You kids, back in my day we only had stone tablets.

And I'm going to correct you on this one: they are young soldiers who are doing their compulsory military service (which I haven't done at the time personally due to health concerns). They take the train because they don't have a car/license yet and because the train is free for them as part of an agreement with the military.

They are definitely not cops.

What I'm criticizing here is the irony of X-ray machines and metal detectors, only to allow soldiers that the employees don't know in.

For the record, I'm actually not a muslim nor am I Palestinian. I'm one of those average secular/Jewish caucasian Israelis.

Not in person. I'm going off on a tangent here, but speaking of airports... I happen to work in the airfreight business and I know for a fact that our clients have constant run-ins with airport security for absolutely no good reason. We're talking major exporters whose cargo is held for days. Terminal security doesn't care about how urgent your shipment is or how some hospital in Europe really needs this certain piece of medical equipment.

Fun fact: if you employ Arabs in your premises, terminal security will not grant you a "security code" so your goods will always pass. There was one time when terminal security decided to revoke a security code because they found out that there was an Arab engineer (we're talking about a highly educated person here) present in the factory.

Anyway, so much for my off-topic rant here. By the way - that's an airport, and here I was talking about a train station in my first comment. The thing about an airport is that you also have customs, border security and political issues involved whereas I was just making the example of a small suburban train station.

The dogs.

Only when it reaches the end of its route (either one of those) which is why it's ridiculous that the shuttle is inspected every time.

You apparently have a car. ;) The security officers in train stations are employed the station, and are definitely not soldiers.

I totally get you, but a lot of people prefer it that way because they're simply freightened.

I'm not saying right or wrong here, but both sides have sound reasons.

Yes, and live with their parents. Also, they're furry.

Hi there,

I'm not sure what you are trying to say here, please clarify for me :P

(I don't mean it out of spite or anything)

No idea honestly, but that Entebbe incident from the 70s (I think it was) comes to mind, and it originated in TLV (or SDV?). Possibly with a stop in ATH, but my memory's a bit cloudy.

Nothing new to me. It even beats American airport security paranoia, I hear.

Here's an outline of the security measures at the train station near my home (minor suburban station with about a train an hour):

Before I enter the station, I see guard dogs, handled by security officers (in their 20s). They're actually a bit cute. Except they have sharp teeth and they're trained to kill etc.

I have to take my bags and put them through an X-ray machine, examined by a clueless security officer. I also have to step through a metal detector in case I have a gun/knife on me (never gets triggered by my belt and house keys)

Then as the train arrives, commuters are instructed not to board it until "security examinations" are finished (even if it's the back-and-forth shuttle train that only has two stops).

All train personnal are armed with a pistol. Including drivers. ... And then a 20 year old soldier walks in carrying an M16 and ammo which he is somehow allowed to because he has a slip of paper and uniform.

Security at its finest!