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(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 3:10 PM, Deryck Chan
<deryckchan(a)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(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks Harel :)
>
> Background about the Chelsea incident:
>
http://www.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/football/07/28/football.chelsea.malaysia.bena…
>
> On 30 July 2011 02:51, Harel Cain <harel.cain(a)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(a)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(a)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(a)gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> ...and how many copies of each!
>>>>>
>>>>> On Jul 30, 2011 1:07 AM, "Laura James"
<ljames(a)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(a)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
>>>> >>
>>>> >> _______________________________________________
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>>>> >> Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>>> >>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>>> >>
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
>>>
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>>
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>
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>
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