‘Israel is safe’: The Druze Israeli telling Canadians to come visit

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Second, there is work with communities and potential travellers. It does not matter if they are Jewish. We want to bring everyone, as much as possible, to Israel.

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What about your background gives you a different outlook?

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I understand what it is to be a non-Jewish Israeli. I understand how people look at Israel from other places. It allowed me to understand how you can connect to Israel without only being Jewish.

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Israel, first of all, is the homeland of the Jewish people, a wonderful place. It is the cradle of all (Abrahamic) faiths. It is a place where you can connect to spirituality of any kind.

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Through 70-something years, it has managed to achieve amazing things in medicine, high tech and other areas. Even if you are just a person who wants to support something great or come and see something great, you can come to Israel. You do not need to be Jewish for that. You can come and fall in love with Israel.

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For those unfamiliar with the Druze, how would you describe its place in Israeli society?

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Most people do not know anything about the Druze. It is a religion. It believes that you need to live in harmony in the place where you live. Usually, this translates into being loyal to, or having a good relationship with, the country where you live.

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Druze serve in the army in Israel, but Syrian Druze serve in the army in Syria. Lebanese Druze are Lebanese 100 per cent, and have been very important in the Lebanese government, army, and other places.

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I think Druze are a great bridge between different countries because of that. Different Druze communities have good relationships with each other, even when they live in enemy countries sometimes.

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Prior to your path in Israeli tourism, there was much professional emphasis on China. How did that shape the way you think about attracting foreign visitors?

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I love Chinese culture. I was always a fan, even as a child — like a child’s fantasy of kung fu, calligraphy and other Chinese things. I decided to go because I loved it, but also because I knew it was the future. It was not only something in the past, or cultural. China was growing to be very central on the world stage, even over the last 10 years.

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Then I went to study to become a tour guide. For me, that was natural, because I was already guiding people, even not in an official capacity, to those who came to the Jewish villages and to Mount Carmel. I love working with people. I love Israel, history, archaeology, everything to do with Israeli culture, and walking in Israel.

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There were almost 150,000 Chinese tourists a year in Israel before COVID. I started working with them. I learned that Israel was fascinating to them. It is the Near East and an ancient culture, and they saw similarities, because theirs is also an ancient culture thousands of years old. In the Chinese outlook, Jewish people are very smart and technological; a small country that managed to achieve great things, which is true.

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It is one of the markets still waiting for recovery.

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After COVID, I decided to go into work where I could represent Israel and tell our story, but also the story of a Druze person: someone who is a minority, a proud Israeli, lives in Israel, and is integrated. I wanted people to see the culture of Israel that is not Jewish, because for many people outside, they do not know the other cultures living in Israel. So, I decided to apply for the program in the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, to bring tourists to Israel and represent Israel. That is what led me here.

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