Two physicians from Haifa's Rambam Medical Center told Haaretz they missed their train Thursday after a security guard at a Haifa train station conducted a "humiliating and insulting" security check on them.

A security guard at the entrance to Haifa's Bat Galim train station delayed two Arab doctors from the city's Rambam Medical Center Thursday, causing them to miss their train, and treating them, one of the doctors said, "according to orders and policy that cannot be described any other way than humiliating and insulting."

The two physicians, Samer Diab and Majid Cabaha, who work in Rambam's cardiology department, told Haaretz they had planned on taking the 7:13 A.M. train to Tel Aviv to attend a medical conference.

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The security guard at the station entrance asked for their ID cards, "although he checked each of our bags and we sent them through the medical detector and nothing suspicious was found," Cabaha said. Diab had his ID, but Cabaha had forgotten his at home in Haifa.

"I showed him my employee card with my picture and my ID number, but the guard insisted it wasn't enough," he said. "We were more surprised when it turned out the guard was also not Jewish, but he said he was acting on orders," Diab said.

The two physicians, who noted that other passengers were not asked for identification, were not allowed on the train until Cabaha went home and got his ID card. "The only reason for asking for our ID was that we are Arabs." Cabaha said

Israel Railways responded that the guard had acted according to the instructions of the Israel Police, and that guards may use their discretion in asking for an ID.