https://www.commentary.org/seth-mandel/walk-a-few-miles-in-an-israelis-shoes/
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has ordered its diplomats around the world to refrain from participating in public events until further notice, according to a leading Israeli broadcaster. The cautionary note comes after last night’s murder of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington outside the Capital Jewish Museum.
These are, of course, government officials with government-level security. I don’t think most people have the faintest idea of what it’s like for Israelis traveling abroad these days on their own. So here’s a peek at the experience of being an Israeli in the world, via a few stories that demonstrate the point.
Earlier this month, an Israeli tourist attempted to book a hotel stay in the popular Norwegian destination town of Geiranger. The would-be traveler received the following response from the hotel:
“The Norwegian Labor Organization (LO) will soon enforce a boycott that will affect Israeli tourists and Israeli goods due to the catastrophic situation in Gaza. We need to inform you that our staff is organized in LO unions, and they will not break the boycott. I will need to consult with the employers’ organization as I see this as a force majeure situation.”
Force majeure refers to the way unforeseen events can be excluded from normal liability obligations. It seems the hotel could not possibly have expected an Israeli traveler and believes its trade union will be enforcing a boycott against not just Israeli companies and products but people.
Put simply: We don’t serve your kind here.
Of course, sometimes it’s easier to take those discriminatory obligations off the shoulders of your holiday hotels and just ban Israeli passport holders from your entire country. That was the route the Maldives took last month. The Maldives parliament passed a bill to such effect and the president signed it, insisting the ban “reflects the government’s firm stance in response to the continuing atrocities and ongoing acts of genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.”