Brussels attack could never happen here, says ex-Ben-Gurion security head

Pini Schiff, a former security director at Ben-Gurion International Airport, calls the attacks in Brussels “a colossal failure” of Belgian security.

Schiff says “the chances are very low” such a bombing could have happened in Israel, with its several layers of security put in place after Palestinian attacks on Israeli planes and travelers in the 1970s.

Ben-Gurion is considered by some the most secure airport in the world.

Authorities in Europe and across the world have tightened security at airports, railway stations, government buildings and other key sites after the attacks on the Brussels airport and its subway system.

With Brussels in lockdown and the French prime minister saying that Europe is “at war,” European leaders have held emergency security meetings and deployed more police, explosives experts, sniffer dogs and plainclothes officers, with some warning against travel to Belgium.

“The threat we are facing in Europe is about the same as what Israel faces,” says Olivier Guitta, the managing director of GlobalStrat, an international security consultancy. “We have entered an era in which we are going to have to change our way of life and take security very seriously.”

In Moscow, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov says authorities will “re-evaluate security” at Russian airports, although its measures are already among some of the toughest across Europe.

Security is high at all Paris airports and at Gatwick and Heathrow in London, among many others.

At Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, sniffer dogs are deployed in the check-in areas, while at Milan’s Malpensa airport police in carts were patrolling the areas before security checks.

In Germany, the state rail system, Deutsche Bahn, has halted its high-speed rail service from Germany to Brussels, stopping them at the border city of Aachen.

Egypt also says it is increasing security, with top security officials asked to personally handle security checks inside airports and in outside areas like hotels and car parks.

— AP