As Harel said, we arrived Tel Aviv today from Chile and Argentina. I was a bit worried because everybody told me stories about the security... and to be honest, it isn't as terrible as you may hear. We only had a basic questioning in Sao Paulo airport about our luggage and then in Ben Gurion they asked us how long are we staying and for what reason. Nothing else, less than two minutes... we didn't even show the copies of the mails.
Sure, it can be different for other nationalities... but if you're coming to Wikimania, there shouldn't be anything to hide nor worry about.
2011/7/29 Harel Cain harel.cain@gmail.com
No, James. If anything, then you might find that in TLV (on your way back) they don't even bother with some of the things that they do check for in the states, such as that rule about liquids in 100ml containers or asking you to remove your shoes.
If you're flying El Al, you will be politely but thoroughly interviewed before boarding the plane, and your luggage might be searched more thoroughly than you're used to. Nothing more than that.
If you're flying with another airline into Israel, even that won't be the case.
When flying back, you can expect to again undergo this interview (whether you packed alone, whether someone gave you anything to bring, where you've been, that sort of thing) and again they might scan and/or search your luggage.
Harel Cain Wikimania 2011 local team
On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 22:19, James Hare messedrocker@gmail.com wrote:
On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 3:10 PM, Deryck Chan deryckchan@gmail.com wrote:
A bit more to add about passport stamping (mainly for those holding
European
/ north American passports): an English girl (a close friend of mine in Cambridge) who was in Israel last year told me that although the Israeli border control advertises the facility to have a separate piece of paper rather than your passport stamped, in practice they [almost?] always
refuse
that and insist to stamp onto your passport, especially if you're a
white
person from a Western country [apparently especially if you're a young
woman
as well]. No worries though, I'm sure it's easy enough for someone from
a
Western country to apply for a new passport prematurely!
She's in Israel again this summer, and other than sternly denying the possibility to not have my passport stamped, is optimistic: "Basically I don't actually think, having thought about it, that there's anything to
say!
Just be prepared for a long wait, and for intensive searches (they took everything out of my bag, both ways), and obviously be very careful
about
carrying anything metal/liquid in your hand luggage. Make sure you know
what
you'd say to 'why are you going to Israel?'."
Anything I should know specifically as a U.S. citizen? (For what it's worth, it doesn't bother me if they stamp my passport because my passport expires in June 2012 anyway.)
Anything that I should be wary about bringing into Israel that I'd normally take for granted as fine in the U.S.?
Deryck
On 30 July 2011 02:54, Deryck Chan deryckchan@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks Harel :)
Background about the Chelsea incident:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/football/07/28/football.chelsea.malaysia.benay...
On 30 July 2011 02:51, Harel Cain harel.cain@gmail.com wrote:
Deryck, you should be fine. There are many Israelis (some colleagues
of
mine, for example) who're flying to Malaysia on business with foreign passports. I don't even know what the Chelsea incident is, it didn't
make
any headlines over here.
The security questioning is meant to guarantee the safety of air
travel
with El Al, which as you may know has been the target of terror back
in the
1970s (and since, to a decreased degree), in other words - it's done
so you
can fly safely. El Al is considered the world's most secure airline
exactly
because of its unique methods which are based on interviewing the
passengers
to detect suspicious passengers, instead of forcing 85 year old
grannies to
remove their shoes (TSA method...), which have been in place long
before the
9/11 attacks, for example.
Because you clearly have no terrorist intentions, there's nothing to worry about. Just be very patient, answer the questions frankly and
openly,
and they'll let you in. They won't fly out without you :)
Harel Cain Wikimania 2011 local team
On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 21:43, Deryck Chan deryckchan@gmail.com
wrote:
I'm flying from Hong Kong to Tel Aviv on an El Al flight, holding a British passport with a Malaysian stamp from this January (along with
a few
other stamps from USA, Taiwan and Japan from previous years).
I never thought Malaysia would be an issue other than some
questioning
by the El Al and Israeli border control, until the Chelsea incident
this
week made Israel-Malaysia relations somewhat tenser than usual, as
I've
heard.
I doubt that in my case the "formal" letter would make any
difference:
the automated email has our name and personal itinerary printed on
it, so if
that doesn't get me through, I doubt any other paperwork from WMIL
will...
On 30 July 2011 02:29, Harel Cain harel.cain@gmail.com wrote: > > Unless you come from a potentially problematic country (for example
one
> which doesn't have diplomatic relations with Israel, or just one
which is
> rather exotic for incoming tourism), the printout of the automated
mail you
> got from us should be fine, and even that shouldn't be necessary.
It's just
> something you can show during the security questioning, which
normally
> occurs only on El Al flights. > > We prepared personalized "formal" letters of invitation upon request > for quite a few people. However I'm rather disinclined to prepare
more and
> more of them. If you are from the USA or the EU or other Western
countries I
> really think they're not necessary. > > These things are really a matter of chance - I heard the one
attendee
> from Czech Republic had a few problems (everything is fine, nothing > serious), while the South Americans went through everything without
any
> problem at all. > > Please seriously consider if you really need them before asking for > such personalized letters (requests please send to one of the OTRS
queues).
> > > Harel Cain > Wikimania 2011 local team > > > > On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 20:08, Deryck Chan deryckchan@gmail.com > wrote: >> >> ...and how many copies of each! >> >> On Jul 30, 2011 1:07 AM, "Laura James" ljames@wikimedia.org
wrote:
>> > Hi, thanks for the great advice - yes, please do let us know
which
>> > document >> > would be the most helpful to print. And any other tips! :-) >> > Thank you, >> > Laura >> > >> > On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 8:17 AM, Kim Bruning <
kim@bruning.xs4all.nl>
>> > wrote: >> > >> >> On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 07:49:31PM +0900, KIZU Naoko wrote: >> >> > Hi from Tel Aviv suburb. >> >> > >> >> > I strongly recommend to follow Manuel. Also the letter from
the
>> >> > organizing team may help. >> >> > >> >> > At security check in AMS I met difficulty , since then I left
all
>> >> > the >> >> > copy of registration team and also had no copy. >> >> >> >> > document on my registration to the confenrence or a document
from
>> >> > WMF. >> >> >> >> Hmm, good point, what document would be handiest to print out? >> >> (I'll check >> >> my mail) >> >> >> >> -- >> >> [Non-pgp mail clients may show pgp-signature as attachment] >> >> gpg (www.gnupg.org) Fingerprint for key FEF9DD72 >> >> 5ED6 E215 73EE AD84 E03A 01C5 94AC 7B0E FEF9 DD72 >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Wikimania-l mailing list >> >> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org >> >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimania-l mailing list >> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> > > > > -- > Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur. > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >
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