Online tourists: Americans shop on Web to help Israel
Friday, October 11, 2002 | byCATHERINE LUCEY
PHILADELPHIA—Jane Scher was at a bat mitzvah a few months ago when she told other guests she had ordered a gift from an Israeli shop to try to help the country's stores. Her friends were interested and said they too would like to buy from Israel.
So Scher, 45, who lives in San Diego, created http://www.shopinisrael.com, a Web site with more than 100 links to stores in Israel.
American Jews looking for ways to help Israel have started using sites such as Scher's to buy books, jewelry, crafts or flowers, giving a boost to Israel's economy, which has lost major tourist revenues over the past year and a half.
"I think all of us feel like if only there's something we can do," Scher said. "If a million Jews spend $100 in Israel that's $100 million for Israel. We don't need to be helpless. We actually can participate in a constructive way."
Since the Israeli-Palestinian clashes began in Sept. 2000, the number of tourists visiting Israel has dropped, falling by more than half from 2000 to 2001. There is an American warning against travel to Israel and once-busy stores and hotels are doing a fraction of their previous business.
But the nonprofit http://www.shopinisrael.com is getting thousands of hits a day, Scher said.
The Philadelphia Jewish Federation has had links to Israeli stores on its Web site for about six months and now has a link to Scher's site.
Irv Geffen, the federation's vice president for marketing, said he has seen stores in Israel that have been affected by the lack of tourists.
"There's a bakery in Jerusalem that provides rolls to hotels. At one time they employed 15 or 18 people and produced thousands of rolls," he said. "They were employing, in November, two people and were producing 50 dozen a day."
Geffen, 49, says he has bought jewelry for his wife online and plans to purchase more as Mother's Day gifts.
"The jewelry is lovely," he said. "Every time I physically go there, I buy jewelry."
The United Jewish Committee's Web site also has links to Israeli shopping sites.
"I think you see people being apprehensive" about traveling to Israel, said Richard Pearlstone, 54, chairman of the group's marketing committee. "There are people who believe this is one of the ways to show support for the Israelis."
Shopping Web sites are simply a 21st century way for Americans to show their support, one that is far different from what they did in previous times of conflict, experts said. During the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, for example, thousands of Americans went to Israel to work and take over civilian jobs. This time, that isn't what's needed, experts said.
"It's not the same as when hundreds of thousands of soldiers are at Israel's borders and, therefore, Israel needed bodies," said Philip Rosen, chairman of American Friends of Likud. "At this stage, Israel doesn't need bodies to help out. What they need is other kinds of support."
In addition to trying to help the economy, Americans have been fund-raising and holding pro-Israel rallies, including an April 15 demonstration in Washington, D.C., which drew thousands.
As for the shopping, store owners say it has been helpful.
Lisa Mann, of Long Beach, handles shipping for her family's Israel-based store, Rotem, which sells Chanukah items and other Judaica. She said online sales have surged 50 percent recently.
"Sales in the actual store went down," Mann said. "We're not excited about the circumstances, but it does help."
Avra Kassar, 57, said she recently ordered flowers for her daughters-in-law through Scher's site.
"I have family and friends with children in the army," said Kassar, who lives in La Jolla. "This is an opportunity for me to do something so small in comparison with what they are doing."