[junto]

But El Al is also profiling passengers before they even reach the airport. They stop people on route and question them to gain any subtle clues as to whether people might be nervous or acting strangely.

They know weird shit like who you've met after being in Israel. A gay friend of a friend went to Tel Aviv Pride, and was taken aside and asked why he'd chosen to sleep with an Arab as he was leaving the country.

[tps5]

Chances are that your friend embellished this story. People do that, often. Think about the absurd amount of effort required to know that one of the thousands of people going through that airport that day had sex with a man of Arab descent sometime in the past few days.

I've had a few interviews entering and leaving Israel. It was a more pleasant experience than in the US because the security seemed engaged and efficient. I had my carry on emptied and searched in front of me while leaving the country, but the process was fast and professionally done.

Security workers also looked me in the eyes and paid attention to what I was saying. I've never had that experience in the US.

[junto]

I could be, but as @pavel_lishin said below, it is quite possible that the "Arab" guy was already of interest to the security services. It would make more sense.

[Fife]

What could they possibly say to "he was hot" ?

[junto]

I think the comment was intended to be overtly racist. LGBT folk are pretty welcome in Israel, but you "should be" sleeping with Israelis and not "Arabs".

[chimeracoder]

> LGBT folk are pretty welcome in Israel

They are if they're Israeli (and white). People of Palestinian descent living in Israel (as well as Jewish Arabs who are not Palestinian, to a lesser extent) have a very different experience with being gay in Israel.

[bogomipz]

I'm calling B.S on this story. I don't doubt your friend may have told you this but I sincerely doubt the veracity of the story itself. If either person, your friend or the person they had an encounter with were of significant enough interest to be watched by security services that fact wouldn't not have been shared with them.

[StavrosK]

The hell? How did they know that?

[pavel_lishin]

Maybe they were much more interested in the man he slept with than him.

[junto]

I'm guessing this is most probably the case.

[junto]

Apparently he had absolutely no idea, but it completely freaked him out.

[phonon]

From my experience at Ben Gurion airport...security there has different stages. When you first walk in to the airport, even before you check in and get your ticket, some friendly attractive person will start chatting with you and ask about your trip. They will not identify themselves (or be dressed) as security. Your friend might very well have mentioned something to that person.

Later, when the more formal security process/interview starts, they might ask followup questions based on info they got from that earlier "interview".

[literallycancer]

>From my experience at Ben Gurion airport...security there has different stages. When you first walk in to the airport, even before you check in and get your ticket, some friendly attractive person will start chatting with you and ask about your trip. They will not identify themselves (or be dressed) as security. Your friend might very well have mentioned something to that person.

This is interesting, where can I read more about this?

[doubleplusgood]

On mobile, this article seems to provide some info http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4978149

[phonon]

Yup. You'd be surprised what comes out of your mouth if someone attractive and personable starts smiling at you and asking questions randomly. You don't have your "defenses up" and you start blabbing away before you figure out that no, this person is not actually trying to hit on me :-)

[sukilot]

That's bizarre -- if I met someone like that I'd assume they were a criminal trying to rob me.

[StavrosK]

With good reason, I can imagine how paranoid that would make me. I'd definitely try to find how they found this out, starting with checking whether I posted it somewhere public. That would be the least worrisome scenario.

[dhimes]

Fuck, that freaks me out and I'm not gay nor traveling to the Mid East. Shit.

[moftz]

Most likely they were watching the Arab guy and were able to determine the name and travel plans of the person that was hanging out with the Arab.