If you consider this insane from an economic perspective I think you're right.
eg: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/23/airport-security_n_...
Maybe they do check Muslims more thoroughly, that would make sense. I never took any interest in it, so cannot confirm it. (In the Army, I would totally pay much more attention to Arabs than to other civilians, but that's so painfully obvious, right?)
I've lived there for a year and travelled to Ben Gurion before and after that time. It's never pleasant and often downright insane.
I've found LLBG to be downright pleasant. I get there at most 90 minutes prior to an international flight, breeze through security in about 15-30 minutes depending on queues and often have time to spare to get a coffee and browse through the duty free shops at my leisure.
Full disclosure: I am an Israeli citizen, but I've had this experience even prior to becoming a citizen, when I was only a US citizen.
I would not want to use Israel's security procedures as a model for the US for a number of reasons - the unabashed racial profiling is one, but a more basic reason is the fact that Israel faces a very real and direct threat, whereas the TSA itself admits that there is no threat of terrorism in the US[3].
[0] From a Jewish publication: "Arab passengers, or non-Jews, for example, are routinely subjected to greater questioning than are Israeli Jews. " http://www.cjp.org/page.aspx?id=218685
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/us/racial-profiling-at-bos...
[2]Officially, this was ended a few months ago in Israel (http://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2014-03-26/israel-ends-bla...) - it remains to be seen whether or not this has truly been ended in practice
[3] http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/tsa-admits-...
Not to mention: [
"the battery's dead and the proprietary charger
is stuck in checked baggage", "whoops i lost the
battery", "whoops i dropped the phone and now it
is broken", "whoops cannot power on without
password for encryption", "aw shucks my phone is
keister stashed so come get it big boy", "hello
look at this childrens toy which very closely
resembles a cellular phone ha ha", "gee why does
this powered on mobile device emit far more radio
spectrum energy than expected even though i am
usually a law abiding citizen?"
]Lots of international airports are competently run. Most US airports, unfortunately, are neither competent nor even competently mercenary so there will be trouble when the TSA imports this plan to the USA.
Toothpaste remains completely banned.
var terroristWarningFlags = // sarcasm...?
Someone could likely accomplish this, and enable others to participate in the protest of security theater, by developing and distributing an open-source application that interfaces with a number of readily available software defined radio antennas (preferably those costing less than one hundred dollars).
Although, to do so might be terr'ism.
Prediction: after some time, they will just roll out this policy everywhere - including US domestic airports.
https://twitter.com/TSAmedia_RossF/status/485964450441072640
If they log the IMEI they can track most foreigners as they move around the country. Even if they are not bringing sim cards, the phones will still try to connect to a local network to allow emergency calls.
Or maybe so they can confiscate and download the contents of electronics devices quickly with as little delay as possible (it can take 5-10+ minutes before a completely dead smartphone has enough charge to complete a boot up).
Easy to prove it's on, just don't take it out of airplane mode until you arrive at your destination. In flight you could power it off & back on before touchdown to preserve battery.
Seeing as it can take up to an hour, most people would probably love to do so.
What a monstrous waste the TSA is. A waste in resources better utilized elsewhere.
Better bring your charger.
Or maybe all you have to do is get your unlock password wrong a certain way.
Fact is, the fact your phone boots makes it more of a threat, not less. LOL!
Fact is, this is not about security. It is an exercise in security theater.
and by turning it on you just proved you have the materials for a bomb. touche.