Monday, April 11, 2016

From My "Sh&T, I Wish I Had Written This" File

I seriously wish I had written this one.

Well done, Edwin Black.

Read the whole thing. 

"When in Israel, especially in Jerusalem, everything about your tourism choices is political—which hotel you select, which taxi driver you hire, which bagel you buy, which restaurant you dine at, what fascination you experience, what memories you return home with. Are you buying a half pound of za’atar in Jerusalem’s teeming Jewish market at Machena Yehuda or at the stone-ensconced spice kiosks that line the time-polished lanes of the Old City? Or do you try both?"

"Anti-Israel sentiment abounds at the café tables of the Ottoman-era American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem, while fierce loyalty to the Jewish State is detected in every corner of the modern David Citadel Hotel. Visitors book their rooms accordingly and create their own comfort zones in the respective lobbies."

"Like everything else in the Jewish State, Israel’s tourism industry—that is, its hotels, restaurants, amusements, and visitor services—has achieved a modern miracle."

"It is easy to make a geopolitical statement. But nothing is more enduring than to make that statement in person by traveling to Israel and vowing at Ben Gurion airport that you will soon return."