Tourism to Israel Reaches Highest Number Since Country's Inception - Israel Ministry of Tourism

June 2017 Newsletter

The Israeli Ministry of Tourism revealed that 349,000 tourists visited Israel in the month of April -- the highest amount of visiting tourists since the inception of the state in 1948.

The figure marks a 40 percent increase from 2015. Since January 2017, the state has earned a record NIS 6 billion in revenue from tourism (some $1,700,000,000.00)

The Israeli Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin praised the achievement and said that the progress was due to the ministry's shift in policy and a calculated effort to bring more tourism to Israel.

“When there is clear policy, we see results," said Levin,

"Every month, we are witnessing exceptional statistics that illustrate the progress we are spearheading in the tourism industry and its tremendous contribution to the Israeli economy and workforce.

This important and exciting milestone is part of a positive trend that has been taking place over the last half year or more. I hope and believe that, with hard work, we will continue to reap the benefits of this investment.”

Israel Tourism "Wine Ambassador" 

Featured on CNN.com

Israeli wine-maker and sommelier Roni Saslove was recently featured at "Israel's Pioneering Female Winemaker" for a feature on CNN.com.

The feature story comes on the heels of Saslove's 10-city North American tour to promote Israel's wine region on behalf of The Israel Ministry of Tourism.  Local media, industry experts, and influencers were invited to hear Saslove's engaging seminar while sampling world-class Israeli wines.
 

The Tel Aviv-based viticulturalist made stops in Montreal, Toronto, New York, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Nashville, and San Francisco to share her expertise on Israel's burgeoning evolution of Israel's wine region.

Wine Spectator Magazine featured wines of Israel for their cover of their October 2016 issue, as Israel continues to receive worldwide acclaim for its culinary and wine offerings.

Storm Rages Over Status of Israeli Christians

Thursday, February 06, 2014 |  Ryan Jones ISRAEL TODAY 

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The Knesset's Labor, Welfare and Health Committee held a very stormy debate on Wednesday over the proposed recognition of local Christians as a minority separate from the rest of the Arab population.

The debate centered around a new bill sponsored by Member of Knesset Yariv Levin (Likud) that would acknowledge Christians as their own independent minority for the purpose of representation on local councils and the Advisory Committee for Equal Opportunity.

In effect, such a law would legally differentiate between Chrisitans and Arabs, most of whom are Muslims.

In an interview earlier this month, Levin said that his proposed legislation makes perfect sense because "we (Jews) have much in common with the Christians. They are our natural allies, and a counterweight to the Muslims who want to destroy the country from within."

Arab MKs on the committee (all of them Muslim) responded with predictable outrage.

"Levin wants to divide the Arab public, which is already oppressed. We won’t be his slaves," insisted MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad), while MK Hanin Zoabi (pictured) said the bill would only increase Arab hostility toward the Jewish state.

To counter the arguments of the Muslims, the committee also heard from Shadi Haloul, who has been at the forefront of a Nazareth-based movement that is encouraging young local Christians to join the Israeli army and embrace their Aramaic heritage, rather than an imposed Arab identity.

"I'm proud to be Christian," Haloul told the committee. "We have a right to self-definition as well." Pointing to the Muslim representatives, Haloul went on to urge the committee's Jewish members, "Don't listen to those racists."

At that point, Zoabi reportedly called Haloul a "coward," and dared him to take this message to the streets of Nazareth, where local Muslims and unsympathetic Christians would "give you the proper response."

The thinly-veiled threat earned Zoabi ejection from the hearing.

The reality is that Haloul and others involved in the movement have been taking this message to the streets of Nazareth and many other Arab towns for well over a year now.

At times that effort has brought violence against them, but more often than not young Christians are identifying with the message and throwing off the hatred for Israel with which their previous "Arab" identity had saddled them.

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Status of Christian 'Arabs,' Says Israeli MK

Time to Upgrade Status of Christian 'Arabs,' Says Israeli MK

Friday, January 10, 2014 |  Israel Today Staff  

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Is it possible to lessen the influence of the Muslim majority among Israel's large Arab community? That is the aim of new legislation proposed by Knesset Member and coalition chairman Yariv Levin (Likud), who wants to separate and boost the status of local Christian Arabs.

In fact, Levin echoes what several Christian leaders from Nazareth have told Israel Today in the past: that local Christians aren't really Arabs, anyway, as their presence in the land far predates the Muslim Arab conquest.

"My legislation would provide separate representation and a separate reference to the Christian public," Levin told the Israeli newspaper Maariv. "This is a historic and important step that can help to balance the State of Israel and to further connect us and the Christians, and I'm careful not to call them Arabs, because they are not Arabs."

Among the new laws proposed by Levin are:

• The right for Christians to be registered in their national ID cards as "Christian," rather than "Arab";
• Mechanisms recognizing Christians as a separate minority for the purpose of providing state benefits; and
• Separate representation for Christians on regional and municipal councils.

Similar laws already exist for Israel's Druze minority, and Levin said there is no reason the same should not be true for local Christians.

The Christians "have a different character" than the Muslims or Arabs, he noted. "They can identify with the state" and in so doing should receive the same recognition and benefits as the Druze.

Levin went on to point out that "we (Jews) have much in common with the Christians. They are our natural allies, and a counterweight to the Muslims who want to destroy the country from within."

He believes that if Israel begins to show special recognition and grants preferred status to Christians, the effect will rub off on many Muslims who do not agree with the radical positions of their political leaders.

But, Levin said that unfortunately Israel has to date done too little to help Christians feel that the state has their back, in the same way that it does the Druze. Much of that stems from lumping all Arabs together when dealing with ethnic tensions and national security threats.

Levin hopes his new legislation recognizing Christians as a separate minority group will change all that, and help a growing number of local Christians take pride in their Israeli nationality.

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