Heathen in the Holy Land: How I became an Israeli pseudo-celebrity

by Aaron Hotfelder on

To read part one of Gadling’s new “Heathen in the Holy Land” series, go here.

When I told a friend of mine I was headed to Israel for a week, he advised me, only half-jokingly, to look out for car-bombs. A fellow member of my fantasy baseball league suggested that if the worst should happen to me on this trip, we could re-name our league “The Aaron Hotfelder That’s-Why-You-Don’t-Take-a-Trip-to-a-War-Zone Memorial League.”

These reactions, and many others like them, reinforced what I already knew: that my friends are shit-heads. But more importantly for the purposes of this article, that Israel has a definite image problem.

Indeed, most people only ever hear of the country on TV news reports accompanied by stock footage of soldiers launching M-16s or in articles with headlines like “Israeli Soldiers Allege Indiscriminate Killing in Gaza,” or “Israel Hunts West Bank Attackers.”

The Ministry of Tourism for Israel is not blind to the country’s war-torn reputation. Last week, it sponsored a trip for a group of seven travel bloggers (myself included) aimed at improving the country’s public standing. The Ministry showed us the country’s swankiest hotels, most impressive ruins, and most breathtaking landscapes in the hopes that we’d give the country some positive coverage in the blogosphere as a result.

Press trips, those paid-for junkets that have been called travel writing’s “dirty little secret,” are actually relatively common in the print media. But a press trip for bloggers? Isn’t that a waste of money?

That’s what reporters from two different Israeli news programs wanted to know, along with one other important question: “Just what is a blogger?” To answer these questions, one of the reporters followed us around for several hours during our walking tour of Tel Aviv, while the other reporter accompanied us to Jerusalem’s Old Town. Both were followed by a man wielding a giant TV camera and another man carrying a boom mic. Needless to say, our group of seven felt a little like celebrities as we strolled to places like the “Last Supper Room” in Jerusalem and the historic Neve Tzedek neighborhood in Tel Aviv.

We got the the same look from each native Israeli who saw the camera crew following us around– a look which seemed to say, “Who the hell are these people?” To be sure, we did not look like movie stars. Our ragtag group mostly had faces for radio, if you catch my drift.

But these were my fifteen minutes of fame, dammit, and I was going to enjoy them. At a local wine shop in Tel Aviv, I could tell that our group, tired from the brutal schedule which is a staple of most press trips, wasn’t giving the cameraman much material. So with the camera rolling, I ventured a question to the rest of the group:

“So, do you think many people will decide to come to Israel after reading about it on our blogs?” I asked. “Because I do. I’ll bet people flock to Israel in droves after reading our glowing reviews!” The rest of the group stifled laughs and nodded their heads, aware that this contrived conversation was being made for the benefit of the reporter and camera man. Sure, it was a blatant attempt at getting on TV, but I didn’t get care.

In the end, that reporter’s segment on our group– and more importantly, my Israeli TV debut– was pre-empted for a three-hour press conference in which the country’s former president denied a rape charge. (This only served to reinforce my long-standing opposition to rape.) Thankfully, our group’s TV premiere came a couple days later in a two-minute segment on Channel 10. (Brush up on your Hebrew and watch it here.)

While my speaking parts were all cut out of the segment, I was featured quite prominently in several shots (see top photo, striped sweater), proving once again, as if any more proof is needed, that Andy Warhol was right about that fifteen minutes thing.

Disclosure: This week-long trip to Israel was sponsored by the country’s Ministry of Tourism. Unlike the trip, my opinions were not paid for because, dammit, my integrity is not for sale. That is not to say I wouldn’t entertain the right offer.

Heathen in the Holy Land: Is Israel even safe to visit?

by Aaron Hotfelder on

“Heathen in the Holy Land” is a new Gadling feature which will consist of posts all this week about my recent trip to Israel, a country you may have heard discussed once or twice on the news.

Over the course of this week, I’ll discuss a whole host of topics about the Holy Land, like what a leader of Kabbalah really thinks about Madonna, why Israel is not just a country for religious pilgrims and history nerds, how I became an Israeli pseudo-celebrity, and why you should really learn the Hebrew alphabet before you go.

But in this first post, I’ll answer the question posed to me by (among others) my mom, my friends, my mom’s friends, my barber, my sommelier, my waiter, my Lamaze coach, and my mechanic before I left on this trip: “Is Israel even safe to visit?”

Lots of people assume (wrongly) that Israel is not a safe place to go because, well, it’s on the news so much. Others assume the opposite– that Israel must be a safe country because, hey, people live there! I tend to fall into the latter category.

But here’s the important thing to remember: Both groups are wrong. Why? Because both groups are making assumptions. If you really want to know whether a country is safe, you have to do some actual research. This means more than simply reading the US State Department’s “Travel Warning” website, where the current entry on Israel warns travelers to look out for, among other things, short-range rockets, Molotov Cocktails, and “bulldozer attacks.” It’s enough to make even the most intrepid traveler want to spend the rest of his life at home eating Pop Tarts inside a pillow fort.

But the State Department, as the travel writer Cynthia Barnes has pointed out, is mostly made up of well-intentioned ninnies who, “like the father of a luscious 16-year-old” are “happiest when we’re at home.” Because of that, a more realistic portrait of a country’s security situation will come from our fellow travelers at places like Lonely Planet’s Thorntree forum or the Bootsnall forum. Most travelers on those sites warn, as I do, to stay the hell out of the Gaza Strip and be very careful when visiting the West Bank, which was the site of some violent protests only a couple months ago. (Note: When a person writes that they were “stoned in Bethlehem”, which is located in the West Bank, they’re talking about actual stones.)

So is Israel safe to visit? With the exception of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank, yes. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are no more dangerous than similarly-sized cities in the US or Europe, and violent crime in smaller towns is almost unheard of. As for the risk of terrorist activities or other large-scale violence– the reason most people feel trepidation about visiting the Middle East– most of the risk in Israel is confined to Gaza and the West Bank. Still, several years ago both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were the victims of small-scale suicide attacks, which is proof that in Israel, just as in any country, nowhere is entirely safe.

Bottom line: Do your homework before you go. Read the news, the travel forums, and yes, even the State Department’s website, to stay up-to-date on which parts of Israel are safe and which aren’t. Don’t let a general feeling that Israel might be unsafe prevent you from exploring this dynamic, fascinating country.

Disclosure: This week-long trip to Israel was sponsored by the country’s Ministry of Tourism. Unlike the trip, my opinions were not paid for because, dammit, my integrity is not for sale. That is not to say I wouldn’t entertain the right offer.

Thanks to Jordan Chark for contributing the background for our “Heathen in the Holy Land” graphic to the Gadling Flickr pool.

Concierge.com names Tel Aviv #1 must see destination of 09

by Grant Martin on

Many of the top destinations on Concierge.com’s 2009 “It” list may surprise you, starting with their number one pick: Tel Aviv. At they pitch it, however, Israel‘s second largest city and economic hub sounds glorious:

“…this newly hip city has plenty to celebrate, with a spate of new hotels and redevelopment, a happening contemporary art scene, and vibrant nightlife. Unlike more religious and conservative Jerusalem, Tel Aviv hasn’t seen a serious terrorist incident in years, and is the poster child for a more modern Israel“

Sound like it’s worth taking a visit? If you’re in the neighborhood, you might as well stop by number 10 on the list: Beirut, Lebanon. That’s right, the city still recovering from the 2006 Lebanon War has rebounded well enough to be included on this year’s It list as well.

Other top contenders?

  1. Tel Aviv, Israel
  2. Bolivia
  3. Utah
  4. Acapulco, Mexico
  5. Vilnius, Lithuania
  6. Central Philippines
  7. New York City
  8. Rajasthan, India
  9. Toronto, Canada
  10. Beirut, Lebanon

Stop by Concierge.com to check out explanations of each destination.

While visiting the “It” cities, will you encounter any of these 10 ridiculous laws?


(Click the images to see the 10 stupidest laws anywhere.)

U.S. State Department travel warnings. Useful or useless?

by Jamie Rhein on

How useful are those U.S. State Department travel warnings? If you read too many, you might become scared off of travel all together.

As Carol Pucci points out in a recent Seattle Times article, politics and economics might play into U.S. State Department travel warnings and recommendations. This doesn’t mean that, if there is a travel warning for a particular country, you should poo poo it as nonsense, and not proceed with caution when making plans. Perhaps, though, the travel warning isn’t totally warranted. Pucci suggests checking other government’s travel warning venues, such as Canada’s, Australia’s and the United Kingdom’s.

Sometimes, even when a warning might be a good idea, the country does not make the travel warning list. Pucci cited India as an example. Consider this:

Just recently, less than a month ago, there was a bombing at Connaught Place in New Delhi, a part of the city that boasts United Coffee House, my favorite restaurant for samosas and drip coffee.

It is a gem of a place that dates back to the early 1930s. The colonial architecture with an Art Deco twist is superb. Connaught Place is popular with tourists, but is also part of the finance industry and is near government offices.

When I lived in New Delhi, two terrorist attempts were thwarted close by where I frequented. Our response, as well as everyone I knew, was to toodle around like normal.

Pucci makes the observation that despite the 140 people who have been killed in India since May due to troublesome unrest, India isn’t on the warning list.

Click on the link for the countries that are on the list. Israel is one of them–so is Nepal. A friend of mine who recently returned from Israel recently emailed me about the great time he had. Other friends of ours moved to Nepal a year and a half ago and haven’t had any problems that I’ve heard of.

The best advice I have–if you want to visit a country that is on the list, is find out which part of that country is a safety concern and avoid those areas. When we went to Sri Lanka, for example we flew into Colombo, but left for other towns and had an absolutely safe, marvelous time. Perhaps, Colombo would have been perfectly fine, but the sites we wanted to see were elsewhere anyway.

If you can swing it, go to United Coffee house. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye out.

Photo of the Day – (9-17-08)

by Jamie Rhein on

The perspective here is alluring. This is not a bridge to nowhere, but a dock that leads out to the Dead Sea in Israel. I love how the distant shore looks like a painting, and the dock looks as if it is part of another photograph that was cut out and placed on a separate photo of the water. Very cool. Very artsy.

Ben640 added this photo two days ago. If you have shots to share, send them our way at Gadling’s Flickr Photo Pool. That’s how we get our Photo of the Day,