Tourism Ministry opens hotline for tourists
jerusalem (jps) | A hotline for tourists and industry professionals operated by the Israel Ministry of Tourism has been opened to attend to tourists’ and industry questions. The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Service is available in English, French, Hebrew and other languages.
Information regarding flights, travel within the country, hotels, group tours and more can be provided.
The hotline is available to those still overseas planning to travel to Israel, tourists in the country, to Israelis traveling domestically, as well as to tourism professionals. Representatives from the Ministry of Tourism, Israel Hotel Association, airlines, Tour Guide Associations, Parks Authority, rental car agencies and volunteers man the hotline.
The hotline can be reached by dialing 011-972-3-520-7600. Inquiries may also be faxed to 011-972-3-520-7612 or 7615 or emailed to [email protected].
Round-the-clock service is also provided at the tourist information office at Ben-Gurion International Airport.
Chief rabbi: Faith and morality can help war effort
jerusalem (jps) | In a letter to IDF soldiers and to residents in the North, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar called for strengthening faith in God, repenting for sins and doing good deeds. He also stressed the Jewish belief that divine providence is conditional on the Jewish people’s moral behavior.
“All members of Israel, wherever they may be, are obligated to gather and to stand up for themselves, to remove all iniquities and sins from among us, whether sins against our neighbor or sins against God; we will search them out and return to the Lord our God, especially in this difficult time as it is written (Deuteronomy): ‘When you go out to encamp against your enemies, keep your self from every evil thing … For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore shall your camp be holy that He see no unclean thing in you and turn away from you.'”
Saudis slam Hezbollah, Hamas
riyadh (jta) | Saudi Arabia issued a rare condemnation of Hezbollah and Hamas violence.
Statements by the government in Riyadh on the recent fighting in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip departed from traditional Saudi censure of Israel by blaming Hezbollah and Hamas for their provocative attacks.
“Some elements and groups have got loose and slipped into taking decisions on their own that Israel has exploited to wage a ferocious war against Lebanon and to imprison the entire Palestinian people,” a Cabinet statement said Monday, July 17. It appeared to be a veiled reference to abductions of Israeli soldiers carried out by the Lebanese militia and the radical Palestinian Islamist faction, which prompted Israel’s retaliatory offensives.
But Saudi Arabia, which has championed a regional peace proposal under which Israel would relinquish all territories captured in the 1967 Six-Day War, also suggested that U.S. support for the Jewish state was holding up rapprochement. “Some countries’ total support for Israeli policies has hindered taking a decision,” the statement said.
Israel mobilizes reservists
tel aviv (jta) | Israel has earmarked reserve troops to help wage the Lebanon campaign.
Security sources said that Defense Minister Amir Peretz had approved call-ups for three reservist combat regiments, most of which will serve in the West Bank so that regular units can be diverted to the northern front.
According to security sources, the Defense Ministry is prepared to mobilize an entire division — thousands of troops and vehicles — should the campaign against Hezbollah require large-scale incursions into southern Lebanon.
Poll: Israelis back war
jerusalem (jta) | The vast majority of Israelis back the offensive in Lebanon, a survey found.
According to a July 18 Yediot Achronot poll, 86 percent of Israelis described as justified the shelling of Lebanese infrastructure launched after Hezbollah militiamen killed eight Israeli soldiers and abducted another two in a border raid last week.
More than half of the respondents said Israel should press the offensive until Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is killed. Seventeen percent said Israel should cease fire and enter talks with the radical Shiite group or the Lebanese government.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz also scored high approval ratings. Asked by Yediot to rate their performances in the crisis, 78 percent of respondents praised Olmert and 72 percent commended Peretz.