Marketing terrorism to tourists

True to the driver’s word, we arrived at the Sheraton to find the lobby crowded with Orthodox Jews celebrating the Sabbath. We had arrived in Israel neither as religious pilgrims nor as traditional tourists: We had signed up for the Ultimate Counter-Terrorism Mission, a weeklong journey around the country during which we would learn about Israel’s battle with terrorism.

For Israel’s tourism industry, the new millennium has not been kind. In 2000 — what should have been a banner year for tourism and pilgrimages — the number of visitors to the Promised Land plummeted. The Second Intifada kicked off after the failure of the Oslo negotiations and former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount, keeping most tourists away. In an even worse signal to visitors, Israel’s minister of tourism, Rehavam Zeevi, was shot dead by Palestinians in October 2001. A series of suicide bombings and rocket attacks kept most casual tourists away. Then came the 2006 war in Lebanon, and the Israeli tourism industry tanked again.

So, what can a country do when its tourist industry is eclipsed by terrorism? The answer, it seems, is to market terrorism to tourists. Our itinerary — which promised participants such highlights as an “observation of a security trial of Hamas terrorists” and briefings on “the realities of Israel’s policy of targeted killings” — was not for the casual visitor. But in a way, it was. Israel has a long tradition of combining tourism and lobbying. Most famously, Ariel Sharon gave a helicopter tour to George W. Bush. The visit is widely credited with reinforcing Bush’s sympathy for Israel’s security situation.

Excerpted from a post by Nathan Hodge and Sharon Weinberger in Slate