Israel Recently Warned Belgium of Security Lapses At Airport — Report

The Times of Israel reports:

Israel reportedly warned Belgian officials of the numerous security failings at the Brussels airport weeks before a series of deadly bomb blasts ripped through the site on Tuesday.

Israeli security officials tasked with assessing safety measures at various international airports that operate flights to Tel Aviv found “significant shortcomings” at Zaventem Airport, Channel 2 reported Wednesday.

The report came amid widespread criticism of Belgium’s approach to immigration and security and reports that Brussels officials had specific information about the planned attacks.

Breitbart Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter Aaron Klein reported on Wednesday that Israeli defense officials are commenting on the “ridiculous” lack of airport security in Brussels.

Security at Brussels airport failed to spot the suspicious-looking suicide bombers who detonated their explosives in a deadly attack on Tuesday.

U.S. and European airports have much to learn from Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport, Klein reported from Tel Aviv on Breitbart News Daily, the radio program hosted by Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon.

Klein stated that it would be “almost impossible” for the Brussels terrorists to have successfully entered Ben-Gurion wearing suicide belts.

Listen to the interview here: 

“Here in Israel, believe it or not, at the most tightly controlled airport in the world, the lines are about 30 percent less,” explained Klein. “Two hundred to three hundred percent quicker because they profile. It’s very simple. They are trained to profile and not to check people’s shoes and only look for objects.

“Here in Israel they know what they are doing. And I think American airports need to take notice of that and learn for once. Because we are actually still unsafe with the TSA.”

Klein reported that, at Ben-Gurion, “everybody going in has to pass at least four layers of security and there’s no way that these terrorists (in Brussels), I think it’s almost impossible, could have passed all four.”

He continued, explaining the four levels of security:

The first is when you are driving into the airport, the highway ends and then there’s a new highway that begins exclusively for the airport. And every car is pulled over and asked two simple questions (“where are you going?” and “where did you come from?”) but actually what’s happening is you are being profiled.

Then if you get past that, you are being profiled again by agents outside of the airport going in. Searching not just for objects, but also behavioral profiling. Which I don’t think these terrorists would have passed, especially not in their little getups that they were dressed up in. They looked very, very suspicious if you look at closed circuit TV.

The Star previously reported on the other two levels of security at Ben-Gurion, quoting Rafi Sela, president of a global security consultancy:

You are now in the terminal. As you approach your airline check-in desk, a trained interviewer takes your passport and ticket. They ask a series of questions: Who packed your luggage? Has it left your side?

“The whole time, they are looking into your eyes — which is very embarrassing. But this is one of the ways they figure out if you are suspicious or not. It takes 20, 25 seconds,” said Sela.

Lines are staggered. People are not allowed to bunch up into inviting targets for a bomber who has gotten this far. At the check-in desk, your luggage is scanned immediately in a purpose-built area.

Klein’s comments were also echoed by Pini Schiff, the former head of security at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport, who said “the chances are very low” that the Brussels bombing could have happened in Israel.

“Two terrorists who enter the terminal area with explosive devices, this is undoubtedly a colossal failure,” Schiff said.