It appears that Israelis are just not having Prime Minister Netanyahu’s plan to restructure the country’s judiciary. Demonstrations, that have been ongoing since Netanyahu announced his plans in January, were ratcheted up to a much hotter level last Sunday after he fired his defense minister. The minister had urged Netanyahu to ease up on his push to defang the judiciary because it was leading to dissension among the military. That created a “clear, immediate and tangible threat to the security of the nation.” The news stories might have raised the concerns of anyone thinking of traveling to Israel.
Within an hour of the firing of the defense minister, tens of thousands went to the streets to protest. Protestors lit fires on Tel Aviv’s main highway, closing down traffic for hours. Diplomats at foreign embassies walked off the job. The country’s main doctors union declared that its members would strike. Malls and universities closed. The list went on and on as support for Netanyahu rapidly caved.
On Monday, after three months of tensions and demonstrations, Netanyahu announced he would delay his plans to overhaul the judiciary, and to seek a compromise with opponents in order to “avoid civil war.” Netanyahu’s change to a conciliatory tone took place as tens of thousands were demonstrating outside parliament, and Israel’s largest labor union had launched a nationwide strike.
As protests led to strikes and work stoppages, cascading into service disruptions and then to economic hemorrhaging, there was a lot of rage to contain—and a lot of damage to sustain. It forced Netanyahu to back off, and things will calm down now, at least for a while. The issue won’t be taken up again till the next session of parliament begins on April 30. By that time, the politics will no doubt have changed. The dramatic erosion of Netanyahu’s power will have to be taken into consideration in the next round. No side needs that kind of tension and disruption.
The dispute over judicial reform is muddied by the fact that Netanyahu himself is currently on trial for three criminal cases. In May 2020, Netanyahu became Israel’s first sitting prime minister to face trial. He denies the charges and says it’s all a “witch hunt.” He rejected calls to step down. Netanyahu has held office continuously since 2009. He also held the office from 1996 to 1999.
As wild as it all sounds, from what I gather in speaking to tour operators who take travelers to Israel, these are targeted political disputes and do not pose a danger to travelers. The battles are passionately fought, but they are internal arguments between different political factions inside Israel’s political system. Things have obviously gotten pretty wild, but the demonstrations are not violent riots, and they don’t pose a threat to tourists, assuming travelers are well advised, well-informed and cautious as is appropriate when visiting any foreign place.
We aren’t talking about Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, which are something else entirely. These strikes and protests are not the kinds of events that pose much danger to travelers. As in most other countries, nearly all opposing factions recognize the value of tourism to their countries. So that’s usually one thing all sides tend to agree on: tourists bring money. Tourists are not targets of this kind of political anger.
From Those on the Ground
In spite of the fact that Israel has been engulfed in turmoil, tour operators agree that the country is a safe place to travel. A little messy? Yes, but not dangerous. It’s part of the lively political life of Israel. Israelis may disagree fundamentally and passionately on many things, but they seem to tacitly agree that the country appreciates its visitors and does not want to drive them away.
The tour operators I spoke to, including Collette, Alexander + Roberts, SITA and Ya’lla, all reported their common belief that the political struggles in Israel in recent weeks do not constitute dangers to their clients.
Tour operators all agree on one thing, that the security of their clients is their number one responsibility. They take that job very seriously. When you ask a tour operator what they think about the safety of a place, they speak with the authority of one whose business success and reputation rest on that one factor more than any other. That is the trade. The pride of a tour operation is assuring the safety of its guests in a terrain it knows well, but is probably new to them.
Robert Drumm, president of Alexander + Roberts, acknowledged that Israel is messy now, but also said confidently that his clients there are fine.
Diana Ditto, the senior director of product marketing at Collette, gave pretty much the same kind of assurance. “The safety of our travelers is always our priority,” she said, “and we’re keeping an eye on the situation in Israel. With that being said, travel is still safe to the Holy Land, we wouldn’t advise any travelers to stray away from their plans.”
Ralf Korbner, operations manager for SITA World Tours, told me, “The current protests in Israel are internal and unrelated to any Arab-Israeli conflict. They arose due to the attempt by the current government to change the balance of the separation of powers, a core-element in democratically ruled nations.”
I spoke to Ralf just as the dispute was cresting and Netanyahu was calling for his “pause,” which defused the situation. Though, even during the weeks of strikes, it was not a dangerous situation for travelers. According to Ralf, the disruptions could affect travelers in two major ways. Flights in and out of Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv may suffer irregularities as a result of strikes against the Netanyahu government. There could also be some disruptions in tour arrangements and transportation, and some disruptions in service because of strikes of tourism service personnel.
The most important fact of the story is, as Ralf Korbner says, “The current travel challenges, if any, are not dangerous; rather they may inconvenience the international traveler.” SITA World Tours is still promoting, booking, and operating its tours of Israel. That’s its seal of approval.
The most passionate report I got as I made my rounds among tour operators was from Ronen Paldi, an Israeli himself, who has operated Ya’lla Tours for decades. He recently relocated back to Tel Aviv, after living 33 years in America. In speaking to Ronen about this issue, I experienced the passion and pride that Israelis have in their democracy.
“For the last 12 weeks,” he said, “we are seeing weekly and then bi-weekly peaceful protests against a corrupt prime minister that is trying to take Israel into a dictatorship from a full democracy by changing the judicial system and control the nominations of judges, while he is facing criminal trial (since 2019) for corruption.”
He continued: “This compromised Israel’s economy, society and most recently, its safety, but the corrupt Bibi [nickname for Netanyahu] didn’t care as he insisted on pursuing his plans. Today he fired the Minister of Defense just because he shared with him how sensitive the safety of Israel could become, and Bibi didn’t like it so he fired him. This triggered a peak with hundreds of thousands of people reaching the streets, all peaceful and with no violence, what forced the corrupt Bibi to postpone his plans until the end of July, which, by then, we will all protest again.”
According to Ronen, as soon as Netanyahu made his announcement, the strikes were called off and things went back to normal. Even when it was happening, he said, Ya’lla’s guests were not inconvenienced by it.
“In those 12 weeks of protest Ya’lla had hundreds of travelers visiting Israel,” he said. “None even felt the protest, and were surprised that their guide asked them if they know what is going on. Like us, every other tourist felt the same. Is Israel safe? Absolutely yes. Will Israel be safe tomorrow? Absolutely yes.”
It will be good to keep an eye on what is going on in Israel, but it’s not a dangerous place these days. Of course there is risk anywhere, but that’s life: here, there, and everywhere.
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.