MembersProfiling: Politically Incorrect?

People should not be profiled according to their race, nationality or religion. Critics demand that any suspicion be based solely on behavior, and never merely on appearance. That’s all well and good, but if lives can be saved by profiling, then it becomes relevant and necessary.

In the wake of the recent wave of terrorism in Israel, any suspicious-looking Arabs are being inspected on the streets on the grounds of security. This acts as a deterrent, and numerous potential attacks have been thwarted. Who exactly are attacking Jews with knives? Like it or not, it is the Muslims and not, for example, the Orthodox Jews. So why should Israel needlessly place Jews under suspicion and check them out, too, just to placate the international community? Doing so simply does not make sense.

Incidentally, the Jewish population in Israel is not immune from profiling. In emergency situations Israel’s security establishment makes use of profiling in targeting the extreme right-wing “hilltop youth,” which in turn...