Should I go for an Israel tour this spring/summer? Should I go at all?Is it as dangerous as the U.S. media say

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yurionkeyboards

Israel is very safe because you most likely won't be able to go to the dangerous places. I assume you're going on one of the birthright tours. Just don't go to the following places without a military escort:

East Jerusalem/Muslim quarter
Sderot
Lebanese Border

And do not go to these places at all - since the Israeli presence is gone and these people can't control themselves:

Gaza
West Bank

The Lebanese border is beautiful and generally well fortified. The Golan Heights are breathtaking and Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Eilat, the Dead Sea, Galilee and a lot of other places in Israel are perfectly safe, more so than in the US, and are absolutely beautiful.

Any Israeli person or someone who has actually been there would answer the same way.

grammadebbie50

One of the first things one learns once in Israel is how wrong the media is. Im not kidding--really wrong.

Israel is safer than most major cities of the world.
Add to that--going there is life changing--simply awesome.
I loved it there and can not wait to go back--my friends where there last summer during the conflict and not only were they safe--they were able to lend a hand to the Israeli soldiers and families.

Go--enjoy and be prepared to come back a changed (for the better) human being. :)

june m

i am going to israel in springtime, go and enjoy abeautiful historic place to many people have an opinion about stuff they dont even now about. my friend has been twice without any incidents.

Josh

Statistically, it is safer than any major American city-but I would try to blend in while there, as much as possible-IOW, when in Rome/Jerusalem act as the Romans do.

red sox!

GO TO ISRAEL!
it is probally more dangerus walking down the streets of NYC then Tel Aviv. It is not really that dangerous at all. if the us media showed what normaly happenes no one would care. the media only shows news, like a bus blowing up. and the news blows the bus blowing up out of perportion
(example a Anna Nichole Smith dieing? Who Cares she is only one person what about the soilders in Iraq dieing?)

Israel is perfectly safe and you should most defintley go.

Hatikvah JPA

GO and savor the atmosphere! Israel protects all visitors regardless of race, creed, etc. Our friends were in the Old City when Lebanon started lobbing bombs. Israeli police offered them a personal escort back to their hotel.

When we were there, I tended to avoid bus stops and crowded shopping areas. Those are the places where you will be most vulnerable because the peaceloving extremists are out to kill as many as possible with one crazed bomber. Someone is posted at the door of every restaurant to check bags and suspicious dress. You will also tend to do that for a few days until you begin to feel more comfortable.

The Israeli tours are first class! The guides have studied for at least two years and have passed rigorous testing. The tours will not go anyplace where you would be in danger. They haven't lost a tourist yet. I felt safer there than I did in East Los Angeles! If we had Travel Advisories for cities in the U.S., I wouldn't leave home!
.

Halliburton

Yes, Yes, Absolutely not. israel is beyond awesome. Do it. now.

in response to Superwoman
Did you know that Israel is sorrounded by over a dozen states committed to its destruction?

Itay Lahad

Go! It's safe! Israel isn't Iraq. Really, it's as safe as any Western country (if not safer- since it has low levels of domestic crime). Have fun!

Michael J

Ok that answer is way too long to attempt to address all the inaccuaracies. I'll try to be general: non-Jew does not equal palestinian. This may come as a surprise, but there are other people in the middle east besides Jews and Palestinians. Palestinian license plates are different colors because they are not Israeli, not because they are not Jews. Israeli arabs have the same license plates as everyone else. Furthermore, to compare that to the star-branding the Nazis practiced is repulsive and offensive. Anyone who compares anything about the Middle East today to the atrocities of Nazi Germany is not only grossly mistaken, but disrespectful to what really transpired not that long ago. 11 million innocent civilians were inhumanly genocidally butchered and enslaved over the course of 5 years. That is in no way comparable to the situation in Israel. The Palestinians are not the Jews of yesteryear. If you really care about genocide, do something about Darfur. They need you more. Forget, I'll try to do 1 for 1:
1)Your statement is misleading and inconsistent. In general the state owns the land, and it is leased to the citizens, BOTH JEWISH AND NON-JEWISH. Once again, non-Jews does not equal palestinians, and are definately not Israeli. If you really want land injustice, research how much land is owned by the christian churches and monasteries. To address the non-sequiter, yes Israel is founded as a Jewish country, to be a Jewish homeland, thus Jews are given citizenship. Palestinians decided they would rather have war than their own country (they were Jordanians then), so they don't have one today. While a small minority may have been there for centuries, Israel was mostly depopulated until the Zionist movement came along in the end of the 19th century. Most Palestinian families have not been in Israel for a century.
2) Already addressed; non-Jew does not equal Palestinian, license plate different colors because they are not Israeli, reference to Holocause disgusting
3)Yes, I think everyone in the world knows that.
4)Um, that isn't true. Like at all. As in, where did you make this up? What is true is that there is a water accord between Israel and "Palestine" which divides the water in relation to population. As Israel, pop. 6 million, is much more populated than the Palestinain areas, about 2.5 million, the water is divided 70% to Israel and 30% to Palestinians. The Hebron Jews mentioned receive from the 70% because they are Israelis. The Palestinians are not, and therefore receive from the water allotted to the Palestinians, or from the 30%. You present information very misleadingly
5)I think a lot of people know that America gives aid to Israel, which is at $2.46 billion (not 5).
6)Look at that, in the space of one question the figure dropped from 5 to 3 billion. Amazing! In 2004, America gave $3.399 billion to sub-Saharan Africa. Last I checked that is larger than $2.46 billion, or even the $3 billion you propose. But maybe we aren't discussing the same Africa. America definately gave more money to Israel than SOUTH Africa. So I guess in a way you're right with your misleading facts. I agree much of the money is used to buy arms.
7) I don't really see what you're trying to say. Israel purchased advanced weaponry. America will supply it. What's the problem?
8) I did not know that, but I don't see what the big deal is. I mean they complained about bombing an Iraqi nuclear reactor. Wasn't the fear of a nuclear Iraq enough to drive a nation (more than one in fact) to war? Especially when we now are being confronted with a possible nuclear Iran, I think Israel did the world a service.
9)Um, Saddam barred inspectors once upon a time, as did Ahmadinejad. I don't really feel like checking now if what you say is true, but I don't that signing a piece of paper proves anything about intentions, as recent events have shown.
10)You lie. No high-ranking officer has ever said that Israel executed POWs. If you are referring to the brouhaha over a recent documentary, the director himself said that the arab media has blown what he said out of proportion, and that POWs weren't killed, fedayeen fighters were killed IN BATTLE.
11) The bombing of the USS Liberty was an accident. It was durring the Six Day War, and the boat was unidentified. Israel thought it was an Egyptian craft (it was awfully close to the coast) so they attacked it. When they noticed the American flag flying the halted the attack, and apologized and tried to help. I don't know about bombing a diplomatic facility in Egypt, but I assume it was not intentional. Too much to respond to to look it up right now.
12)I could believe it. The UN is notoriously anti-Israel, as the number of resolutions against Israel is staggering. We all have to realize that the UN is not the bastion of Justice, it is the bastion of politics. Arab favor=arab oil, and most countries find that much more appealing than Jewish favor, as Israel sadly has no oil.
13) I think everyone knows that. It is defined as a Jewish country, dedicated to being the Jewish homeland.
14) First of all, Ariel Sharon is no longer the Prime Minister. He is responsible in that he was supposed to protect those people, and he did not. Neither he nor the Israeli troops under him murdered those people. It is shameful and he was much detested for that. It was not until 25 years later that he pursued a career in politics.
15)You honestly are just a liar. The murderer was NOT a soldier, he stole his BROTHER'S gun, while his BROTHER was a soldier. THE MURDERER WAS ARRESTED, CONVICTED, AND SENTENCED TO 7 LIFE SENTENCES + 20 YEARS. My god, you are destroying honest debate.
16) I didn't know that, but I'm not going to waste time sorting out the truth when I have all these misleading "facts" to deal with
17)I could believe it. The fact that Israel needs to work harder to create a positive image is because of misleading liars like yourself.
18) Sharon: not PM (See above). Forced expulsion is not ethnic cleansing. Further, aren't you advocating the forced expulsion of the Jewish settlers from those same territories?
19) David Ben-Gurion may have approved the theory of population transfer, frist floated by the British in 1937. Clearly with over a million arabs in Israel, no serious expulsion was attempted. I would once again remind you that both Jews and Palestinians live right now in the Occupied Territories; one of them will have to go for the two state solution. Is that not also forced expulsion?
20)To begin with, your reference to a "Final Solution" added to your attempt to hi-jack the holocaust for your own political ends is disgusting. Rav Ovadia Yosef is the former chief rabbi, as well as the spiritual leader of the Shas party (which is the 5th largest party). Furthermore, you are taking his words out of context. What he was saying is that Israel should pursue the Palestinian terrorists, not all Palestinians. Shas's political track-record proves beyond all doubt that it is not a party that advocates slaughter. Rav Ovadia Yosef and the Shas party supported both the return of SInai to Egypt for peace and the Oslo accords
21)Could be true, I won't fact check you. If Israel did not absorb the Jewish refugess from Arab countries after the founding of the state, then Palestinians would be second. Somehow Israel was able to absorb those people (and triple in population in a very short time) while none of the 20+ muslim countries in the region could do the same. Go figure.
22)I was not aware that Palestinian Christians had such lofty status. Nor was I aware that they had taken up arms against Israel. I think you might be misleading us again. Tsk tsk.
23)This may surprise you, but every country that has ever fought a war ever has used torture. As we speak torture is occuring throughout the world, in both modern and not-so-modern countries. Palestinians torture captured soldiers as well. It's the ugly truth of war.
24)I'll take your word for it (though I probably shouldn't). However, your fact is meaningless. How many of those PhDs came from a University not in the Middle-East? Plus, what's a PhD anyway? Israel is in the top-7 for patents per-capita, and is second only to the US in companies on the NASDAQ market. Furthermore Israel has built a thriving, modern high-tech economy. For all their PhDs, Palestinians haven't gotten it together. And don't blame Israel for this one; plenty of money has been given to build a working economy. Instead those funds bought Mercedes for Arafat and weapons for various groups. Recent problems are a result of the election of Hamas. Not Israel's fault at all.
25) The Palestinians have a democratically elected government. One that espouses hate and genocide, and refuses to recognize Israel. Human beings do not have the right to create a violent and war oriented country.
26) Legally, Egypt declared war a month before the pre-emptive strike by blockading the port of Eilat. Furthermore, don't even try to pretend that Egypt and Syria had no intention of attacking. On top of that, the pre-emptive strike was against Egypt, and Egypt alone. In that strike, Egypt's airforce was effectively destoryed while sitting on the runway. Only after that did the war begin in earnest, with Syria attacking from the north and Jordan from the east. Israel had decent relations with Jordan and hopes for peace, and requested that Jordan not interfere. Feeling the pressure of the arab world, Jordan attacked, and in the counter-attack lost East Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria (the "west bank"). In summation: Israel attacked Egypt first, and that was the pre-emptive strike. The rest was counterattack.
27) Which it attempts to do. I would point out the Israel supplies both power and water to the Palestinian people, as well as weapons to the proper Palestinian authorities (where they go after that is a different matter)
28) So out of date, won't even respond
29) This is a downright lie. The tunnels are being excavated under the Temple Mount (a holy site for Jews as well) for archeological and historial reasons. The structure is safe. Further more "50 years" is impossible, as the Old City of Jerusalem has only been in Israel's hands since 1967. I would point out that the Temple Mount, and the Dome of the Rock, were taken in 1967, yet Israel turned over control of the area to the Jordanian Waqf. Not exactly intent to destroy. I would also like to point out that Palestinians have actually destroyed Jewish holy sites, like Jacob's tomb. Perhaps that is why they are so ready to believe that Israel is doing the same?
30)Everyone has the right to his own opinion
31)See note above about the UN.

diana

yes you should go to Israel
it's a wonderful country
great weather
great people
beautiful places
good food
we are waiting....

Meamz

what is so interesting over there ? it's not worth risking ur life !

Fanano

Supper women!!!

What an answer .... You deserve the best answer.

Yes, as they all said.. It's not safe thanks to some people!

mark

Israel is unpredictable place you never know what is going to happened next. The country is at war there are guns everywhere only fools go to a war zone as a tourist.

DAVAY

Israel is a war zone because Israel want to keep occupying land that was never part of Israel.

Michael Ballack

really dangerous , don't go

Supper women

*** What Did You Know About Israel?

1. Did you know that non-Jewish Israelis cannot buy or lease land in Israel? A Jew from any country in the world is guaranteed citizenship in Israel, while the Palestinians who have been there for centuries are oppressed and persecuted.

2. Did you know that instead of sewing an insignia on clothing to distinguish race (like the Germans did to the Jews before WW2), Palestinian license plates in Israel are color coded to distinguish Jews from non-Jews?

3. Did you know that East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights are all considered by the entire world community, including the United States and the United Nations, to be occupied territory and NOT part of the State of Israel?

4. Did you know that Israel allots 85% of the water resources for Jews, and the remaining 15% is divided among all Palestinians in the territories? For example in Hebron, 85% of the water is set aside for about 400 Jewish settlers, while the remaining 15% is distributed among Hebron's 120, 000 Palestinians?

5. Did you know that the United States awards Israel $5 billion in aid each year from American tax dollars?

6. Did you know that US aid to Israel ($3.0 billion annually) exceeds the aid the US grants to the entire African continent? This aid is used both to buy American weaponry and to buy arms made in Israel.

7. Did you know that Israel is awaiting an additional $4 billion worth of American military hardware, including new F-16s and Apache and Blackhawk helicopters. As Israel's main ally and supporter internationally, the United States is committed to maintaining the Jewish state's "qualitative edge" in weapons over its neighbors.

8. Did you know that the U.S. administration has notified Congress on numerous occasions that Israel has violated the rules on how US-supplied weapons are used? (In 1978, 1979 and 1982 during fighting in Lebanon, and once after Israel's bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981.)

9. Did you know that Israel is the only country in the Middle East that refuses to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and bars international inspections from its sites?

10. Did you know that high-ranking military officers in the Israeli Defense Forces have admitted publicly that unarmed prisoners of war have been summarily executed by the Israeli forces?

11. Did you know that Israel blew up an American diplomatic facility in Egypt and attacked a US warship in international waters (the USS Liberty), killing 33 and wounding 177 American sailors and the US did nothing about it?

12. Did you know that Israel stands in defiance of 69 United Nations Security Council Resolutions?

13. Did you know that Israel is explicitly dedicated to the policy of maintaining a distinct Jewish character?

14. Did you know that Israel's current Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, was found by an Israeli court to be "personally and directly responsible" for the Sabra and Shatilla massacre in Lebanon where more than a thousand innocent Palestinian men, women, and children were axed to death or lined up and shot in cold blood?

15. Did you know that on May 20, 1990, a group of unarmed Palestinian laborers were lined up and murdered by an Israeli solider as they sat waiting for transportation back to Gaza? The terrified laborers who gathered in an area of southern Israel known as Rishon Lezion (known to Palestinians by its Arabic name Oyon Qara) handed their ID cards to the Israeli soldier. The soldiers ordered the distressed laborers to kneel down and face the ground and unexpectedly showered them with a barrage of bullets, killing seven and wounding many others. Needless to say, the soldier was not charged with any crime.

16. Did you know that until as recently as 1988, Israelis were permitted to run "Jews Only" job ads?

17. Did you know that the Israeli Foreign Ministry pays six US public relations firms to promote a "positive image" of Israel to the American public?

18. Did you know that Sharon's coalition government includes a party--Molodet--which advocates ethnic cleansing by openly calling for the forced expulsion of all Palestinians from the occupied territories?

19. Did you know that recently-declassified documents indicate that David Ben-Gurion approved of the forced expulsion of Arabs from all Palestininan territory in 1948?

20. Did you know that the former chief rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Ovadia Yossef, who is also a founder and spiritual leader of the religious Shas party (Israel's third largest political party) openly advocates a 'Final Solution' to annihilate the Palestinians? Speaking at the widely broadcast sermon marking the last Passover, he declared of the Palestinians: "The Lord shall return their deeds on their own heads, waste their seed and exterminate them, devastate them and vanish them from this world. It is forbidden to be merciful to them. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable."

21. Did you know that Palestinian refugees make up the largest portion of the refugee population in the world?

22. Did you know that Palestinian Christians are considered the "living stones" of Christianity because they are the direct descendants of the disciples of Jesus Christ? And the Palestinian Christians stand united with their Muslim brethren in the struggle against the Israeli occupation.

23. Did you know that despite a ban on torture by Israel's High Court of Justice, torture has continued unabated by Shin Bet interrogators on Palestinian prisoners?

24. Did you know that despite every Israeli attempt to disrupt Palestinian education, Palestinians have the highest ratio of PhDs per capita in the world?

25. Did you know that the right of self-determination is guaranteed to every human being under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [December, 1948], yet Palestinians were/are expected to negotiate for this right under the Oslo Accords?

26. Did you know that despite what is widely perpetuated and written in the history books that the Arabs attacked Israel in the 1967 war, it was Israel who attacked the Arab countries first, capturing Jerusalem and the West Bank, and called the attack a pre-emptive strike?

27. Did you know that, as an occupying power, Israel has a particular responsibility under the Geneva Conventions to protect Palestinian civilians?

28. Did you know that, despite Ariel Sharon's public call for a unilateral ceasefire; Israeli soldiers have not stopped shooting, killing or bulldozing Palestinian homes? The most recent example of this is the murder of three innocent women who were shot by an Israeli tank as they sat in their tent!

29. Did you know that the Zionists have been trying to destroy Masjid al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock for the last 50 years by digging underground tunnels beneath the sites to weaken its foundation causing it to collapse?

30) Did you know that Nelson Mandela called the Israeli government an apartheid regime, just like South Africa used to be?

31) There are 3 UN resolutions that ask for Israel to give the Palestinians back the land.

*** Know More about Israel: (Terrible photos of killed people included)

1- Video show Israeli crimes on Quanah in 1996: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/quana_01_19_03.htm

2- Israeli Crimes: ( Details and Numbers of the Nazi Jews activities)
http://www.deathmasters.com/

3- Jenin Massacres:
http://www.voicesofpalestine.org/massacres/jenin.asp

4- WANTED for conspiracy to commit mass murder, war crimes, genocide and violation of Geneva conventions:
http://www.deathmasters.com/gallery.htm

5- Israeli Attack "Terribly Wrong", US Response: Status Quo, World: Two-State, Peace Plan
by Mike Leon
http://www.counterpunch.org/leon0805.html

6- That is funny photo:
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6886/3476/1600/israeli_war_crimes_qana.0.jpg

7- Who are the real Terrorists? (By: Hal Turner)
http://www.halturnershow.com/IsraeliAtrocities.html

*** Notes:
1- Palestinians have to deal with American-made most modern weapons (apache, M16, all sophisticated missiles, and everything that USA can give). They are the most sophisticated weapons that are ever used against defenseless civilians in history. Israelis kill Palestinian brutally, they buried people ALIVE in the rubble of their homes, or shot them in the head. If you don't believe me, open this link: http://www.halturnershow.com/IsraeliAtrocities.html

2- Israel also bombs Palestinian power plants, making all Palestinians live in darkness. Palestinian government cannot build the new plants, at they have no money because Palestinians taxpayers' money is held by Israel and Israel doesn't want to return it to Palestine. So there will be no electricity in Palestine, at least for next few years.

3- Violent actions by some Muslims are strongly reported all over the world while racist and violent Christians (do not mention Israeli massacres in Palestine and Lebanon) are under reported or at best not linked to the religion of the offender. Why? No one said that Christianity is violent after Abou Gharib prison crimes in Iraq done by the USA solders, no one says that Judaism is violent after (I can not count the number of massacres done by Israelis).

4- If your fatherland is treated that way, would you fight back? Palestinians are trying to fight back with whatever they can, but they are marked terrorist because of that. I wonder why people don't mark Israel as terrorist.

5- Israelis think they are the CHOSEN people by God, but unfortunately they work for Satan. They are the servant of Satan.

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