All Entries Tagged With: "security"
Israel is perfectly safe – just watch out for those mad Israeli drivers!
Yes, Israel is safe to visit, despite what you might have seen on the BBC or CNN. Israel has often been portrayed as a constant battle-zone, but head out to Tel Aviv on a sunny, Friday afternoon and you might just be forgiven for thinking you’ve arrived in paradise…
The US State Department however, has found a certain aspect of Israeli life to be a little troublesome. Troublesome enough for it to get a warning for all US citizens traveling to Israel. And what might be alarming them so much? Oh yes, that nasty ol’ Israeli driver, the bane of many a tourist or Anglo immigrant to Israel. Yes, yes, we do love the drivers here in Israel. As do the US State Department:
Aggressive driving is a serious problem and many drivers fail to maintain safe following distances or signal before changing lanes or making turns.
The Israeli driver tends to make sudden stops in the middle of the street without any forewarning, particularly in the right-hand lane. Drivers must exercise significant caution on Israel’s roads, especially in light of the high number of traffic accidents that result in injury and the very congested streets, specifically in urban areas.
What?? That’s it? You lot over at the US State Dept better mosey on over to this post if you want to get a real gist of just what the heck driving in Israel is really like.
Our tip for driving glory in the Holy Land: learn to hate the indicator lever. Hate it with a passion and you will do well.
So, is it still safe to visit Israel?
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On Thursday we were celebrating Christmas; Saturday, pictures of bomb ravaged Gaza hit the screens. In the space of two days it has apparently all changed. The “explosion of love” I spoke about in my last post turned a full 180 degrees with a whole different series of explosions…
The world newsdesks sent their teams to cover Christmas in Bethlehem with huge numbers of tourists visiting Jesus’ birthplace. But now these news teams are no longer focused on Israel tourism, unfortunately.
So, it must seem that the whole country is at war and tourism will cease immediately. Undoubtedly there will be some effect on the number of tourists visiting Israel, but the reality for those tourists still here, or intending to visit, is much different.
I’ve been here for 18 years, trust me, the areas that you will likely visit as tourists are nowhere near the areas where the fighting is taking place. Gaza has always been a hot spot, and there are always incidents there, but look at the map – it’s way down South on the border with Egypt. There is no real danger.
