tel aviv | A man lies on the ground in front of this no-frills guest house in Jerusalem as three young women rush toward him.
Reaching into her large red bags, one pulls out a brace and snaps it on the young man’s neck. Another pulls out a strap and ties his feet together, while the third pulls out bandages and wraps them around the man’s arms.
The young Magen David Adom volunteers have made it to graduation day.
These graduates of the Israeli Emergency Medical Technician course are among the thousands of diaspora Jews coming to Israel on youth and tour programs.
Despite nearly three years of intermittent terrorism, the number of tourists coming to Israel is again on the rise.
“The world situation has become less safe,” said Michael Freeman, director in Israel of the Federation of Zionist Youth, which, along with Young Judaea, sponsored the EMT course. “Why not come to Israel? It’s no more or less dangerous than anywhere else in the world these days — New York, Bali, Russia.”
The EMT program has more participants this summer than ever, Freeman says. He attributes the increase to the new perception of Israel as comparatively safer, and to the program’s reputation for safety and security.
The number of visitors in Zionist youth tourist groups to Israel has almost rebounded to figures from the year 2000, according to Zvi Levran, director of Jewish Experience of Israel.
But the number of other tourists is still down, however.
“Many organizations that appeal to unaffiliated or less affiliated populations — those not as committed to Israel — have not gotten back to their earlier numbers,” Levran said.
In general, however, the recent trend has been an increase in tourism to Israel.
“We’re starting to see pent-up interest — Jews and Christians who have wanted to come to Israel but have not done so because of the situation,” said Ari Marom, director of North American operations at Israel’s Tourism Ministry.