A relative of mine is planning to study in Israel; not for any particular reason, just because that’s one place his school has a program. I’ve searched the net in vain for crime statistics; I hear there are plenty of guns around, and I seem to recall reading something here about extreme measures in airport security to prevent terrorist activities. So I guess my question is, between petty crime and occasional terrorism, just how safe is Israel? Would you want to go there if you could do what needed to be done somewhere else?
There are plenty of guns around because everyone (there are exceptions) is required to serve in the military and keep their weapon at home with them when they are not on duty, or are in the reserves.
The fact that the population is armed with automatic weapons does not contribute to the crime problem very much. If you know the house you are going to burglarize contains automatic weapons and people trained to use them, you might think twice.
Apart from the continous danger of imminent invasion, Israel is safer than most destinations. I would love the opportunity to visit there.
I live in Israel and I find it safe. The guns don’t bother me, in fact i’m less concerned about crime than when I visit the States.
Actually, tcburnett, that’s a commonly held misconception. Reservists do not keep their weapons at home with them for most of the year; weapons are held in individual units’ armories, and are signed out whenever needed. Keeping rifles at hope would be very faulty logistics.
You are right about regular - 18 to 21 year old - soldiers, who make up a signifigant portion of the population. Most of them have weapons, even the non-combat troops. because Israel is such a small country, almost all soldiers serve within a four hour drive from their parents’ house, so people usually go on leave every weekend or two, and often in between. Because of this, Israeli bus stations, malls and shopping districts are usually full of armed kids on their way home. This may seem intiidating to outsiders, but in fact it adds to public safety. Remember, if everybody has, or has had, a gun, then no-one is impressed by guns; and if everybody has been trained in their use, then nobody uses them unnecceserally. I’ve seen several occasions when two young soldiers, each with M-16 strapped across their backs, have gotten into fistfights. None of them ever even considered using their weapons.
Besides that, you also have a lot of security guards everywhere in Israel - usually young guys after the army, often college students. Their presence probably keeps crime down. Getting a handgun licence is pretty hard though, because of draconian legistlation after the Rabin Assasination, and it involves a 3-month waiting period, background check, a heavey tax and presentation of a valid reason. Those who own handguns usually tuck them in their waistbands and try to look tough (excuse my ridicule. I don’t really consider a handgun a weapon).
Although crime has been on a rise the last few years - probably due to massive immigration - Israel is much safer than the US. Although the presence of large amounts of armed, trained men and women may contribute to this, I believe that the reasons are mainly sociological and cultural. Israel has less crime because there are less factors which contribute to crime (poverty, drugs, etc.) and because there are more factors which inhibit crime (a small country, tight-knit families, arguably an effective legal system).
For you, though, it may just be relativity. It’s not that Israel has a particularly low crime rate; America has a abnormally high one. We’re not the exeption - you are.
I did phrase that badly, didn’t I. I meant to convey that people who are required to have their weapons at home do. Reservists during periods of active duty generally fall under this criteria, or did as recently as the late 70s.
My daughter was at Tel Aviv University for six months in a study abroad program. She had no problems whatsoever, although she was amused on the beach to see the kids in the army in swim trunks with their guns and cellphones.
Obviously, there’s a certain amount of common sense that needs to be exercised, as anywhere. One wouldn’t wear flashy jewelry in some neighborhoods, nor show a huge roll of cash. If there were a protest group picketing or throwing stones somewhere, one would want to stay away… far away. Females travelling alone after dark might want to take extra precautions.
But these are all precautions that you’d take in ANY city, in any country.
FWIW, apparently teachers escorting schoolchildren are armed with fully automatic weapons. Number of school shootings in Israel recently? One, when a class was visiting a monument or something in Jordan and the escorts were required to leave their machine guns behind.
Userer, the teachers don’t have the weapons, there are special guards hired to do that. It’s hard to lecture with a machine gun strapped across your back. And yes, they go everywhere. I took a “field trip” course in which we went to an interesting historical site in Jerusalem every week, and no matter where it was, we had our shomer (guard) with us. On a hike through the Galilee, we had a shomer. Everywhere.
Getting used to this is not always easy. Personally, I had never seen a gun in person until I went to Israel. Seeing the soldiers with their machine guns was quite a shock to my system. But you get used to it quickly. I felt pretty safe in Israel, largely due to the extreme security measures that people take very seriously.
Terrorism does happen, but if your relative uses common sense, he shouldn’t have too much trouble. Stuff like: don’t go to the shuk (market) on Friday mornings, that sort of thing. I was in Israel for eleven months (July 1998-June 1999) and during that entire time, there were two terrorist bombings. Only two people were killed, combined, and they were the terrorists in the second attack.
When I went to Israel, my parents were very worried about my safety, but it soon became clear to me that ideas that Israel was a very dangerous place was a media exaggeration. There are lots of guns, but there is also a realistic view about what guns do; it’s not the “video game” attitude that (I think) causes excess violence in the U.S.