Israel to U.S.: Cancel crime-related travel warning

Israel to U.S.: Cancel crime-related travel warning


According to State Department’s travel warning, violent clashes between criminals in Israel have resulted in death, injuries to innocent bystanders; ‘warning is distortion, does not reflect level of crime in country, which is lower than that of most western nations’ Israeli diplomatic sources say
Itamar Eichner

Israel is requesting that the U.S. cancel or at least soften its stance on organized crime in Israel as expressed for the first time in the State Department’s travel warning, according to Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.


The State Department is warning American citizens traveling to Israel of dangers related to organized crime wars.

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The Israeli embassy in Washington was instructed to relay the request to top level State Department officials.



'The inclusion of the clause is strange'



Diplomatic sources said Monday that Israel has made it clear that the issued warning is a “distortion” and does not reflect the level of crime in the country, which is lower than that of most western nations.


The sources added that the drafting of a special clause on organized crime by the State Department in its travel warnings is unprecedented, apart from those concerning a few third world countries such as Nigeria and Colombia.


“There is no mention of the crime level in countries where it is known that crime is rampant,” a source said. “The inclusion of the clause is strange and may be detrimental to tourism from the U.S. for no reason. Organized crime in Israel poses no threat to American tourists.”


According to the State Department’s travel warning published last week, violent clashes between criminals in Israel have resulted in death and injuries to innocent bystanders, stating, for example, the botched attempt to assassinate reputed mobster Zeev Rosenstein in Tel Aviv, during which three innocent people were killed.