Israel is removing the metal detectors at the Temple Mount after murders and riots and lots of bellicose jihadist rhetoric, but this story from 2011 illustrates that not all metal detectors are outrageous provocations and attacks on Islam.
“Explosives detectors to be installed at gates of Mecca’s Holy Mosque,” by Riazat Butt, Guardian, August 15, 2011:
Explosives detectors are to be installed at the entrances to the Holy Mosque in Mecca as the Saudi authorities boost security around the city’s holy sites.
Around 180 people work on a shift pattern to man the gates leading to the Masjid al-Haram, which surrounds the Ka’aba, the black granite cube that Muslims turn to when praying.
But there are no other measures in place to screen pilgrims for weapons, explosive devices or other banned items, although there are more than 700 cameras tracking them for possible theft, pickpocketing and other criminal or immoral activity.
Lieutenant Colonel Fawaz al-Sahafi, who heads the security team at the mosque, told the Saudi Gazette plans to fit “sophisticated metal and explosive detectors” at the multiple gates were under way.
He also said there were proposals to monitor pilgrims’ movements and have plain-clothes officers mingling with worshippers to stop them from carrying unauthorised foodstuffs into the mosque.
Another security official, Lieutenant General Saeed Bin Abdullah al-Qahtani, said cameras at pilgrims’ residential buildings, traffic initiatives and crowd management plans would improve safety inside and outside the Grand Mosque….