Israel's bad example: racial
profiling is un-American
Published: Wednesday, December 01,
2010, 5:14 AM Updated: Thursday,
December 02, 2010, 4:44 PM
One of my Thanksgivings wishes was
for a safe trip to my homeland Palestine to see my ailing
eighty year old mother. I had expected a dreaded experience
at Newark Airport not only because I am an Arab American
travelling to Israel, but because of the newly enacted and
much stricter screening procedures. I would argue that the
media has exaggerated the travelers' disgust with the new
full body scan and full body pat down procedures the TSA has
implemented at Newark Airport. To my surprise and unlike my
past experiences, the whole experience of checking in and
clearing security and immigrations hurdles was, I must
admit, rather uneventful.
Only
terminal B not A or C is equipped with the new full body
scan and for those who opt-out, the full body pat down where
one's private parts are touched by a same sex-screener. My
flight to Tel-Aviv was on Continental Airlines, which
departs which from Terminal C. Travelers to Israel, unlike
other foreign destinations; undergo not one but two security
checks compliments of American taxpayers. The first instance
is at the entrance to the departure area, the area secured
by TSA personnel where only ticketed passengers are
permitted. But there is also an Israel-only security
checkpoint near the gate which is secured and all passengers
are again subject o document verification, pat downs, and
inspection of their carry-on luggage.
At the entrance to the departure
area, you still can enjoy the now-old security apparatus:
emptying your pockets, taking off your shoes, belt, and
watch, and passing your computer and carry-on luggage onto a
belt through an enclosed X ray machine. For me, I just
walked through the x-ray machine. At the other side, feeling
that I accomplished something, I pointed to the security
personal that it was another successful mission. I wasn't
sure if he knew of my background, but then he suggested that
I would not be as elated with the experience if I were going
on El-Al, Israel's official airline, which departs from
Terminal B. My polite and careful exchange with the TSA
employee gave me an opening to vent my utter disgust with
the treatment Arab Americans receive when travelling on
El-Al or when they are in Israeli airports. They appear to
treat all travelers similarly, but you guys receive the most
attention,he said. I replied that Israel treats Arab
Americans as lesser American citizens subject to more
scrutiny, humiliation, and sometimes refusal of entry into
Israel. The United States government is fully aware of the
disgraceful treatment but has opted for muted diplomatic
jargon to address the maltreatment.
Some pundits have promoted the notion
that the US should emulate Israel’s security regime because
it the most effective in the world. The comparison between
the Israel and the United States is without merit for it
fails to consider the sheer size differential in the number
of airports, flights, and travelers. While Israel has only
two major international airports with less than fifty daily
flights, the US has over 450 international airports with
thousands of daily fights and millions of travelers going to
and coming from all corners of the world.
But beyond the sheer size of the US
airport system lies the requirement of safeguarding
individual freedoms, privacy, and civil rights. Israel has
forsaken liberty for the sake of security. Differential
treatment, or more accurately, racial profiling of
potential-threat causing travelers is an accepted practice
in Israel. And when you are an Arab American or look like
one, you are a target of a most grueling and humiliating
experience. There simply is not one ethnic or national
profile that can be used to describe potential terrorists.
Here is a list of recent plane-terrorists that would deviate
from conceivable racially-based formula:
• Germaine Maurice Lindsay, born in Jamaica, involved in the
July 7, 2005, London attacks.
• David
Headley, U.S. citizen who masterminded the Mumbai (India)
attacks.
• Richard Reid, the British
citizen aka as the “shoe bomber.”
•
Adam Gadahn, the California born and once know as Adam
Pearlman. He is a spokesman for al Qaeda.
• John Walker Lindh, well known as “American Taliban.”
• Jack Roche, “Jihad Jack.” From Australia.
• The Duka brothers, ethnic Albanians involved in the Fort
Dix, New Jersey plot.
• Jose Padilla,
the American citizen known as the “dirty bomber.”
• Daniel Boyd and his sons, American citizens plotting
grassroots attacks inside the United States.
• Nick Reilly, the British citizen who in May 2008,
attempted to bomb a restaurant in Exeter, England.
In fact,
profiling does give the illusion of measurable sense of
security. This I would argue can prove counterproductive to
good security by blinding people to real threats. They will
ignore potential malefactors who do not conform to the
perceived profile they have been provided.
A relative of
mine travelled recently to Israel and his nightmare started
righted here at Newark Airport. His first mistake was to
book a ticket on El-Al. Upon arriving at Newark with his
parents, the 19 year old American- born traveler was met by
a team of Israeli security personnel, one female officer
dressed in black pants and a white shirt, (similar to the
ones you see at Ben Gurion airport), and separated the son
from his parents for questioning. The second officer
corralled the parents to another area and began to question
them with questions such as their names, if they had IDs on
them, and their relationship to the person travelling. The
father was so annoyed by the line of penetrating
questionings that he burst into loud objections to what he
perceived as undue infringement onto their personal freedom.
Their crime is that they were at Newark to send their son
off on his first maiden flight. They felt as if they were no
longer on American soil after being so crudely being
questioned by agents of a foreign country. As for the son,
he would be the subject of a deliberately repetitious line
of questioning by the security officer, his luggage clearly
tagged with a yellow sticker, his computer and his phone
checked in as luggage, and his seat towards the front of the
plane switched to the last row.
While it is
true that Israel’s security measures have prevented many
potential attacks from ever taking place, this is also true
of so many other airports with less stringent and
discriminatory security practices. Admittedly, while it is
impossible to keep all contraband off aircraft, efforts to
improve technical methods and procedures to locate weapons
and IED components must continue. However, these efforts
must not only be reacting to past attacks and attempts but
should also be looking forward to thwart future attacks that
involve a shift in the terrorist paradigm. At the same time,
the often-overlooked human elements of airport security,
including intuition, situational awareness, and observation
need to be emphasized now more than ever. It is profoundly
imperative to profile individuals based on their behavior
rather than by their ethnicity or nationality. While Israel
commits human rights violations every time it comes in
contact with an Arab or Arab looking traveler, the US, with
its diversity and constitutional constraints must not adopt
illegal and immoral practices to achieve absolute safety for
the travelling public. Imagine subjecting 70% of Americans
to racial profiling! It is those soft skills and moral
requisites that we must acquire to seek out the bomber and
not just the explosives.
The young man
spent a month or so studying Arabic in the Israeli- occupied
Palestinian territories. The ‘Welcome to Israel’ signs
ceased to mean anything when he returned to Ben Gurrion
Airport to fly back to the US. Not only he will not fly on
Israel’s El-Al but he may never visit Israel again. And he
is an American citizen whose government gives to Israel 4
billion dollars in non-payable grants every year - but
that’s a story for another time.
