Is It Safe to Visit Israel?

About our second day into the tour, our guide Yossi asked, “How many of you had friends or family tell you that it wasn’t safe to go to Israel?” Everybody’s hand shot up. He then explained how the media portrays conditions in Israel which can be not only misleading but also outright lies. This we know firsthand. Our concerned parents worried about us after hearing some news about a situation in a country where we were living at the time (India, Indonesia, or Afghanistan), but there was no cause for concern!

The July 2013 issue of the Levitt Letter has an interesting article, “How Photographers Help Shape the News.” Reading that may give you an idea of what I’m talking about. 

Yossi continued, “We’re in the eye of the storm. It’s the surrounding areas that are in turmoil.” As he left us at the airport for our flight back home, he said, “Tell everybody it is safe to come to Israel!” 

My husband asked the tour agency that helped make our arrangements if they had ever had to cancel a tour to Israel. “No,” they said, “not in the last 25 years, but we have had to cancel some to neighboring countries.”  

It’s not my objective to discuss this in detail, but to convey Yossi’s message that it is safe to come to Israel and that we never felt afraid at any time. Some places in the United States are more dangerous than Israel. My husband Lyle is fond of saying, “Safety is in the Lord.” That doesn’t mean one takes unnecessary risks, but one makes informed decisions and then trusts in the Lord. Israel’s security is topnotch. And their police or soldiers don’t mind having their photos taken!

Elaine with Israeli soldier in the Wailing Wall area.

A number of Israeli soldiers came for lunch or coffee at Mount Bental near the Lebanon border while we were there. I was inside the restaurant and took the photo through the window. When they saw me, they immediately responded!

Soldiers at Mount Bental

The February 2013 issue of Israel Today reported that tourism to Israel hit an all-time high in 2012 with 3.5 million visitors. If you have wanted to visit Israel but have hesitated because of negative publicity, do not let that hinder you. We had such a marvelous time. I would return in a heartbeat—as would some of our group.

Our Group at Capernaum

As the sun sets over the Sea of Galilee signifying the end of the day, this entry ends this blog. I am, though, going to "tweak" it by adding a separate page with links, by working to find a good way to print the entries, and by reversing their order so they appear chronologically.

I hope you have enjoyed this journal about our tour to Israel and that it has encouraged you to make the pilgrimage to experience not only all the fascinating places but also to have the biblical narratives come alive for you.

Shalom! 

Smiles, Laughter, and Good Times

While visiting the Holy Land, we pause often to contemplate the ministry of Jesus and its impact on our lives. We develop friendships with people we never met before and call them a brother or sister in Christ when it comes time to say good-bye. Yet we also have fun! 

Some of our amusing times wouldn’t make sense to others, because “you had to be there!” So I won’t share those, but I have a few photos of what I’d call “fun” things… 

I think, for fun, this photo is a favorite. On the Via Dolorosa at station four, an open doorway revealed a courtyard with two ducks dandified with sunglasses and ball caps sitting under an umbrella! Garden markets by the roadside sold different sizes of these ducks (sans sunglasses and caps). We asked Yosii about them; he only said they were used as garden decorations. (Station four commemorates a meeting of Jesus with his mother Mary while carrying the cross to Calvary, although no account is recorded in scripture of such an event.)

The ducks were sitting just below the carpet hanging on the wall.

This photo is more charming than fun. “Big Sister” helps tie her younger sister’s shoe. The sculpture is on the lawn of the beach promenade in front of our hotel at Netanya. 

Another photo of siblings show them covered in Dead Sea mud, probably more for "fun" than for the mud's therapeutic and healing qualities. Their mother gave me permission to take their photo.

All over Israel one can see these bins for recycling plastic.

In Nazareth Village, Ted, who likes renovating houses, tries his hand at using a first-century drill.

Then we have the camels….. 

You’ve already seen us on camels going to Abraham’s tent, but when Mary and I climbed onto our camel, the face of another camel was only inches from my bare leg. Having heard they regurgitate some of their food and use their lips to fling it at an agitator, I was quite nervous until they moved him away! 

Although camels remain an important part of Bedouin property, camels in the towns are more a novelty than necessity. They can be found in major tourist areas waiting to give someone the ride of a lifetime.

Waiting to give tourists a ride.

If a child is afraid to get on a real camel, he or she can climb aboard this wooden one outside a shop on a street in Nazareth.

At the Mount of Beatitudes, in the garden, I saw this creature—a roughtail rock agama perhaps? I’m not an expert on lizards! 

Another favorite—which is surprising since I have a woman’s natural antipathy toward mice!—is what I call my Masada Mouse. This little brown creature scavenges for food at the top of the mountain at Masada.

Then the cats! They are everywhere. I have photos of cats from most cities in Israel. My “Jerusalem Cat" seeks shelter from the sun.

The last two photos are from Jaffa (Joppa). In March of 1799, Napoleon laid siege to the town and captured it. Historians relate the French brutally killed thousands of Jaffa’s inhabitants. My question is--why do they commemorate him with these statues? Or maybe they make fun of him? 

Barb and Lydia with Napoleon

Jaffa has become THE place where wedding parties have receptions and take photographs. The last stop on our tour was the harbor at Jaffa. And here was a bride having her photo taken—lying on the ground at the harbor! 

The end of this blog draws to a close. Before I finish, though,  I would like to do one more post to wrap things up and to address safety of travel in Israel. Unless I think of something else! 

“Unto a Land Flowing with Milk and Honey”

The Lord promised to give the Israelites a “land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:1). 

On our first day after we arrived in Israel, on the way to Caesarea, our guide Yossi shared interesting tidbits about Israel. “Our cows produce more milk than any others in the world.”

They also have many different kinds of honey and not only that of bees’. I searched the Internet and found a site, Chabad.org, with a column called “Ask the Rabbi.” He wrote, “Honey here [ in Ex. 3:8] (and elsewhere in the Scriptures) is generally understood to be a reference to fruit nectar, specifically date honey—not bees' honey.” That cleared up my puzzlement since our tour in 2009 when we ate chicken prepared in date honey at Abraham’s tent. I’d never heard of “date” honey, but it was so good that I bought a jar, and this time, several of our group purchased large containers of it. 

Date palms growing along the road between Jerusalem and Masada.

 

Friends have asked us what we eat when we go to Israel. We can only say—wonderful! So many tourists come to Israel each year that hotels accommodate these groups (some which can be up to 40 or more) by having buffets for breakfast and dinner. The plentiful choices are not only healthy but tasty. I could live on their breads alone—dark, crusty, and filled with flavor. A lot of different cheeses, fruit, and vegetables combined in all kinds of salads.  Humus is a mainstay on the buffet table as well as restaurants and cafes throughout Israel.

Humus

Rice and Chicken

Dessert choices. Their dark chocolate--marvelous!

Want a drink with ice? Sorry, but it's hard to come by here. Our hotel in Jerusalem did not have any. In Tiberias, however, if you asked the servers in the hotel restaurant, they would go to the back and bring out a large sack of ice. They have learned Americans like their ice!! 

When we're out touring, we don't go back to the hotels for lunch. It is not usually included in the tour price; it's on your own. Yossi took us to places where we could try local dishes like falafel and St. Peter’s fish. (See June 14 and June 18 posts). And of course, you can still find a KFC or MacDonald’s, even in the desert. 

KFC in Bethlehem

Macdonald's in the desert near Be'er Sheba.

The Israelites have been transforming the desert into fruitful fields. The photo below shows grapes and almond trees flourishing in the desert across from the archaeological site of Arad. The grapes grown here surprisingly make superior wine, according to Yossi.

 

 

Then there are fig trees, pomegranate, olive, and so many more!  

Fig Trees at Nazareth Village

Pomegranates

Olive Trees

One thing for sure, the “latter rains” and the hard work of the Israelites have made Israel once again, a “land flowing with milk and honey.”