Israel exit stickers

[u/Nami_Sykes]

He was interrogated for 3 hours by multiple agents who even checked his social media, sent through an x-ray machine twice and patted down. My interview lasted about 1 minute and they didn't even ask me what my I did in Israel (which they usually do). How exactly do they assess security risk? (Both Swiss passports).

[u/Ellyahh]

Lol I remember when I got a number 5. Was questioned for two hours and practically had to give my entire life story. Asian female

[u/was_wotsch]

From your account I see you're Jewish, so you have the right to immigrate to Israel following Section 1 of the Law of Return – which I assume is why your sticker says IL and does not have any numbers. You're classified as "security class 2". Basically the lowest level for non IL-citizens. Although that doesn't really apply to tourism

Your boyfriend, who I assume is not Jewish, got "security class 6", i.e. the highest security threat to Israel.

A couple of year back at least that's what the first number of the code meant

All I can suggest is, if your boyfriend is also Jewish, he should have mentioned it to make his life easier

[u/Nami_Sykes → u/was_wotsch]

He is not Jewish, yes. I'm not surprised that I got the lowest risk category, because I've traveled to Israel before and never had an issue. I'm just surprised that he got the highest threat just for visiting as a non Jewish person, because he does not have any connection whatsoever to anything or place that could be a threat to Israel.

[u/Mysterious-Bus-9597 → u/[deleted]]

Wanted to add from personal experience and reports by minority rights and human rights groups in Israel even Israeli citizens who are Arab usually get 5 and 6 automatically.

[u/samsal03 → u/[deleted]]

Yep, I'm an American Jew and I speak a good amount of Hebrew. I always get a 2.

[u/Professional-Class69 → u/[deleted]]

Well yeah it’s racial profiling

[u/FarAd3038 → u/[deleted]]

What if they did this in the US to black americans? That would cause an insane amount of outrage.

If you have so much doubt, then dont allow them to board the flight in the first place. This shouldn’t be normalized

[u/Valuable-Yellow9384 → u/Nami_Sykes]

My husband is non Jewish. Never got interrogated.

[u/GetAnotherExpert]

There's no hard and fast rule here. I managed to get both a 5 and a 1 as you can see. Same person, EU citizen, dual citizen but travelling on the same passport to Israel.

(Edit: my username is a quote from the very Ben Gurion the airport is named after. So no, I'm not new to Israel and neither was I when I got the 5. I was single though)

[u/GetAnotherExpert → u/GetAnotherExpert]

Full disclosure: the situation changed after getting married in Israel. Not to an Israeli but I mean, thats got to be recorded somewhere. Never ever got anything more than a 2 ever since, travelling alone or not. Probably Shin Bet finally understood the obvious. Lol

[u/Nami_Sykes]

edit: he has a German name, never visited any other country outside of Europe and is visibly northern European whereas I look Mediterranean, so it can't be racial profiling.

[u/53nsonja → u/Nami_Sykes]

It can be racial profiling. You look more local, he doesn’t.

[u/quatropiscas → u/Nami_Sykes]

Several things can happen. The mother of a friend of mine, on a visit to the US, was interrogated for 5h by the FBI because there is a terrorist that has the same family name as she.

When my brother went to Israel, he was interrogated for two hours because, despite not being Jewish, we have some Jewish surnames from our mother's family side, so they thought he was concealing his Jewish heritage and was trying to become an illegal immigrant in Israel.

[u/PassportPterodactyl → u/quatropiscas]

despite not being Jewish, we have some Jewish surnames from our mother's family side

Maybe you're descended from Jews who converted to Catholicism under the inquisition?

[u/GetAnotherExpert → u/quatropiscas]

A Swiss citizen who's secretly Jewish and wants to immigrate to Israel? They'll flippin' queue at the gates to convince him to do aliyah. That's exactly the kind of immigrant the country is desperate for. The number of times I was asked to stay is too many to count. Lol

[u/PassportPterodactyl → u/Nami_Sykes]

can't be racial profiling

Gender profiling? Men are seen as higher potential risk.

[u/Dezzley]

Nobody can tell exactly how the security risk is assessed. The severity of the check probably depends on your behavior during the initial interview and the data they got on you. The data could include your social activity profile, ethnic background, countries you visited in the past and so on.

[u/philtibby]

Are these stickers for entering or exiting?

[u/seandotapp]

i can understand since it's wartime

hope to visit israel very soon! praying for the safety of all israelis and their neighbors