Security Matters

I learned recently that what I had called the Israeli cousin of Donald Duck in one of my previous posts is actually a high-tech security device. Inside the inflatable duck are, reportedly, high powered cameras equipped with face-recognition software. The idea is that the out-of-place ducky would attract attention of those hanging out in Tel Aviv's main square for long enough to take their pictures and determine whether they are a security threat. I think it's ingenious: even though I now know what it is, I can't help but look up at the duck each time I pass by. (It is reassuring to know that Shin Bet -- the Israeli domestic security outfit whose motto, in my loose translation, is "An invisible shield" has repeatedly decided that I was not a threat.)

Until CAG and I went to Jerusalem a few days ago (of which more in a separate post(s)), I did not think that everyday security measures were particularly strict here, at least not as strict as I had expected. Some supermarkets, drugstores, malls, and cafes have security guards who -- haphazardly -- check bags and occasionally wand men. The guards are usually men in their 50 or even 60 who don't look that threatening and might not even be armed. Public events that attract crowds are guarded more stringently by the police, but even they often seem laid-back. I've been told that security seems so lax because of (unofficial but nonetheless practiced) profiling, and I guess I, again, look respectable and harmless enough not to be searched and interrogated.

But Jerusalem was a completely different story. At the Hebrew University campus where we stayed I was asked for the purpose of my visit (since I didn't have university-issued credentials) and even had to show my passport and visa. Each public bus that arrives on campus is inspected albeit cursorily, and at least one of the receptionists at the university guest house (all of whom were men in his 30s) boasted a handgun on his belt.

We happened to be in Jerusalem for the Jerusalem Day (for a bit more, again, see here), which seemed to be celebrated by more people and with more hoopla than the Independence Day here in Tel Aviv a month earlier. The city center and the Old City's Jewish Quarter were flooded with tourists like us, hundreds of youth groups who must have come from all over the country, party-ready locals of all stripes (from drunk and rowdy students to families of ultra-religious folks -- bearded men clad in black, women in wigs and toe-covering skirts carrying babies), and regiments of uniformed men in full combat gear. The last group's presence in the city became especially apparent in the afternoon of the holiday: military and police units were moving around the Old City and smaller groups were posted on many street corners and around the perimeter of the Old City walls. They looked pretty intimidating, but a few turned out quite nice and friendly when we approached them with touristy questions like "What is that old-looking tomb down there in the valley?" to which they usually did not have an answer.

But most unusual were civilians carrying -- very casually -- rifles or machine guns. They must have been settlers and/or Religious Zionists for they wore distinct -- knitted -- kippot and were usually in a company of a modestly (but often stylishly) dressed woman and about half a dozen kids. It was an incongruous sight -- a man carrying a big gun in one hand and a child in another. Even women in these families had arms -- strollers -- which, unlike their husbands, they did not hesitate to use on passersby. Coming from New York, a city where gun-ownership is strictly regulated and where most of the law-abiding population is averse to weapons, this was a distressing sight even though I was pretty sure these guns where not intended for me.

I completely understand the need for tighter security measures in Israel and I am ready to volunteer my purse and myself for the inspection any time, but I can't get used to -- and I am not sure I condone -- such a conspicuous display of weapons by individuals. I suppose, when it comes to the Bill of Rights' Second Amendment, I am with those who interpret it narrowly, as a collective not an individual right.