By Aryeh Savir
JERUSALEM (TNA) – Operation ‘Protective Edge’ has generated various financial challenges for Israel’s economy, as the financial activity slowed down during the operation and the costs of the military campaign will weigh heavily on Israel’s upcoming annual budget.
One of the Israel’s most known financial segments, its tourism, has taken a big hit as a result of the operation. According to data presented by the Tourism Ministry, tourist entries were down by 21% during July, the height of the season in Israel. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, 218,000 visitor entries were recorded in Israel in July 2014. This number is lower than all the July statistics from 2008-2013.
Nearly all European countries have issued travel warnings, advising their citizens to stay at least 40 kilometers away from Gaza, the range most vulnerable to Hamas rocket attacks, as well as from the Judea and Samaria and the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem. The United States also issued several travel warnings urging US citizens to be cautious and avoid “areas of unrest.”
The Ministry points out that thanks to the momentum in tourism since the beginning of 2014 up to Operation ‘Protective Edge’, a positive trend remains: From January-July 2014, 1.9 million tourists entered Israel, 13% more than the same period in 2013, 12% more than 2012 and 15% more than 2011.
Tourism Minister Dr. Uzi Landau stated: “Israel is preparing for the ‘day after’. The Tourism Ministry is planning to invest in marketing campaigns in target countries around the world in order to encourage incoming tourism.”
The Ministry has already launched a broadly publicized campaignvin Israel to encourage internal tourism.
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Savir is a staff writer for the Tazpit News Agency in Israel
The Palestinian elected party, Hamas, are called terrorists by Israel, because it’s said they refuse to recognize Israel, but, as Jewish American and Middle East scholar, Norman Finkelstein, said in an Denmark interview, “Well, it’s not as if Hamas has been around since eternity. The Israelis have the option of settling the conflict before January 2006, when Hamas was elected into office. If Hamas is the obstacle, then why weren’t they able to settle the conflict before Hamas was elected into office?
“Because (the Israeli government) refuse the terms of the international community every year as it happens in November […] the international community votes on the resolution in the United Nations General Assembly to settle the conflict and every year the vote is the same. The whole world on one side, a hundred sixty one nations last year, and then there are the United States, Israel, Naru, Palau, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and sometimes Australia, on the other side.
“The problem isn’t Hamas. Hamas has repeatedly said it is willing to settle the conflict on the June 1967 border.” The interviewer then remarked that they refuse to recognize the State of Israel. Finkelstein replied, “Well they refuse to recognize what they call the legitimacy of the State of Israel, but under international law they’re not obliged to recognize the legitimacy of the State of Israel. If you go back, for example, to 1947, Gandhi said he’ll accept the reality of Pakistan, but he would never accept the legitimacy of the State of Pakistan and Hamas is not expected to be held to a higher level of diplomacy than Gandhi.” It does not make you an anti-Semite or self-hating Jew if you disagree with what Israel’s currently doing, just a person with a conscience, good heart and compassion.