16 Friday, May 2, 1986
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
a •
commissioner for tourism in North always be me. They don't want that to
America. "Of course," he added, "it happen. Who wants to die that way?
could be worse," noting that countries People are afraid."
like Egypt, Greece and Italy are down
As a result, they are changing
by as much as 90 percent. "Compared their travel plans. Even famous
to the others we're not doing so bad. people, which helps to frighten not-
The fact that we are suffering less famous people all the more. Sen. Gary
shows that people believe going to Is- Hart, expected to run again for
rael is safe."
President in 1988, recently postponed
Still, even that provides little a planned trip to Israel. His spokes-
consolation at the moment, because man, Doug Larson, said Hart made
"if people decide not to go to one des- that decision as a result of "very
tination it doesn't help the others. If strong pressure" from the State De-
they're not going to Europe, it doesn't partment which issued an advisory to
mean they're going to Israel. It means members of Congress to avoid travel
they're staying home."
to the Middle East because of threats
The problem with tourism, of by Qaddafi.
course, is terrorism. Terrorism in the
It was an advisory sharply
streets of Paris, the discos of Berlin, criticized as sending the wrong signal
the airports of Europe. Terrorism that at the wrong time by Israeli officials
results in raids on Libya and retalia- and by Kenneth Bialkin, chairman of
tion in London. Terrorism that kills the Conference of Presidents of Major
innocent men, women and children. American Jewish Organizations, who
Grandmothers and babies and crip- called it "a weakening of American
pled old men.
resolve to resist terrorism. The inter-
Terrorism, everywhere, it seems, ruption of foreign travel is exactly
except Israel. In fact, none of, the re- what terrorists want."
cent terrorist acts, acts that have
And it is exactly what they got
frightened so many Americans, has also when Illinois Governor James
taken place in Israel, thanks • to a ' Thompson, running for re-election in
combination of expert intelligence, a state with a large Jewish popula-
painstaking security precautions, and tion, canceled his scheduled trip to Is-
luck. Shoshani says "It's frustrating rael. He did it not on the recom-
— the problem is that Americans are mendation of the State Department
very bad at geography. To them, Iran but on that of his young daughter. He
and Iraq and Libya and Israel are all
right next to each other. They don't
know Libya is thousands of miles
from Israel. They just know that if
there's tension in an area, they're not
going to go there." -
And while that may not be logi-
cal, neither is the overriding fear
americans are feeling about Europe
and the Middle East. The fact is that
while millions of Americans have
traveled to those regions in the past
year, only 13 Americans have been
killed in terrorist acts. That makes
the odds very remote that anything is
going to happen to an American in
Paris. Or Tel Aviv.
But while reality and perception
may not match, there is a' logic to
What frightens Americans so much,
said Dr. Peter Rosenzweig, a psychol
ogist in private practice and professor
at' Northwestern' University. What's
so scary about terrorisni, he said, is
that "it's so random. You never know
when it might happen. That fits in
with the psychology of our times. We
used to look at life optimistically, be-
lieving all would workout. Butliving
in the nuclear age has taken the good
ending out of the story."
"Any kind of incident alarms
people, even if only one person dies,"
adds Johh Kelly, travel editor of the
Baltimore Sun. "People figure it could
,
even get robbed. It's the most quiet,
the safest place on earth. In the
United States, you're afraid to go out
at night, but a girl walking through
the Old City at night won't even get
whistled at."
Still, while that may be the
reality, Sharir recognizes the fear is
very real. "I don't have a re_medy for
fear," he said. "Fear breeds fear. You
could say you shouldn't cross the
street because a car ,May run you
down. Those who hal:re been here
know how security-conscious we are."
It is because people know how se-
curity conscious it is that El. Al Israel
Airlines has been able to hold its own,
despite peoples' fears. In fact, thanks
to the fear of flying TWA and other
American carriers, El Al's share of
the market to Israel has increased
from 50 to 60 percent. That's not all
good news, however, since the total
market is down. .
"We've suffered-the least," said El
Al spokesman Aviva Lavi. "The situa-
tion is not as fantastic ,as we would
like it to be but it's not entirely bleak.
People are still flying to Israel."
Lavi said for the firsttWo months
of this year, El Al has been flying its
planes at 85 percent of capacity
which, while not bad is, she admits,
not as good as last year; at this time.
The fact that they're flying as full
as they are, said Layi,,iS n tribute to
the airline's reputation Ail'. ,security —
something Lavi woxd talk ,about. "We
don't talk about ,the safety issue. It's
known, we don't have, to. , Safety has
always been our Munber one prior-
ity."
Indeed, El Al's ch ec -inand secu-
rity measures are generally consid-
ered to be the toughest; in the world.
That's made very clear: to passengers
who must arrive hours early for their
flight and who must pass not only
through metal detectors:hut, through
a series of questiens asking, "who
packed your bags?" and 'Old anyone
give you a packageto carry?"
All checked bags are put through
a rigorous inspection piOCechire which
includes flight siMulatien,designed to
defusebombs detonated,byffianges in
said his daughter, Samantha, saw a
newspaper picture of the infant who
was sucked through the hole of the
bombed TWA jetliner and asked him
what happened and if that was the
place they were planning to visit.
As a result, Thompson decided it
was "not the appropriate time to take
a seven-year-old to the Middle East."
The Thompson family spent its vaca-
tion instead in Wisconsin.
Sharir was critical of the Reagan
Administration's caution to American
citizens to avoid trips to Europe and
the Mideast because of terrorist .
threats. He said such warnings were
"undemocratic," and he noted that
more than 40 percent of American
tourism to Europe was being diverted
to Eastern bloc countries, "injecting
U.S. dollars into the Communist
countries and giving Communist
propagandists an opportunity to
brainwash naive American tourists."
Says Sharir: "I assure you that a
stay in Israel is completely safe, safer
than in any country in the world.
There is no chance whatsoever of any
harm on the flight to Israel, pure and
simple. No @hence. Statistics do not
support the gloomy picture."
Shoshani agrees, noting that "Is-
raeli streets are safer than New
York's, they're completely quiet.
There's almost no chance that you'll
,
,
,
"People want to get on in
New York, off in Tel Aviv,
and not worry about
anything in between."
temPerat*, motion, or air, pressure.
41 Al. personnel also test,all, spray
cans, and cameras.
it!S a hassle, said ,hotsliani; but
these days, passengers, 4ro finding it
very reassuring. "I remeMber when
,
'
tourists used' to complain. ; 4ittle by
little„ , they got more tolerant. Now,
they request it. They want; us to check
more.” •
' f •
•
Shosh ani said the insOovery of a
bomb about to be carried:09,rd a re-
cent Al flight in ,tioncinn, will only
enhance the airline's ;
. •4if
'
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