(Chris Weller/Business Insider) I appeared to be a high-level threat at one point in my life. A few months ago, I was sitting in the terminal at Ben Gurion International Airport, in Tel Aviv, reading a fellow traveler's account [1] of flying out of Israel. I'd heard horror stories of strip searches and endless lines. I was curious what I was really up against.
I wasn't surprised to learn security is top-notch [2].
After all, I had already been searched and questioned twice, once through the window of my taxi and again before the terminal doors. All this and I hadn't even entered the airport yet.
But then I read about the stickers.
I learned that before any passenger ever gives up his luggage to the fine folks at Ben Gurion International, an employee places a neon yellow sticker on the back of your passport. On it is a 10-digit number. The first number, ranging from one to six, indicates your perceived threat level to whomever else you're passed along.
I got a five.
After I got back, I relayed this story to some friends who were more experienced traveling to and from Israel. My ego deflated a little to learn I didn't actually seem threatening, just more suspicious than average.
For one, I'm not Jewish. That automatically raises some red flags in a country fraught with religious and cultural conflicts. I was also on assignment as a reporter, traveling alone, without so much as an estranged second cousin I could say I knew. The profiling [3] alarms had to be blaring.
The system isn't official, just the sort of through-the-grapevine rumors that travelers seemed to have agreed is true. So I can't know for sure what would have happened had I gotten a six. But looking back, maybe I don't want to.
As Lia Tarachansky wrote back in 2010 for Mondoweiss [4], while a one rating "is awesome," a six indicates that "you're f-----." It appears to be reserved for Palestinians, Muslims, and hostile internationals.
Extreme, yes. But effective.
No flight leaving Ben Gurion has ever been hijacked [5], and the airline servicing Israel, El Al, hasn't seen an attack in more than 30 years.
Too bad the TSA has yet to find a workable system [6] of their own
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Links:
[1] http://www.aaronswwadventures.com/2013/01/leaving-tel-aviv-israel-airport-security-ben-gurion/
[2] http://www.businessinsider.com/israeli-airport-security-it-really-just-works-because-of-the-profiling-2010-1
[3] http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/07/airport-security-screening-2014722153050543749.html
[4] http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/what-it-means-to-go-to-ben-gurion-airport-with-an-arab-friend
[5] http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/aviation-security-and-the-israeli-model/
[6] http://www.businessinsider.com/the-tsa-security-debacle-keeps-getting-worse-2015-6
[7] http://finance.yahoo.com/news/dont-tell-israels-famously-tight-175954628.html
[8] http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=questministries
[9] http://realneo.us/content/anti-speciesism-quest-ministries-gofundme-please-donate
[10] http://www.gofundme.com/42dq3w