Israel: There and Back

I went to Israel last week—which, if nothing else, explains why this blog posting is a day or two late.

I had been scheduled to go to London and was dreading it because the tales of woe from Heathrow Airport were making news. The airport had clearly been unprepared for the knee-jerk change to security procedures—to the extent that laptops and other valuable gear was being lost in transit. Legal cases will follow.

However, I ducked that particular bullet and was redirected to Israel to look at some emerging video technology. It was impressive—and when I’m no longer bound by non-disclosure, I’ll spill the beans. The personal impact on me of the London “liquid bombers” was that I lost my toothpaste and shaving cream at Newark Airport. No great loss really, but the bad guys have chalked up yet another small victory over the frequent flyer. No longer can you clean your teeth on the airplane, when you fly the red eye. Forget mouthwash too.

A number of the Israelis I met expressed gratitude that I had come and not been put off by the rocket showers near the Lebanese border. (In case your reading this at a later date, August 2006 was the time of that nastiness with Hamass).

The truth is that I’d been more worried by the possibility of losing my laptop at Heathrow.