Hawaiian shirt, Bermuda shorts, navy sock with penny loafers, and an American flag baseball cap - plus a wife who dresses too immodestly for a U.S. office. They drink. And they make minimal effort to learn any other language than English.
Maybe the UAE. They tend to be a bit more tourist friendly, I think.
Missed the edit:
They seem to put on a pretty decent spread:
DOH! I missed the edit again - the wife won’t be able to slut it up too much there; however, as long as she sort of covers herself she shouldn’t get chased by crazy people.
As far as I know there are NO middle eastern countries where women can walk around in full slut gear though.
ETA - Oops - looks like I’m wrong, according to this link:
No dress code, people rocking bikinis - this may be the spot.
Israel.
Try Tel Aviv some time.
I was thinking Jordan. I’ve never been, but I hear it’s a pretty tourist-friendly (and oft-visited) destination. They’d probably still get a lot of attention, I’d guess though.
I saw an episode of No Reservations set in Turkey where the women could show a fair amount of skin.
I am in the UAE right now, posting through Witopia VPN. The Emiratis are not fond of women showing a lot of skin. It is tolerated, but frowned upon. Too many westerners come here forgetting they are in a conservative Muslim nation and end up arrested for things we take for granted. Kissing in public, etc. Abu Dabi and Dubai look very much like any modern western city, with street signs in English, etc. This is a very easy place to get into trouble with the local authorities.
Be warned.
If you’re counting Turkey as Middle East, and the wife is dressed in line with her husband (t-shirt, mom-shorts) and more toward ultra-American casual rather than immodest, then western Turkey wouldn’t be a problem.
What’s Beirut like these days?
Israel.
Among Arab Middle Eastern countries possibly Jordan and Tunisia (does that count as ME?)
I don’t know what the situation is like these days, but at least parts of Egypt used to be pretty tourist-friendly.
My guess is Israel too. The US and Israel have historically been very cozy together, and the US provides all sorts of aid to Israel and generally does not bomb them.
Israel is the only middle eastern country that have gay pride parades. Says a lot.
It is the only established democracy in the Middle East too.
I got to agree with this. Avoid the Hasidic neighborhoods and your ugly American tourist will fit in rather well. And could possibly even find themselves considered well-dressed. The last time I visited the country I was truly surprised at how casually some of the locals dressed.
Another vote for Israel.
Another vote for Jordan. Women in bikinis swimming in the same pools as women in head-to-toe burqa swimwear. Also home to some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet. Don’t know if it’s “encouraged” by the regime, but the default greeting from most everyone is “Welcome to Jordan!”