Israel's High Court condemns racial profiling at Ben Gurion airport

[pnwmom]

For those who look to Israel for a solution to our airport security problems:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/high-court-explain-why-israeli-arabs-discriminated-against-by-airport-security-1.347717

The High Court of Justice on Monday ordered the Airports Authority and the Shin Bet security services to explain why security checks at Israel's airports were being conducted in a discriminatory fashion.

The court was responding to a petition filed by a human rights group in 2007 that claimed Israeli Arab citizens were being subjected to racial profiling at Israel's airports, tagged in a generalized way a "security risk".

SNIP

In its third debate on the matter last week, the High Court lashed out at the generalized tagging. On Monday, the justices issued an injunction forcing the state to explain why the security procedures were being carried out with unequal considerations.

Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch said there was no doubt that the humiliation experienced by Israeli Arab citizens during airport security checks was unacceptable.

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And Arabs aren't the only group who have been unfairly targeted:

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/06/19/row-after-israeli-... /

Two of the leading members of Barcelona’s LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans) community have claimed that they were subjected to humiliating security checks while trying to fly home to Spain from Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has criticised the actions by airport security staff.

David Marti, Barcelona Pride’s general manager and his partner had been taking part in Tel Aviv’s gay pride parade as guests of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Marti claims that airport security staff had stripped his boyfriend and asked a series of personal questions which he claims exceeded reasonable limits.

SNIP


The spokesperson described Mr Marti and his boyfriend as “guests of the state” and that their details were passed to security officials in advance of arriving at the airport. The spokesperson added that: “the security inspector severely harmed Israel’s image. The last thing that we do to them is abuse them and they say that they don’t want to come back again.”

In a statement the Israeli Airport Authority said: “Security personnel at Ben Gurion International Airport work day and night for the security of the passengers. Security personnel treat all passengers the same, regardless of their sexual orientation or beliefs.”

[AverageJoe90]

1. There are good Israelis & bad Israelis, folks.

Unfortunately, the bad ones(Likud, and all the other extreme right parties + Neturei Karta) are the ones running the show in
Tel Aviv; the good ones(Labor, Kadima, and the other leftist/centrist/non-fascistic parties), are being shafted.

[pnwmom]

2. This isn't about Israel to me -- it's about profiling.

It just happens that Israel is a prime example of a country that has chosen this method at its airport.

[Cool Logic]

3. There are good and bad folks of all nationalities...

However, there is nothing wrong with security procedures being applied with "unequal considerations." In fact, it would be incompetent to consider everyone as a equal threat.

[Hippo_Tron]

4. No, it would be incompetent to only scrutinize people who fit a "profile"

Since all a terrorist would have to do is find a person who doesn't fit that profile to sneak a bomb onto a plane.

[WinkyDink]

6. El-Al has not only an excellent anti-terrorism record; it has a thorough screening of ALL passengers

In fact, other nationalities being used as dupes have been stopped in this manner.

[Hippo_Tron]

7. Israel has less than a dozen airports

The United States has hundreds. The fact that they've had zero terrorist incidents and we've had a few, isn't statistically significant proof that their security is better.

Some day, terrorists might find somebody who can keep a good poker face and look the security guards right in the eye and not appear suspicious in the least bit. Then we'll be talking about how their security methods are a failure.

[pnwmom]

8. No, it doesn't have a thorough screening of ALL passengers.

It has one kind of relatively quick, simple screening for Jewish Israelis and a second, "thorough" screening for Arab Israelis and other "suspicious" travelers.

[pnwmom]

5. It is wrong when 20% of the population is considered a risk

because of an Arab last name.

From the link at the OP:

"According to the petition, Israeli Arab passengers – even those who did not exhibit any suspicious behavior - are forced to undergo unusually thorough security checks."