One of the favorite destinations of Israelis was London, the capital of England, but what has been happening there recently has caused quite a few Israelis to choose not to return to the city anytime soon. In conversations with sources in the tourism industry, they say: "We get a lot of calls about London, it's a very popular destination, but now Israelis are afraid to go there."
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One of the main reasons for concern is, of course, the huge pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the city, demonstrations that reached tens of thousands of participants and some even exceeded 100,<> participants. Videos circulating online in recent days show demonstrators with Palestinian flags beating British policemen, other videos show very harsh slogans against Jews, and there are also videos in which demonstrators call for Sharia law to be upheld in England.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations reaching 100,000 participants, photo: AFP
In conversations with Israelis who live there, they say: "There is a sharp decline in the number of Israelis coming here, of course this stems both from the cancellation of flights by British airlines to London, but also from fear. The Muslim population here is about 1.5 million out of 8.9 million residents in London, most of whom live in peace, but there is no doubt that there is a very large presence at pro-Palestinian demonstrations and this deters quite a few Israelis."
Last week there was also a pro-Israel demonstration in Trafalgar Square, but it was much smaller than the counter-demonstrations and numbered about 30,<> participants. The British prime minister visited Israel and expressed his clear support for Israel, but the streets in London have been turbulent in recent days, causing quite a few Jews there to downplay their identity, "I took off the Star of David necklace, these are not days to be great heroes here, it's dangerous, I feel that in Israel it is much safer for Jews now, even though the country is at war, we will not return here anytime soon, it is too scary for us, We are constantly on alert," says an Israeli who is now in London.
The Counterterrorism Headquarters raised the level of danger of countries such as Egypt and Turkey to Level 4 (the highest), Morocco to Level 3 and even announced that precautions should be taken in almost all countries in the world, due to large demonstrations taking place around the world, including at destinations for which there are no official travel warnings.
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