Security experience
Israel and its people are living under a constant threat. As result, they have built up a highly effective and professional security system, perhaps the best in the world. I had been three times in IL, seeing most of the country (several thousand kilometres in that relatively small country), often off the beaten track including visits in the Westbank searching for traits of the old railway. As matter of fact, I profited from this system. During my trips, I had to pass many check-points. Let's say 99% of the guards, were doing a really good job, highly professional, sometimes friendly but at least fair.
The next experience is about the 0.0X% were the performance was below the usual high average.
I respect in general all guards or security staff that I had met. These, and all around the world are men and women who risk their health and perhaps life for the security of others. However, in the following story/experience, I see potential for improvement! If it was due to lack of training or just because of a bad day, if security staff has a certain amount of power while you have none (having done nothing), and you are held and exposed to more than it usually takes, one can feel easily harrassed. With respect to tourists, there is no need for that. Maybe, one of the responsible officers gets this in his fingers to think about ways to improve.
As I was a tourist, and I consciously dressed as such to be recognised immediately, I focus solely on the relation security staff towards tourists.
Tourism is a significant source of income for many IL-citizens and in general, Israelis are very kind, helpful and hospitable to tourists, they treat them as guests which is a very good experience. Tourism is also a chance to show how life really is in IL and the more people come, the more chances are to reduce stereotypes.
This picture has cost me about 45 minutes in the hands of the local railway security guards…what did I do?
I took for my documentation this photograph of the old station building. Right afterwards an armed security man showed up asking me what I was doing. Up to here, he was right to ask and merely doing his job. However, when he checked my passport and he noted I had been travelling in Arab countries such as Syria and Lebanon earlier, his eyes got big and he got suspicious. It is not actually fun to have your passport being taken and you are in the hands of someone who suspects you of terrorism simply because you had been to neighbouring countries Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. However, we get screened when entering IL and if people like me would pose a threat, we would not have been allowed to enter IL. Certainly, I was not hiding anything.
I haven’t met anyone not being positively impressed by Syria and its people who had travelled in the country. Syrians had left a great and positive impression on me due to their amazing hospitality and great culture and Beirut is truly an awesome bustling city with a nightlife not less than in Tel Aviv or London. What did the security guy think? All Syrians are terrorists? He does not has the chance even if he would be interested. Israelis are not allowed into Syria due to the political situation and tourists with an Israeli stamp are neither granted entry into Syria. Going to these countries has no correlation of being Anti-Israeli. Unfortunately, some Israelis as this security guy seem to see a correlation due to their negative associations. Without doubt, there are people who are anti-Israeli in Lebanon and Syria such as those Palestinian refugees who had lost the land of their ancestors. Then again, in three trips in the region I only met ONE person who spoke bad about Israel, he was a Palestinian taxi driver in Damascus. Apart from that, Israel was no issue at all to normal people whom I had met. The current situation in Syria shows clearly that the people have other priorities.
Last year when I came the first time to Israel, I had no negative experience with security at all. Even though I am German (I had expected negative stereotypes because of that), I was always welcome and Israelis had been very friendly and helpful.
Unfortunately, this year it was different. I had already made negative experience about being suspected being anti-Israeli due to my Arab stamps in the first moments when I had entered Israel at the airport Tel Aviv. At the passport control I was taken aside and had to go for two interviews as a sort of ‘special welcome’ to those who had been in Arab countries. Everyone who had been there is automatically under terror-suspicion according to the view of either black or white. How can a loyal friend of Israel go to ‘these people’?
I am not an enemy of Israel nor of Syria. Both countries are interesting and in both countries normal people have been really nice to me. I enjoyed travelling in both Israel and Syria and consider myself open minded. This open minded view is somehow missing apparently with some security staff in Israel.
Anyhow, I had arrived in April 2011 at 4 am and had to do the interviews at the border which had costs me one hour. The security guy at the airport doing the two interviews was a young, unfriendly and very arrogant man. Maybe he just had a bad day and let off his steam with me? I was cooperative and all information was at hand during the first interview, there was no need for a second one.
Afterwards, I had to search for my luggage (the line was closed meanwhile). When finding my luggage, it had been turned upside down, it was searched completely, all a mess. Eventually, at 6 am I was ready to leave the airport and not willing to enjoy more hospitality of this kind.
But back to the Lod train station situation. The guy who stopped me was armed with a gun placed on a shoulder extension and he has probably seen himself as the big hero catching a bad boy. Soon after, two more railway security showed up, both armed. The first security guy explained them in Hebrew his ‘big catch’ and pointed on my Syria visa using the word Iraq…:-))))
Of course I was kind enough to inform the poor guy that the visa was from Syria and not Iraq (the word Syria is stated on the visa…those who are able to read have a clear advantage).
They were then checking my photobag and again my passport and asking me questions about what I was doing, why I was taking photographs of the station and such things which are unpleasant but okay due to the actual threat of terrorism in the country. Up to here I did not mind and rather considering it funny how the first security guard tried to make himself important in front of his mates.
About 10 minutes later, the police arrived. Now there were five men around me. Again, I was asked the same questions and then the police started searching my photobag, my photos (on camera screen) and my rental car. It seems, the security is not allowed to search in detail. Again, due to the constant threat of terror attacks, this measure is acceptable and I fully cooperated although the five men were not really providing me with the feeling of being welcome as a guest in Israel.
After about half an hour, it was more than obvious that I was just a harmless tourist with interest in railway. Not more and not less. As I did not break any law and as the police recognised quickly that I was no thread, the police moved away.
Up to here, I can would not lose a single word about the entire procedure. With the police leaving, all was settled...so my thought.
However, from then on, the three guys were wasting my time. They kept holding me and my passport although they had obviously no real plan what to do with me.
This was harassing a tourist! Here, the incompetence of these three men was shown impressively and in my mind I was already comparing them with the famous three monkeys. As a suspect and foreigner, what to do? There are no option except writing it down. I hope for other tourist that the Israeli railway will improve its training for security personnel. In comparison to the professional work of the IL soldiers, these three guys were not a good advertisement for their profession (similar to the one guy at Tel Aviv airport) and country. After another 10 minutes of wasting time, three more railway security people arrived at the scene. Fortunately, they were absolutely relaxed and not at all interested in me. They turned out to be the evening shift. With their arrival I was allowed to go.
You can be sure I asked one of the three ‘experts’ whether I was allowed to take a closer shot of the old building (this is not prohibited in Israel) as compensation for spending so much time (thinking: wasting my time)…can you image his answer? Correct, it was a clear ‘no’ :-))
The old railway station was probably build by the French and was later located on the line from Afula to the Sinai.