Israel, you would see that most Israelis look just like most Arabs.
Once, after I did some volunteer work on an army base there, I was traveling home with a big backpack. I must have looked quite sight: A middle aged woman in old jeans and a packpack. I was questioned for ever, it seemed. Did I know any Hebrew,where did I learn it (Hebrew School?)where did I travel…....
I think this is because I probably looked like one of these vile “International Solidarity Movement” infiltrators. You know the type: Nice well meaning (usually British)grandmothers who volunteer as human shields for terrorists.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) [ip: 24.63.31.93] on 08/12/06 at 02:30 PM
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While US flying becomes more painful, El Al continues effective security
Doing more thinking about the new, more onerous restrictions on what you can carry on board flights today, I’m reminded that El Al, as far as I’ve been able to tell, has never had an in-air attack on one of its aircraft via a weapon smuggled on board. How do they do it? After all, they are target Number One of every Islamic terrorist in the world. And they don’t do it by making every passenger submit to multiple indignities and force them to fly bereft of their possessions.
The difference is that while the Transportation Security Administration screens out weapons, El Al screens out terrorists. While the TSA would not mind a weaponless terrorist on board a US flight, El Al on the other hand has no problem with a regular civilian with a potential weapon.
And they do it with a tool that the TSA, the Bush administration, and the entire left-wing establishment refuses to use: Profiling.
What El Al does to secure its flights
Technorati Tags:aircraft, airlines, El Al, TSA, terrorism
For decades El Al has taken its security much more seriously than the US ever has. When you check in for an El Al flight, their representative will ask you so many questions, you’ll wonder if you’re taking a flight or applying for a job. Not just the silly “Did you pack your bags” questions either, but detailed inquiries into your reason for flying, where you are coming from, your background, your job, and so on. (Here’s an October 2001 USA Today article on El Al’s security screening.) And once on board, there’s even more security, including armed guards.
El Al knows that they have much more to fear from a 35-year-old college-educated Muslim from Saudi Arabia who has spent time in Pakistan and who has a chemical engineering degree and a history of attendance at radical mosques than they do from a 90-year-old grandmother from Winchester, Illinois, carrying a bottle of Gatorade on board to stay hydrated on her flight. Heck, Grandma Millie (that’s really Melanie’s grandmother) would probably be allowed to board carrying a machete.
Reading the 10/01 article, I’m dismayed at what we’ve failed to do and lessons not learned in the past five years.
By contrast, our new government bureaucracy has given us pat-downs of 10-year-old girls, grandmothers forced to remove their shoes, mothers forced to taste test their own bottled breast milk, and hundreds of thirsty passengers forced to sit through transcontinental flights without books, music, or movies to pass the time. All because we don’t want to take the politically incorrect step of profiling. I’m glad political correctness trumps safety and convenience.
COMMENTS
You missed the part of the article that discussed that very point about profiling. They don’t just profile based on national origin. Their detailed questioning and checking of backgrounds looks at larger patterns as well.
And we may not need to take the extreme measures that El Al goes to, but if we stop the time-consuming and expensive flailing of the TSA and replace it with more effective measures could be safe.
Posted by Domenico Bettinelli [ip: 24.128.184.216] on 08/11/06 at 05:16 PM
The fact is, Trubadour, that the use of non-Muslims as terror bombers has not happened. It is a joke around here that everytime something like this happens it’s a Muslim man (or a whole gang of them) usually less than 40 years old. It’s generally not women, and never Christian. These are the facts.
And yet, I—a middle aged Michigan woman—am repeatedly searched while middle eastern men are not. I travel a lot and have experienced this on nearly every flight. I suspect it’s because they have a quota, I’m law-abiding and don’t travel with things they’d have to worry about like a laptop.
We’re not trying to prevent what has not happened. We are trying to prevent what has happened. Let’s use some common sense. Young middle eastern men are the problem, especially those with active middle eastern connections. Keep them off the planes and it will be a lot safer for the rest of us.
Posted by michigancatholic [ip: 71.193.100.146] on 08/11/06 at 06:46 PM
Actually, if you read the linked article, a Palestinian terrorist tried to plant a bomb on his pregnant Western girlfriend who was to unknowingly carry it on a flight. It was a caught in time, but the point is that El Al has already dealt with such matters in its security procedures.
I agree with the rest of your point though.
Posted by Domenico Bettinelli [ip: 24.128.184.216] on 08/11/06 at 08:03 PM
Yes, but Domenico, how many times has that happened in comparison to the normal under 40 muslim male?
Can you imagine planting a live bomb on a girl pregnant with your own child? These people are pigs. Worse than pigs.
Posted by michigancatholic [ip: 71.193.100.146] on 08/12/06 at 05:01 AM
Israeli security is never about ethnicity because if you have ever been to Israel, you would see that most Israelis look just like most Arabs.
Once, after I did some volunteer work on an army base there, I was traveling home with a big backpack. I must have looked quite sight: A middle aged woman in old jeans and a packpack. I was questioned for ever, it seemed. Did I know any Hebrew,where did I learn it (Hebrew School?)where did I travel…....
I think this is because I probably looked like one of these vile “International Solidarity Movement” infiltrators. You know the type: Nice well meaning (usually British)grandmothers who volunteer as human shields for terrorists.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) [ip: 24.63.31.93] on 08/12/06 at 02:30 PM
Comments are being moderated. After you submit your comment it could take up to a couple hours, but usually only a few minutes, before it will appear. Thank you for your patience. If you have any questions, you may contact Domenico Bettinelli.