ISRAELI TOURISM MINISTER REQUESTS CHANGE IN U.S.

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 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.

--------------
Travel Warning
--------------


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.

--------------
Bring on the Military: For R&R, That Is
--------------


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.

--------------
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.

--------------
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.

--------------
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.

********************************************* ********************
Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv

You can also access this site through the State Department's
Classified SIPRNET website.
********************************************* ********************
KURTZER