Thursday, April 24, 2014

Where did Jews Spend their Passover Vacations?

כ"ה לחודש הראשון תשע"ד
YNET: Tens of thousands of Jews living abroad come to Israel for Passover
Tourism ministry estimates about 125,000 visitors will arrive in Israel for Jewish holiday.

Noam (Dabul) Dvir, April 14, 2014

Tens of thousands of Jews living abroad arrived in Israel this week to share the Passover Seder with family members in the Holy Land.

"It's good to come here for Passover; the weather here is excellent and in Denmark it's cold," said Emil Denino who arrived from Copenhagen with his daughter for a Seder in Haifa.

"It's not my first time," he said, "but it's my daughter's first time in Israel as an adult. Last time we came she was just three-years-old. It's very exciting for us to be here for Passover." (cont.)

Well, that's nice. Maybe they will stay, or at least have a nice experience, encouraging them to return someday soon. Meanwhile,...

YNET: Israelis flock to Turkey for Passover
Some 24,000 Israelis to spend Jewish holiday in resort city of Antalya, a 150% increase in number of passengers from last year.

Danny Sadeh, April 12, 2014

Thousands of Israelis are heading to the Turkish resort city of Antalya for the Passover holiday, after years of avoiding Turkey's "all-inclusive" clubs due to the country's strained diplomatic relations with Israel.

The reason is mainly economical. "At these prices, one doesn't think twice," one of the Israeli tourists explains. (cont.)
According to what I saw on Ynet.co.il, the most popular destination out of Ben-Gurion International Airport this Pesah was Turkey, more specifically, Antalya.
Turkish PM Erdoğan

Such short memories we have.

We apologized to Turkey for defending our borders against hostile, invading thugs, armed with knives and iron bars, and losing one of our soldiers in the process.

Then history repeats itself, when the apology is not considered to be good enough.

Yet, all the Israeli tourist mentioned above can continue saying is...
"I'm not in favor of boycotts anywhere. I have a vacation package here with a price no one can compete with. Apart from that, I know the Turks are yearning for tourists from Israel."
We are indeed a "stiff-necked people" (Ex. 32:9). But I am not entirely sure that the Torah was referring to our self-destructive tendencies of today.

Actually, now that I think about it, it quite possible was.

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