"Come to a Vacation of Terror in the Settlements." That's how Ynet portrays an Anti-Terrorism Training Course for North Americans, developed in consultation with the IDF.
Operation Shiloh, as the program is known, boasts of two main objectives: to provide participants with hands-on insight into how the IDF successfully combats terrorism, and to give them personal anti-terror training. In light of what the organizers call "recent FBI warnings [emphasizing] that the American Jewish community is particularly vulnerable to terrorist attacks," participants will be trained in self-defense against terrorism by IDF personnel and ex-security operatives.
Ynet, however, the internet site of Yediot Acharonot, chose to see the program in a very different light. Using terms such as "new attraction," and "tourist package for rich adventurous Americans seeking excitement and action," Ynet presents the idea as a cynical way of making money off of Israel's terrorist dangers. "Two Gush Etzion entrepreneurs," Ynet reports, "decided to outsmart the tourism drop in Israel, and instead of trying persuading tourists that it's not dangerous here, they present terrorism as an attraction…" The organizers are quoted as saying, "A patrol along the fences of one of the settlements at night, in the knowledge that a battle could develop there, is an experience that will never be forgotten… They will receive full value for their money… They will sweat with fear… When they heard that no American insurance company was willing to insure them, they understood that it's not a game…" (An Israeli insurance company has since been found, however.)
Yehoshua Mizrachi, one of the organizers, told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson today, "The press here has put an unfair spin on this program. It is really a very serious program, planned for a long while in conjunction with the IDF. It's not a tourist package, but a program designed to help people learn about terrorism and defend themselves." He said that seemingly expensive price of $5,500 per person includes "all expenses, including roundtrip airfare, full room and board, transportation, live-fire exercises, helicopter rides, army lecturers, and more."
The media reports put Yesha leaders in an uncomfortable situation, forcing them to react with "irritation," Haaretz reported, to the fact that the program "unfairly paints [Yesha] as an impossibly dangerous place to live." Yesha Council head Bentzi Lieberman was quoted as saying, This is something marginal, irrelevant, and to an extent, is the opposite of reality." Yehoshua Mizrachi protested the unfairness of it all: "The participants will spend most of their time in Caesaria and not in Yesha, and most of their visits to Yesha, where I live, will be for the very purpose of showing them how *not* dangerous it is here!"
Operation Shiloh, as the program is known, boasts of two main objectives: to provide participants with hands-on insight into how the IDF successfully combats terrorism, and to give them personal anti-terror training. In light of what the organizers call "recent FBI warnings [emphasizing] that the American Jewish community is particularly vulnerable to terrorist attacks," participants will be trained in self-defense against terrorism by IDF personnel and ex-security operatives.
Ynet, however, the internet site of Yediot Acharonot, chose to see the program in a very different light. Using terms such as "new attraction," and "tourist package for rich adventurous Americans seeking excitement and action," Ynet presents the idea as a cynical way of making money off of Israel's terrorist dangers. "Two Gush Etzion entrepreneurs," Ynet reports, "decided to outsmart the tourism drop in Israel, and instead of trying persuading tourists that it's not dangerous here, they present terrorism as an attraction…" The organizers are quoted as saying, "A patrol along the fences of one of the settlements at night, in the knowledge that a battle could develop there, is an experience that will never be forgotten… They will receive full value for their money… They will sweat with fear… When they heard that no American insurance company was willing to insure them, they understood that it's not a game…" (An Israeli insurance company has since been found, however.)
Yehoshua Mizrachi, one of the organizers, told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson today, "The press here has put an unfair spin on this program. It is really a very serious program, planned for a long while in conjunction with the IDF. It's not a tourist package, but a program designed to help people learn about terrorism and defend themselves." He said that seemingly expensive price of $5,500 per person includes "all expenses, including roundtrip airfare, full room and board, transportation, live-fire exercises, helicopter rides, army lecturers, and more."
The media reports put Yesha leaders in an uncomfortable situation, forcing them to react with "irritation," Haaretz reported, to the fact that the program "unfairly paints [Yesha] as an impossibly dangerous place to live." Yesha Council head Bentzi Lieberman was quoted as saying, This is something marginal, irrelevant, and to an extent, is the opposite of reality." Yehoshua Mizrachi protested the unfairness of it all: "The participants will spend most of their time in Caesaria and not in Yesha, and most of their visits to Yesha, where I live, will be for the very purpose of showing them how *not* dangerous it is here!"