Here's a bit of perspective. I just spent two weeks in Israel. Now that's a country that has a lot more to fear from terrorists than the U.S.
I "street" photographed in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, Akko, Tzfat, all "real" places that people live and work in, not just tourist spots. In my entire time there, I was only asked not to photograph twice. Once was in the big modern shopping mall in Tel Aviv. The other was the city block where an important government official lived. In the latter case, the soldier guarding one end of the block overheard me tell my wife, "let's go around the next block," and he said, "Go ahead and walk through, just don't take pictures."
They take security very seriously. When you go into a restaurant, shopping center, theater, railway station, etc. you have to open your bags and let the guard look at the contents. Sometimes you get scanned with a metal or explosives detector wand. It's all very quick professional, and almost always polite.
Americans would probably not put up with that level of "intrusion." But you get the sense that the Israelis know what they're doing, and confine their practices to things that really work, as opposed to doing things for show, or "because we can." I saw none of the nonsense about not being able to photograph in a public place "because of terrorism." Not even in train stations.
We experienced the same speedy, professional security at Ben Gurion airport.
Disclaimer: I'm a light-skinned, Jewish American, and I didn't try to photograph foreign embassies, military installations, etc.