I think the journalists call it ‘balance’. OMG wicked Jews destroyed an AMERICAN WOMAN’S baggage at an airport security check. How very dare they!!!
Except nobody has said that. The only person to come close was one of the afore-mentioned brigade trying to mock a sentiment that nobody had shown.
Oh and “balance” meaning “coming down firmly on one side all of the time” is the kind of madness I’d expect someone at Fox to come up with.
You know of any women traveling unescorted in Saudi Arabia?
Indeed - if this had happened at UK immigration, or the US, or Ireland, or France, with the comment “Isn’t this just a bit over the top? Sure doesn’t inspire me to want to go there with my laptop, as mine is currently free of bullet holes”, we’d end up with a thread (even more) full of jokes.
Instead we have people something that merely happened to occur in Israel, as antisemitism. But on the positive side, we also have a great reference to illustrate that yes, this false accusation does indeed happen.
So the questions are why did they consider her laptop to be a potential bomb, and how would I avoid having them consider mine the same way?
I have carried laptops through Israeli security twice, both times after being among Arabs (once in the West Bank and once in Jordan) and while carrying lots of printed material in Arabic. Each time I was taken aside questioned, everything in my luggage was searched, and the laptops were x-rayed. And it was all done very efficiently and professionally I would like to add. So I don’t have a problem with the Israeli Border Police taking their jobs seriously.
However, this particular case seems bizarre. From what the woman says, she did not leave the laptop unattended so that a bomb-squad was called. They were questioning her, and told her to leave the laptop in a particular place, which she did, and then they told her to go out onto a deck. They then took the laptop, and for whatever reason, decided it needed to be treated as a bomb.
Assuming that they weren’t just harassing her and that they had already x-rayed the computer, what was it about it that made them treat it that way?
In other words, how do I make sure I don’t have my laptop blown up the next time I pass through Israeli security?
And that makes it ok? SO alright then, next time I will tell the Palestinians to only use the 20 kiloton bomb instead of the 40, and that will be ok because it could have been much much worse.
Let’s just put it to bed that you can’t travel with anApple Computer.
It seems that the big problem was the other stuff
I can see the Arabic phrasebook as she was crossing from Egypt, but the guidebook for Palestine, a ‘place’ that Israel isn’t too fond of, would probably have triggered (pun intended) a more thorough search.
When we were looking at doing a bit more travel when we were in Egypt, including visiting Petra and stopping for a day or two in Israel, we got explicit instructions to make sure that Israel stamped a separate sheet in the passport. That way, there would not be problems with admittance to other countries.
> It seems that the big problem was the other stuff
The “other stuff” why they spent two hours questioning her and going through her stuff, not why they treated her laptop as a bomb. Like I said, I have been through Israeli border security with a laptop and lots of “other stuff” myself (as have many others that I know), without anyone calling a bomb squad.
Also, it seems that shooting (with three shots) is in fact a standard procedure for bomb-disposal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Kvp3cQ8Gc (In Hebrew, but that doesn’t matter).
So again, the question is what was it about her computer that made them think it might be a bomb? And how could others traveling through Israeli security keep their Macbooks from a similar fate?
> It seems that the big problem was the other stuff
The “other stuff” why they spent two hours questioning her and going through her stuff, not why they treated her laptop as a bomb. Like I said, I have been through Israeli border security with a laptop and lots of “other stuff” myself (as have many others that I know), without anyone calling a bomb squad.
Also, it seems that shooting (with three shots) is in fact a standard procedure for bomb-disposal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Kvp3cQ8Gc (In Hebrew, but that doesn’t matter).
stpauler has an interesting suggestion:
> is the case of one guy who missed his flight for carrying an Apple MacBook Air. What the TSA found particularly strange when he rolled it on the conveyor belt was that the laptop featured no drive and no visible ports.
However, Lily Sussman’s laptop wasn’t a MacBook air: there’s a row of ports along the side:
So again, the question is what was it about her computer that made them think it might be a bomb? And how could others traveling through Israeli security keep their Macbooks from a similar fate?
[sub]My New “Small Print” for Bomb Squad-related posts on the SDMB: Every explosive operation is different, and methods vary on suspect devices, site conditions, risk factors, tools used, and desired outcomes. My opinion is just that–an opinion. I am not familiar enough with the environment of this particular event to second guess other qualified technicians, but I can smell a rat when I see one. My opinion is just that–an opinion.[/sub]
Not exactly a shotgun, but the principle is the same. And you wouldn’t typically want to destroy the detonator. Destroying the detonator–which is usually installed in your firing train–runs the risk of a high order detonation. Any idiot that walks up to a suspicious device with a 12 ga. is going to get hurt.
I’m not particularly convinced by Haaretz.Com. I don’t know how reliable their story writing is, but there are quite a few gaps in the story that don’t make sense to me. Holding the individual for two hours does, but I wish I had a corroborating story to go with it. For example, where’s mention of diagnostics? You don’t just grab a laptop and blaze away at it without knowing what’s inside.
Tripler
Just my two cents.
Don’t the Israelis think their brutish behavior reflects badly on them? If they did not want her computer in, they could have confiscated it and gave it back when she left.
Blowing up or shooting stuff because you suspect it may be a bomb may be stupid and paranoid, but it is hardly 'brutish".
Israelis subject themselves to this “brutality” all the time, in that their authorities are in the habit of shooting/blowing up unattended packages - which is a big inconvenience if that package happens to be yours, and contain nothing more threatening than a teddy bear.
Such “brutishness” is the natural consequence of being targeted by a campaign of deliberate bombing. This leads Israelis to accept a level of official paranoia that other people find off-putting. Of course as in every such case, the authorities can go too far, abuse this lattitude.
I knew an Israeli apologist would take that stance. It was just brutality. Shooting a PC three times is not going to save the poor besieged Israelis from danger. Shouldn’t they just blow up everything that enters their borders to be sure? Everybody should arrive naked.
Are you an apologist in disguise? 'Cause you’re making me agree with them, not you.
You can’t be brutal to a laptop. You can bash it to little peices, but that’s still not brutality - it’s just an excessive action. And while my somewhat uninformed take on this suggests that the Israeli security overstepped themselves in a rather stupid manner for reasons unbeknownst to me (perhaps the lady pissed them off?), if the anti-Israeli side is forced to resort to silliness and hyperbole, then clearly the Israelis were in the right all along.
Heh.
“Brutality” is a word I generally reserve for bad acts against people, or at the least, living beings. Though I suppose wilful destruction of works or art or the like could be “brutality”.
The use of security in this case can be described as “excessive”, “paranoid”, “silly” or “stupid” (depending of course on the facts), but “brutal”? What, torture of a laptop? Mackintosh rights abuse? 
You are the one with the agenda, I’m afraid.
Know what probably happened?
The kid inspecting her had her put the bag down somewhere before taking her off to her interrogation. Somebody else saw a large bag with a rectangular object in it sitting around unattended, couldn’t find who it belonged to (as the first idiot had neglected to tell anyone), and called the bomb squad - which did what it does best. Now the bureaucracy is doing what *it *does best, which is cover its own ass.
At least no-one was hurt. If it’s any reassurance, from what I know of the system an internal investigation will probably be held. They probably won’t admit to it to the public, but someone will probably get a severe reprimand, or maybe even lose his job.
“Israel always right brigade”, signing off.
Incidentally - no offense, but I really doubt a bunch of people on the internet are qualified to second-guess the Israel Police bomb squad. Other than perhaps the British, I doubt any country in the world has as much experience, knowledge and training in this particular field. American police departments send their people to Israel for training, not vice versa.
Hmmm…first person shooter…
Well, you can’t do a cavity search withouit cavities, can you?
So they added a few!
Fun trivia, shooting a suspected explosive is actually something that EOD crews do, at least in the Air Force. I have even had an EOD captain tell me that his preferred tool was an M-14 rifle with a scope, I understand it’s for situations where it’s preferable to set off the bomb from a safe distance rather than sit around playing with it (ie: When you suspect snipers/ambush or other bombs, or if you just don’t know enough about it to get close to it).
I’m not sure if anything about this girl’s situation actually suggested that, but I’m just saying, shooting explosives is a thing they do. I assume they are specially trained in the best way to do it, and the best situations to do it in (ie: not on a crowded street, but maybe near a road in the desert)
Just a hint of suspicion but has this incident been confirmed by the Israelis who shot the laptop? Everything in the news article seems to be based on information provided by the woman herself after the fact. She does seem to be somewhat hostile to Israel and she then arrived in Egypt and started telling everyone how the Isrealis shot her laptop. I can’t help being reminded of the woman who accused some unknown Obama supporter of carving a B on her face and then turned out to be a McCain supporter who had cut herself.