WHY DOES ISRAEL HAVE SUCH TIGHT SECURITY?....I GUESS THAT PARTS NOT SO FUNNY.

Although Arabic is or seams to an official language, in Israel, why isn't it present in airport signs ? Why people from Arabic background are treated in a special way ? Row B and special X-Ray stuff. Is it for someone Arabic safe to come to Israel ? I ask because you just need to come to Europe to see how Israeli’s when they fly are like kings, WHY ?!

I can not only emphathise with you but also sympathise, because I too undergo the third degree at the airport both coming and going --and I'm a Jew. It's the name, you see. In addition to having to explain the gaelic name (which I selected when I had hopes of becoming a famous actress --but my father's name also doesn't help because, of my two parents, only my mother is Jewish), I've had to recite the shma, answer trick questions (so what do you eat on Yom Kippur?), and been asked to give a detailed report on what I read for my Bat-Mitzvah (hmmm, given it was more than 20 years ago...). Then, once I have finally convinced them that I am, indeed, a bona-fide Jew they still seem somewhat convinced that I could be a Jewish member of the IRA ...

Ray, yours is some of the funniest stuff I've ever read. I look forward to reading your column so please keep it up.

Ray, you are to be complimented at making fun of the sad situation with the Ben Gurion airport security. Clever you for not letting it get to you.

No Israeli comedian can explain her/his experiences in much of arab airports, because in the best of the cases they are barred to travel....Or they can suffer the Azzam Azzam experience. I like your humour.

Israel has the best airport security in the world. I'm sorry that you undergoe an exhaustive security check while entering and leaving Israel but maybe you haven't read the papers lately --Israel is under a constant terrorist threat. And if you're really out of the loop then i'll let you in on another secret - all of the terrorists are arab. It says in the article that you are a comedian(not), if so then i forgive your inept attempt at humor. However, I do think you need some new material.

To my knowledge Azzam Azzam was a spy. He cannot compared to a decent man like Ray. You may be right about Arab airports but two wrongs dont make a right. Israel is a racisit country at best. It descriminates against Palestinian in every sense of the world. Ray is certainly funny but people like you are ignorant. Sorry #6

That is awful- like nazi interrogation

Well Ray, security profiling is a pain, but the terrorists have no qualms about blowing you to kingdom come along with the Jews. The screeners are keeping you and your loved ones safe too.

The country is going down the wrong path- Israel gets more racist everyday- The USA will soon stop support and then the isolation JEWS try to have from the rest of the world will excalate and the WALLS will get taller- BIG MISTAKE- Jews cant just USE the GOYS, and treat their billions of ARAB neighbors with so little respect. No one likes to be treated poorly. Not blacks, muslims, christians, aryans, mexicans . NO ONE.

to no° 6 : wrong, because most -israeli's have at least a second passport of some origin, even with a different name, so they can travel and work in arabic countries, because they don't ask you if you are Jew or not, being Israli is the problem, as in many arab countries there are Jewish mainorities living in peace and not in war as you imagine in your sick brains hungry for blood and killing. to no° 7 : I would compare arabic terrirosts with Kahana movment killers and baruch goldstine and many many other killers that are living amoung settlers in a terror state that have nuke bombs and WMD, humilaiating an entheir nation or what you call a group of native arabs from arabia, whom you don't consider more then what Hitler considered your grand parents. STOP SINGING ABOUT YOUR DEMOCRACY IS IT EMPTY AND START BEHAVING LIKE HUMANS AND NOT LIKE A SUPER RACE, YOU ARE OTHERWISE THE NEW NAZI.

To say that a country does not have the right to screen people who desire to enter is denying that nation of sovereignty. Israel has every right to question and screen visitors like Ray, as it is THEIR country, and they have a right to decide who they want and don't want to let in.

listen buddy I'm sure youre living in Italy because you love gadafi and his cuntry so much thats why youre in Italy I have to say you made a good choice not staying in ever so democratic Libya - Italian woman are seriously HOT! Much better than that bunch you have back in tripoli

Nor does airport security have anything to do with if a country is democratic or not. Airport security is directly related to the number of idiots willing to commit mass murder. Anyway Ray I know that you know all that but still it is strange that other people here seem to think that the unwillingness to be hijacked or blown to bits is an expression of racism. When I fly in Europe I am always surprised at the lack of security. This usually makes me feel like walking up to the security guys at whichever airport I am at and beg them to check me. "Please ask me some intruding questions, do you want to know who was with me when I packed? I got some dirty underwear, wanna look?" But they're not interested because they know nobody will blow up their planes. So there is no security (in case any hijackers who are looking for a job are interested) If I could I would always fly Iran Air, they're the safest. I once spoke to a UN guy who was advising people how to make the job of the security personel at Ben Gurion as difficult as possible. That wasn't his function at the UN, just a hobby. Following his own advice he refused to tell the security officers who he met in Betlehem and what was in the presents they gave him. He then got anally investigated by an officer called Uzi. Oh, did I tell you the UN guy was gay? See, you can have fun at Ben Gurion Airport.

15. Airport security has no connection with racism when so many of our own are humiliated and harassed , it may be high time to review your assessment ! there is no logic , no reason and least of all is the total lack on any semblance of what civilised people would describe as finesse . the airports are neither guantanamo bay , nor the abu ghraib prison . Marvin a very dissatisfied israeli who visits less often .

I'd like to be clear that I do not consider Israel to be "racist" nor do I consider the security checks conducted at the airports to be racist policy. Annoying? Yes. Necessary? Also, sadly, yes.

1)In 1986, security guards detected a bomb planted in the luggage of a pregnant Irish woman by her Palestinian boyfriend, without her knowledge. 2) On May 30, 1972 three members of the Japanese Red Army undertook a terrorist attack at Lod Airport in Tel Aviv on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. They killed twenty-four people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lod_Airport_Massacre 3) And of course those two British Muslims - Asif Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif - who were involved in the 30.4.2003 suicide bombing at Mikes Place in Tel Aviv. They came by plane and killed 3 people. There are many, many more of such events. You can easily use google to find them. Hijackings, bombings, shootings. Airplanes are a fat easy target. So I would say our security measures have no logic and no reason only for those who are ignorant of the past. I admit that it is a peculiar habit of the Jews to remember stuff but you will learn to remember too. Islamist terrorism isn't a joke, it's not a figment of our imagination. Those are not the same type of terrorists as IRA or ETA who warn in advance that there is a bomb somewhere. Jihadist are in it for the killing. We don't have lives and family to spare and I am sure you won't want to sacrifice your life just to avoid being a little difficult. It takes a lot of nerve to point the finger at us, after all the thousands of Israeli's who have been killed by terrorists, and gripe that our security measures are too tough for your liking. The security at Ben Gurion airport is the best in the world and we're not spending all that time, energy and money for fun.

Never got the impression that you considered israel to be racist.

even if your white not arab, jewish or anything - you get bullshit at Ben Gurion - it is part of the adventure. For example if you've been to Tunisia - that is really suspect. So is your digital camera if the battery is flat and the lens doesn't open. so is visiting israel and not going to jerusalem. so is having israeli friends and not speaking hebrew. You can't go to Libya with an israeli stamp in your passport. Heathrow used to do full cavity searches on girls just because they were backpackers who had travelled to asia. In India they try to make extra copies of your passport and chat you up and change your ticket. shit happens - live with it. And hey on the Bulgarian border the guards send you back home with a chocolate bar.