It’s time to believe tipsters when they warn us about maniacs

The conversation eight years ago was with a man I didn’t know and haven’t seen since. Yet at times like these, I remember what he said as if it were yesterday.

The man is Avi Dichter, a member of the Israeli Knesset and former head of Shin Bet, Israel’s version of the FBI. We were seated beside each other at a dinner in Tel Aviv, and the talk turned to security, especially at airports.

“The problem with you Americans,” I recall Dichter saying, “is that you worry about what people are carrying in their luggage. In Israel, we worry about who the people are.”

Bingo. “Who the people are” is the essence of Israeli security — and what is missing from America’s.

The slaughter in a South Florida school last week is the latest example of how our approach is failing and leading to senseless deaths.

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