Israeli committees stick to their boycott

Tuesday, May 26, 2009 15:38

ISTANBUL - A new survey conducted last week found that 72 percent of Israel’s employee committees’ have decided to continue boycotting Turkey’s vacation spots, following the tensions in diplomatic relations between Jerusalem and Ankara, noted in early 2009, reported Danny Sadeh writing for the internet-based news site ynetnews.com.

The poll was conducted by the Veadim Group, which centralizes information regarding the employee committees’ financial activities. The survey was held ahead of Israel's annual tourism fair, scheduled to take place in July.

Employee committees’ are a significant part of the tourism industry, marketing special vacation deals, both in Israel and abroad, to their members.

Among the organizations which will not include Turkey in their travel packages are industry staples the likes of the First International Bank of Israel, El-Al, Egged, the Agricultural Research Organization, ECI, Elektra, Israel Refineries LTD., The Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, the Israeli Technological Institute, Haifa Port and the Israel Aerospace Industries, or IAI, to name a few.

Last week saw some 40 tourism executives from Turkey arrive in Israel for a series of meetings with their Israeli counterparts. The meetings were arranged by the Turkish Transportation Ministry and the Turkish Embassy in Israel.

Turkish Ambassador to Israel Namık Tan also took part in the meeting. Ankara's representatives hoped aloud that Israeli tourists would once more flock to Turkish hotspots.

At the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, late January this year, Erdoğan participated in a panel with Israeli President Shimon Peres and dramatically walked out of the session in a move to protest both Peres and the panel’s moderator. Erdoğan’s outburst gained a lot of sympathy among Islamic countries but caused worries in Western countries.

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I just love how AKP have managed to alienate Israel. It's beautiful.

Can you blame them?



Edit: The Israelis. Not AKP.

Israelis Punishing Turks with Unofficial Tourist Boycott

Published: 10/15/09, 10:41 PM / Last Update: 10/16/09, 12:14 PM

by Gil Ronen

(IsraelNN.com) Israel tourists are punishing Turkey over its latest insults to Jews and Israel by boycotting its tourist industry. Arutz Sheva in Hebrew surveyed a number of tourist agencies in Israel and has found that there has been a drop in demand for tourist resorts in the last week. “The end of the season plus the crisis between Turkey and Israel have hit tourism severely,” a tourism agency representative said.

Turkey has been a favorite vacation spot for Israelis for many years but in recent years, Israeli tourists have taken to boycotting it after diplomatic spats between the country's leaders. In the Passover season, Turkish resorts were reportedly hit hard by an unofficial Israeli tourist boycott after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s attack on Israel at the Davos conference.

'Turkish coffee' ban

Israeli coffee shop chain Ilan's has announced it will no longer serve its customers Turkish coffee, in protest of the airing of a grossly anti-Israeli scene in a Turkish television show. The scene showed IDF officers supposedly shooting Arab babies.

Ilan's marketing manager said that “like all Israelis, we too were shocked to see the nauseating scenes from films showing IDF soldiers supposedly shooting small children. We believe everyone can take action [against the film] in his own way, and this is our modest and symbolic way.”

The manager, Michal Shteg, said that "right now we have decided to stop selling 'Istanbul Coffee,' our Turkish blend, and we will continue like this until the situation improves.”

"True, this is not a boycott that will hurt Turkey financially, it is not the boycott of IKEA - but this is a cultural boycott and a patriotic act, which expressed our lack of will to identify with those who act almost anti-Semitically. Because before everything – we are Israelis first."

Armenian genocide reminder

The "Im Tirzu" student movement will hold a protest rally at 12:30 on Friday opposite the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv. “Following the ugly anti-Semitic incitement of the past few days by the official Turkish TV station and the Turkish Prime Minister we will hold a performance to highlight the extent of the Turkish government's hypocrisy and lies,” the movement announced.

"On the one hand,” it explained, “the Turks continue to deny the holocaust which they perpetrated against the Armenians between 1915 and 1918, and [yet] at the same time they dare to spread blood libels and lies about the State of Israel and the IDF.”

The display will include photos from the Armenian genocide. Books about the genocide will be handed out to passersby and signs will be carried, calling on the Turks to take responsibility for the genocide they perpetrated.

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Israelis cancel Turkey vacations over diplomatic row

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Israeli tourism agencies reported a steep drop the past week in bookings for Turkey, the Ynet news Web site has reported. The Web site quoted tourism agents saying it was due to the diplomatic row that broke out after Ankara banned Israeli participation in a military exercise. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has severely criticized Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip last January, and his comments "have had an effect on Israeli travelers," Ofir Tours deputy chief executive officer Yehuda Safrani said.

Meanwhile, basing their report on U.S. sources, the Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday that the Obama administration was very concerned about Turkey's actions toward Israel and its growing closeness with Syria. The sources said the U.S. had not determined whether Ankara's increasing affinity with Damascus indicated a strategic decision to reorient away from the West but that it was monitoring Turkey's behavior with some alarm.

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Awwww, boo-hoo, less Israelis in overpriced İstanbul. No worries Turkey, there are more Americans coming now than used to show up. And a fair number of us are Jews. You have lost nothing of value.

I mean seriously, who cares? Or at least, who cares that didn't also care when Americans were boycotting French shit over Iraq?

And renaming "French fries" to "Freedom fries".

I still call them this. That way Belgium will never get the credit they so crave. YAHAR!

Do you remember when French's mustard sent out a press release to alert the Yanks taht French's was British?

Man that was great.

Thants what happens when you have traitors in government.This moron sees himself as the halife of islam world. Neo-Ottomanism...

Look, we all know who the real leader of the world's true Muslims is.