The shoes part I find hard to believe. I.e. it is true that if the security suspects you you may be asked to remove your shoes and have them scanned, but walking through terminals barefoot into the plane? Sounds very un-plausible. I have flown through Ben-Gurion many times and have many acquaintances that did too. There are all kinds of horror stories, but I never heard anybody having to walk barefoot through the terminals, and of course never seen anything like that.

Despite what media people say, profiling is a large (but not only!) part of what happens there. It may not be PC, but it is true, and there are very few Israelis who have serious problem with that. I'm not sure if it is possible to borrow the system wholesale for the US - both threats and targets to protect are very different - but I can say definitely that Israel system seems to be effective and not hugely annoying to most (not all - as I said, there are horror stories) of the people, and TSA seems to be the reverse - not very effective, but hugely annoying. I think TSA should bring in some common sense. I know this may create vulnerabilities, but come on, taking toys from 5-year-olds is not necessary. What is necessary is to create a system that would detect behavior that would suggest this particular 5-year-old may be used for illicit purposes and only then check this particular toy. I believe this is possible and Israel experience could help.