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Read below for user's questions and replies on the subject of being a Jewish traveler in the Middle East. Wanna read more? Click here.
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Hello everybody
I'm posting this email because I need your opinion.
Every time I talk with my parents about traveling in the Arab countries (Morrocco 2 years ago, Egypt this summer...) we have a big fight because they think to be a jew in the arab countries is risky, and you never know what's going to happen if one knows about that...
Whatever I can say to them, they never listen to me, answering that I'm an idealistic, I've never been to those countries (neither did them, but they lived in Israel during the Kippur War...) and I don't know anything about the risks.
Well, what's your opinion about that?
Is there a real risk? If yes, is there a way to protect against this. If not, how to convince them, or at least relieve them...
I also assume that there must be a difference between the arab countries, and being jewish in Morocco must be quiet different than in Iran. Is there a sort of "classification" to make between the countries
Thank you very much for your answers.
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I understand your parents fears because of the tension between Arabs and Israel and you know all the fuss happening over there but i want you to show your parents this message and its from Egyptian guy like me telling you i have jews friends and we are good friends we dont let the religion or the cultural ethics backgrounds hit between us , last one was girl called Rose from USA and another one Called Raquel from Argentina and they were jews and great couchsurfers too!!
you are not the first jew who come here and enjoy it so much. The problem with the the israeli people there is big sensitivity between Arabs and Israeli people not the jews and you dont have to say everywhere too i am jew if you are afraid of it but believe me its ok in case you came to Egypt dont worry just drop me a message and i will take care of you.
we are brothers in humanity in the end so dont worry
God ordered us all to live in hamrony and peace Jews Christians and Muslims.
Tell your parents you have already Egyptian buddy who is welcoming me here :D
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I understand Amgad and for sure he is a great guy, but it's true that there are problems, not in Egypt but perhaps in middle east. For sure not if you are with a couch surfer, for my experience they are really opened minded. But you must be careful, and careful don't mean panic. Just double check your words depending were you are.
For example, I´m from Spain if you go near to bull fight and you said bullfight it´s a crime.. i sure you will face same problems not risk just not a nice situation.
It is the same here the problem is not to be Jewish the problem is with Israel. Be sure in most of the Arab countries nobody cares of your religion but politic is an other thing
So be careful, respect the tradition of the country and be nice. I had travelled to a lot of countries and with this three things in mind you won't face any problem
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I'm an American Jewish woman, and I have lived in Jerusalem for 6 months, Jordan for 5 months, and spent 10 days each in Turkey and Egypt. I will be returning to Jordan in about a month, and plan on traveling to Syria and Lebanon this time as well. Also, I'm training to be archaeologist, and most of the people I work with have spent extensive periods of time in all parts of the Middle East, so I have also learned from their stories.
Basically, being Jewish in the Middle East can cause problems, but not nearly to the degree that your parents (or Israelis in general) believe. First of all, most people will not assume you are Jewish, and this is not information you should offer until you have had some time to assess how they will react. I look VERY typically Jewish for a North American, and my name is very Jewish as well, but everyone just assumed that I was Christian, except for places like Amman and Petra, where there are plenty of tourists of all stripes. Even people who might think negatively about Jews or Israelis (which the vast majority of Middle East inhabitants are perfectly able to differentiate between), will view you as the 'exception' once they have the chance to get to know you before finding out you are Jewish. Do not wear a star of David or chai necklace, speak Hebrew, or refer to anything Jewishly related with strangers until you know them better. DO NOT TALK POLITICS!!! Actually, talking politics can sometimes be tricky to avoid, but I have found it easiest to either agree with whoever I am speaking with, or remain neutral unless I am pretty confident about the context. This is also a good way to learn about different views that you might not encounter as much outside of the region. I have found it pretty easy to be discrete, while still connecting with people in different ways along the way. I even managed to keep kosher by claiming that I was vegetarian. Being Jewish has been pretty much a non-issue for me in the Middle East. Being a woman has been much trickier, especially in Egypt.
My parents also do not like the fact that I travel around in Arab countries, but they have gotten used to it. My mom was comforted by the fact that the Syrian government recently gave a permit for Dr. Gill Stein from UChicago to dig a really important site, since it seemed to show that either the Syrians really were incapable of picking up on western Jewish names, or they really didn't care. I plan to make my career digging in Islamic and Arab countries, so I clearly like the region. As for classifying danger levels for different Arab countries, basically, the ones that have the biggest problems with Israel and/or Jews are the least able to recognize Jews when they meet one. The countries/places where they are more likely to tell that you are Jewish, are able to do so because there are enough Jewish tourists there to develop a more 'realistic' stereotype.
Enjoy Egypt!!!!
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i dont know ur parents and their hypersensivity (mine will get top marks in it) and even though i m 41 and traveleed over 80 countries and have survived terrorist areas and ware zones but my parents take their job very seriously as parents, god bless them. they are retired and have enough time to do a theis on wher i go for my well being....and generally know more (than CIA or EIU would gather in short time). they always believe in megadeth song - so far so good so what....?? and surprinsly thats the only thing we agree in life....so i generally dont tell them when i go to a difficult or sensitive place...but tell them on return...however..i do leave my whereabouts and contacts to one or two close friends who dont loose their marbles if i m in trouble...
u seem to have traveled well and with so many CS friends and dozens of references...i m sure u will survive well anywhere.....unless u want to make a policital speech, discuss religion, wear something so obvious (as susannah mentiond a david or similar), cant hold ur drinks and then u generally wont remember what u said later or u get provokated on drop of a hat to discuss ur convictions about such issues....think twice .....it may not be life threatening but surely wont be too pleasent or desirable...i once offered by a freind in finland an isreali white wine (wine came from golan heights) and when i mentioned this to an arab freind, the disussion moved from wine to golan heights and policitcs
well there are many jews not only as tourist, but as residents in arab countries as well. we have in UAE, there are jews in yeman but obviously if u are in minority (for that matter of any religsion race colour anywhere in the world) it best to watch ur back...but be urself...
read enough about the region and its history to know what could be sensitive...keep track of news of whats going on politically in the region on daily basis as the day there is a skirmish between isreal and its neighbours, that day may not be very calm ....and u may be at a wrong place at wrong time....such as if u were a arab in united states on 12th sept 2001 or from basque region in madrid the day there was a bomb blast or between a pakistani and indian the day there is a skirmish on LOC...
enough said....quite hopeful that u will enjoy it , i had some great experienves in iran, turkey, syria, lebanon, jordon and gulf, pakistan as tourist, i m neither muslim or christian and can write wonderful stories about my so postive experience. however, I lived and worked in egypt and the only relevent issue i can recall from my persoanl experience is when i wanted to cross suez enroute to sinai region in late 2003, i was stopped by the guard as he thought i was a yehudi...when he saw my passport and realised i was not i was let go...i was told i looked like one perhaps on that day....and did not know what happened in sinai region (google it u will know)...
enjoy ur journey.....and we wait to hear ur intereestig and encouraging stories..
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People in the street were in general friendly. All were OK, except only ONE of the early teenage kids, who threw a stone on me. (But one must realize this is what they grew up with in Palestine - throw stones on Izraelis, which was almost exclusively only soldiers, what they saw in this village).
The Israeli guy who drove me there goes there regularly and said his only problem are the Israeli army.
BUT, an Israeli in Palestine SHOULD be prepared for some aggressivity, probably, but I met only some Israelis who go there regularly and those had no bad comments.
When I was in Jordan, a shop-seller told me that he often guesses which visitors are Israelis though they pretend not to be. (Perhaps from their Arabic) And he said, that he made a few friends among the Israeli visitors. And his parents were from Palestine!
He said (literally) "I hate the Israeli king, not the people" (well his country is ruled by king, so .. :-)
JEW IS NOT AN ISRAELI!!!
Also not to us Europeans. But Israelis (as influenced by their propaganda) are kind of taking themselves as representatives of all Jews when interpreting every anti-Israeli stance as antisemitism.
(Recently I saw a great documentary by an Israeli author, who mapped antisemitism in the world and saw that it is really good business, e.g., for one institution in US who works against antisemitism and interpets everything as that)
On the other hand, there ARE people in the Muslim countries, who hate West as such, no matter if you are a Jew.
But MOST people, I believe, are rather keen on showing they are not connected with terrorism. (We should realize it is West which is having GENERAL islamophobia, just as it had its anti-Jewish sentiments and fears hundred years ago!! I think hatred towards West is a feature of MINORITY of Muslims, on the other hand)
See, in Kosovo the Muslims were telling my Israeli friends
that they feel with them, since they have similar (hi-)story of their state!
Anyway, I suggest, you post this message in Israel group asking answer ONLY from those who DID travel in Arab countries. (And remember that troubles they may mention could mostly be not connected with you as a non-Israeli)
I am also curious in this subject.
When I planned to visit Syria and suggested I would pretend to be an Israeli, an Arab I was mailing with recommended me not to do so ....
And I was not allowed to Syria, but perhaps I would have listened to him :-)
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I thought I might as well add a comment in case it helps. I am Jewish and travelled in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey for almost 3 months in the fall 2009, and I have also travelled on a separate trip to Morocco. My last name is not a common Jewish name, but it did come up on many occasions when the topic of religion came up with people I encountered. Based on prior advice from Arab friends in Canada, I was cautious about who I told, but my experience was that it was never of issue of contention and certainly not at all an issue of hostility. Very much to the contrary. Based on their lived experience, people I talked to certainly had a lot of strong feelings about Israel, but separated being Jewish from being Israeli or often more specifically from being a Zionist. From the people I met it was very clear that this was a political issue to them. It is obviously based on your own feelings of comfort how much about yourself you want to discuss or disclose. There were Jewish communities in all these countries, and I had locals and couchsurfers in several cities take me to the old Jewish quarters… which were very well maintained and quite interesting. My trip was really wonderful, and I really found that preconceptions of the region from its portrayal in North America had little relevance to my actual experience there. I met many amazing people through the couchsurfing community and hopefully you will be able to connect with a lot of them while travelling. You are welcome to contact me if you have other questions. Have a great trip!
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I am French ( jewish background, not practising so much) but recently moved to ISrael.
My name is really French though as my father is christian catholic born and then converted.
I think the majority of the problems are more political than religious, actually muslim countries respect very much the dedication someone has on a specific religion , whatever this religion is.
So, yes, the problem is mainly political, and so for this reason you will not have problems coming, as a jew, to these arab countries.
You will have more problems, I guess, coming as an israeli. Don't talk about politics, buy a nice carpet, take nice pictures of the pyramids and ride the back of a camel, but don't talk politics ;)
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It'snot a big deal :D as long as you don't stick a paper of your forehead saying I am an Israeli, **** Arabs,lol
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I also am Jewish and lived in the Middle East region for a year. I first came to Palestine, Nablus to work and then travelled around the West Bank and then Israel. Then I went to Jordon and now am in the UAE. I have to pretty much agree with the other Jewish women who responded to your post. My parents were very concerned about me having 3 strikes against me coming here: American, Jewish, and Female. But I can say so far (Ishallah! :) that I have had all positive experiences. Also the key for me was my conservative dress. People even thought I was a Palestinian or of Arab decent--Lebanon when in Paletine or elsewhere. That purely means that they do not recognize or know what a Jew looks like. Whenever the topic of religin came up, I did skirt the issue and just tell them that I am spiritual. I am not so sensitve to keep it secret b/c was not raised religious and I am open to all cutlures and religions.
The most important thing is not to broadcast your religion and do NOT talk politics. Just agree and listen to the other side which will most likely be the Arab position--valid and important view. There are so many steroetypes and sound byte style news in the world. So this is a unique opportunity to really see, understand and experience the other side that mainstream or at least US mainstream media does not show. I have respect for all people regardless of their culture and religion. I remain neutral with speaking with anyone not from my home country of the USA. I hope that you relish this opportunity so you can also spread forth the notion of how wonderful, friendly the people are here in the Middle East. Just dress conservatively and you will blend in too.
Bon Voyage!
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Well
i'm from Syria..
as my opinion i think it isn't a problem .. you are a guest anyway.. and we always welcome our gestes..loool
i think it's saf,, don't worry..
by the way you don't have to say to eaveryone you are a jewish .. just take it easy..
good luck
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