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.
