#BrusselsAttacks: On airport security and the fight against terrorism, Belgium should take the example of Israel

Just a few months ago I accompanied a reporter during a press trip to Israel, writes Yossi Lempkowicz. Once he arrived at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, the journalist was questioned at length at passport control on the reasons for his visit, on previous trips he made to Arab countries, etc. In short, he was detained for an hour - the time for the authorities to control the data- before he got his passport back and could continue his trip.

At the time, this control made him somewhat nervous because he considered it as intrusive. But today, after the carnage at Brussels Airport he told me that he understands much better the strict security measures in Tel Aviv he criticized at the time. Many people who regularly take a plane have the same reaction.

Today, many voices call for Brussels – seat of the EU institutions and of NATO - to take similar security measures to those implemented since many years at Ben Gurion Airport.

"In terms of airport security, the Europeans are 40 years behind Israel" deplored after Brussels Attacks Pini Schiff, a former aviation security supreme officer at Tel Aviv’s Airport and currently CEO of Israel’s association of security companies.

The explosions in the departure hall of the airport prompted several countries worldwide to review or tighten airport security but also raised questions about how soon passengers should be screened when entering terminals.

Shlomo Har-Noi, whose company Shadma advises on how to secure critical infrastructure, says "In Europe and the US, they invest insane amounts of money on hi-tech security systems, but they aren't investing in the human element. Someone who focuses on taking a water bottle away from some old lady will never find explosives."

There are 11 security and inspection points at Ben Gurion Airport. They spread from a roadblock at the airport entrance to the airplane gates.

The first security check-point is actually on the road to the airport, where security personnel check travellers and the people bringing them. All cars are stopped on the way to the airport. Some are searched by armed guards and license plates are scanned by a computer.

Security personnel have access to passenger lists, and are able to crosscheck those lists with lists of people under surveillance in order to know immediately who has to go through a stricter security check.

There is then another layer of security to physically get into the departures hall, where passengers who arouse suspicion are checked.

Uniformed and undercover armed security personnel are stationed inside and outside the terminals. Cameras – some in plain sight, some hidden- provide additional surveillance. Travellers are subject to profiling and questioning about the purpose of their travel, their personal background and their luggage.

Israel culture is much focused on security with most citizens doing mandatory military service.

The airport handles 15 million passengers a year.

By contrast in Europe, anyone who wants to go into a departures hall can, and can even bring in luggage. The first security check only happens after checking-in to the flight, and after the passengers' luggage is already tagged.

As travellers wait first to check luggage and then go through metal detectors, they crowd together in areas that are usually lightly patrolled and accessible to nearly anyone. "We ignore it" says Isaac Yeffet, a former head of security for Israel’s airline El Al.

Ely Karmon, director of research at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) in Herzliya and an expert of counter-terrorism, stresses that the Israeli conception of airport security is completely different. ''We are much better prepared for the threat. There are very specific controls prior to check-in, with many plainclothes security officers who carefully examine the profile of each passenger. In Europe, it is forbidden. Given the new context, people must be willing to accept these checks. Since the 2004 attacks and 2005 in London and Madrid, Spain and Britain have changed their own systems."

It is high time that Belgium, beyond statements about the "need to continue living normally" take drastic measures.  'Normal life' means also the fundamental right of all citizens of this country to be entitled to security and to feel protected by the authorities. There’s a basic and fundamental social contract that exists between people and its government. That contract goes something like this: we entrust the state to safeguard us in exchange for paying taxes, sometimes imposing a few limits to our freedoms, but mostly that we feel protected under their system.

It's time for Belgium - authorities and population together- to wake up, to think differently in terms of security and to build on the unique experience of Israel.

But European authorities generally seem reluctant to apply the 'profiling' suggested by Israeli experts on counter-terrorism and airport security. They do not want to make the necessary and urgent choice to ensure the safety of citizens and they even appeared to have ignored warnings from intelligence agencies about an imminent terrorist threat.

"Human rights begin at home by doing everything possible to protect the lives of citizens before the rights of those who come to kill them. Human lives outweigh the human rights" writes Barry Shaw, Senior Associate at the renowned Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv.

Europe must wake up and prepare for a ten to fifteen years fight against terrorism. A 'Third World War' that Europe will lose unless it takes the example of Israel.

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