US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV1121

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 001121 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2015 
TAGS: CASC, PREL, IS, U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONS, ECONOMY AND FINANCE, GOI EXTERNAL 
SUBJECT: ISRAELI TOURISM MINISTER REQUESTS CHANGE IN U.S. 
TRAVEL WARNING 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer for Reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
 
1. (C) Summary.  During a February 23 meeting with the 
Ambassador, Minister of Tourism Abraham Hirchson stressed the 
GOI's hope that the USG would change the travel warning 
regarding travel to Israel.  The Ambassador replied that the 
USG reviewed such warnings on a regular basis, but noted that 
terror attacks in Israel had killed 43 U.S. citizens since 
the beginning of the current Intifada in September 2000. 
Minister Hirchson and the Ambassador also discussed the 
possibility of increasing U.S. tourism to Israel, and 
examined opportunities for package tours involving Israel, 
Egypt and Jordan.  Hirchson said he was phasing out his 
Ministry's support for projects in the occupied territories 
and noted he wished to improve cooperation with Israeli Arabs 
in the tourism sphere.  End Summary. 
 
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Travel Warning 
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2.  (C) Minister of Tourism Hirchson and Ministry of Tourism 
Marketing Administrator Rami Levi spent the majority of the 
meeting with the Ambassador on the subject of the travel 
warning.  Levi maintained that his research showed that the 
warning represented the major obstacle to increasing tourism 
to Israel.  Whereas the number of Jewish tourists from the 
United States to Israel had actually increased since 1999, 
the number of non-Jews had fallen significantly.  This factor 
was very important in view of the key role played by 
evangelical Christians who would normally view Israel as a 
natural travel destination.  Levi noted the travel warning 
made it very difficult for visitors to obtain travel 
insurance.  This meant that Pastors and Rabbis leading groups 
to Israel could personally be sued should something happen to 
the groups they would lead here.  All of this meant a 
significant loss of revenues for the government, lower 
employment, lower hotel usage, among other important impacts. 
 Other governments, such as Germany, based their stance 
towards travel to Israel on the U.S. warning as well, he 
noted. 
 
3.  (C) Levi claimed that "Israel is just as safe as many 
places without a travel warning."  He stressed that the USG 
should not merely consider threats against a country when 
deciding on travel warnings, but also countries' ability to 
defend against these threats.  He said that Conde Nast had 
called Ben Gurion airport the "safest airport in the world," 
and that Travel and Leisure magazine had called "an Israeli 
airline" the world's safest.  In any case, the number of 
terror attacks had decreased significantly over the past 
year.  Even Secretary Rice, he said, had referred to new 
hopes for peace in the region.  Hirchson asked whether it 
would be possible for the USG to create a travel warning that 
differentiated between various parts of Israel.  The "time 
had come to remove the travel warning," Hirchson claimed; 
even Pat Robertson had said he did not understand why it was 
in place. 
 
4.  (C) The Ambassador responded by noting that the USG 
reviewed its travel warnings on a regular basis, taking into 
account all new, relevant information.  He stressed the 
ultimate and statutory responsibility of the U.S. government 
to maintain the safety of its citizens, and noted that 43 of 
the 1,100 people killed in the Intifada to date as a result 
of violence were U.S. citizens.  Three of these were Embassy 
security personnel killed in Gaza purely because they were 
Americans.  He also noted that, although the number of 
completed terror attacks had decreased recently, Israel's 
internal security service (the Shin Bet) had repeatedly noted 
in classified briefings that the preparations for such 
attacks had not yet fallen off.  The Ambassador said that the 
USG had reservations about the idea of differentiated travel 
warnings as these inevitably confused tourists, particularly 
those new to a country. 
 
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Bring on the Military: For R&R, That Is 
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5.  (C) Levi then asked whether the USG would support the 
idea of bringing U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq to Israel on 
R&R travel.  The Ambassador noted the complexities involved 
in making Israel an R&R destination for those serving in 
Iraq, but reminded the group of progress made in bringing 
other U.S. military to Israel.  Just three weeks ago a group 
of Navy sailors had spent a day in the port of Haifa, he 
noted. 
 
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Hirchson: Ministry of Tourism to 
Eliminate Settlement Spending 
-------------------------------- 
6.  (C) The Ambassador asked Hirchson about the status of 
Tourism Ministry support for settlements, reminding him of 
questionable "tourist" projects in the past such as the 
creation of a promenade in Hebron.  Hirchson, requesting that 
notes not be made of this part of the conversation, said he 
planned to put a stop to such spending.  He admitted that he 
did not know how much time he would have in the ministry to 
phase out such spending completely -- "a month, two months, 
or much longer" -- so a lot depended on how long he remained 
in place. 
 
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Cooperation with Palestinians 
----------------------------- 
7.  (C) Hirchson said he was looking forward to improved 
cooperation with his Palestinian counterpart, whoever that 
would end up being.  He said he had met with the previous PA 
Minister of Tourism, Abu Aita, two weeks ago in a very 
positive meeting.  He asked for the Ambassador's help in 
getting a PA representative to a meeting with the Pope that 
is planned for Friday, February 25.  Because of the situation 
with the PA cabinet, Hirchson feared the Palestinians would 
delay the meeting.  Hirchson was concerned that the Pope's 
medical condition made any delay extremely counterproductive. 
 The Ambassador promised to contact Consulate General 
Jerusalem to see what could be done. 
 
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Cooperation with Jordan and Egypt 
--------------------------------- 
 
8.  (C) As the meeting ended, Hirchson asked the Ambassador 
for help in working with the Jordanian and Egyptian ministers 
of tourism to build a regional tourism package involving the 
three countries.  The Ambassador noted that he was aware of 
efforts in this sphere approximately ten years before.  He 
promised to look into the issue. 
 
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KURTZER