Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump says that while police in the US know a lot about who might be a potential terrorist, they are afraid to act for fear of being accused of racism. He then suggested that the Americans will do well to learn from Israel regarding counter-terrorism practices.

Speaking to Fox News show "Fox and Friends", Trump criticized the prevailing "politically correct" atmosphere he claims is hindering the fight against terror.

"Our local police, they know who a lot of these people are," Mr. Trump opened, "but they're afraid to do anything about it, because they don't want to be accused of profiling, and they don't want to be accused of all sorts of things."

"Profiling" is a technique used to maximize the efficiency of the use of security resources. Security personnel assess different degrees of risk by profiling individuals and deciding if they are likely to be a terror threat. This involves paying more security attention to people who are part of "higher-risk" groups, such as males, young people, and - most controversially - Muslims.

Trump went on to mention that profiling is used very heavily in one place where security is of paramount concern - Israel.

"You know, in Israel, they profile. And they've done an unbelievable job, I mean, as well as you can do, and they'll profile. If they see someone suspicious, they will take that person and they'll check him out."

The presidential candidate ended by suggesting that the US also will simply be forced to implement profiling as a core practice. "Do we have a choice? Look what's going on. Do we really have a choice? We're trying to be so politically correct in this country, and it's only going to get worse."