# Should i bail on my trip to Israel next week? (Leaving 2023-08-06) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 27, 2023, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684 "2023-07-27T11:30:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2023, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684/61 "2023-08-06T11:11:50Z")
Then you should probably stock up. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2023, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684/62 "2023-08-06T12:25:54Z")
in Jerusalem check out the First Station complex.(historic train station that’s been renovated as a shopping/restaurant/ tourist center.) Some of the restaurants there are open on Fridays and Saturdays. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2023, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684/63 "2023-08-06T12:36:17Z")
You can also drive to Abu Ghosh. There’s some very good food there. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2023, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684/64 "2023-08-06T14:34:49Z")
I’ve solved my Sabbath dinner problem. I invited myself to a friend’s house for supper. We used to work together, but haven’t actually seen each other in… more than 25 years. I’m excited to meet his wife and dog. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684/65 "2023-08-16T20:08:56Z")
We’re heading home. Thanks everyone, for your encouragement. We had a very good time, both seeing friends and seeing Israel. We didn’t see anything that looked scary, except for the drivers. One guy in our group was nearly run down, and i saw a car come very close to running over someone’s foot as the guy screamed and tried to get out of the way. There are screaming children everywhere. I think this is summer vacation, and lots of families are traveling. But there’s more noise per child than I’m used to, as well as an awful lot of children. Some of the kids are pretty badly behaved. I saw a boy grab some candy from a display in a marketplace. He put it in his mouth, decided he didn’t like it, and threw it back into the bin with the other candy. Similarly, at the hotel buffet, a friend saw a child take a piece of pastry, take a bite out of it, and then put it back. (At least you could see that that piece had been in someone’s mouth, which you couldn’t with the candy.) The kids also cut in front of my friends who were trying to get ideal, stuck their hands in the ice cream condiments, and spilled both ice cream and sprinkles on the floor. Let’s just say children were very evident, often in ways that made us uncomfortable. But the trip was great. I saw friends i hadn’t seen in four years, and did all sorts of fun tourist stuff in Israel. The stations of the cross, the spring where David didn’t kill Saul, a date farm, some cool archeological sites, and more. It was too damn hot. It got to 44C (um, that’s about 111F) But we had a blast. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684/66 "2023-08-16T20:38:11Z")
I enjoyed my time there as well. The thing that was most profound for me was for the only time in my life I didn’t feel like a minority. I’m really glad that you went and had a good time. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684/67 "2023-10-07T12:53:55Z")
My mother, my aunt, and my uncle will be in Israel in two days – my mother coming from Germany. And it sounds as though – tragically – the shit is truly hitting the fan in Israel: > **[Security Alert:  U.S. Embassy Jerusalem (October 7, 2023)   ](https://il.usembassy.gov/security-alert-u-s-embassy-jerusalem-october-7-2023/)** > > Security Alert:  U.S. Embassy Jerusalem (October 7, 2023)    Location:  Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza    Event:  Security Alert    The U.S. Embassy is > **[Hamas kills 40 in unprecedented, wide-ranging incursion into Israel....](https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-rockets-airstrikes-tel-aviv-11fb98655c256d54ecb5329284fc37d2)** > > Israel says at least 40 people are dead after the militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip launched an unprecedented and multi-front attack. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684/68 "2023-10-07T12:56:14Z")
I just starting a breaking news thread. > [@Israel at war with Hamas](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israel-at-war-with-hamas/991237): > > Hamas launched a surprise attack of Israel. Reuters has a good article, which my broken app won’t let me link: (but it’s easy to Google) JERUSALEM/GAZA, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Palestinian Islamist group [Hamas](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/what-is-palestinian-group-hamas-2023-10-07/) launched the biggest attack on Israel in years on Saturday, killing more than 20 people and wounding hundreds in a surprise assault that combined gunmen crossing into Israel with a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza. Israel said the Iran-backed group had declared war as its army confirmed fi… ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684/69 "2023-10-07T12:58:55Z")
Will your family cancel the trip? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684/70 "2023-10-07T13:01:27Z")
I just emailed them. It’s probably too soon to tell, but my gut tells me that this is Really, Really Bad, and that they’ll almost surely have to cancel. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684/71 "2023-10-07T13:30:51Z")
From my aunt: > Our hearts are broken for every single person whose lives are taken or broken in this tragic ongoing conflict. We are going to cancel; for us, it’s just a matter of disappointment and logistics. For [my mother], it’s all the more difficult. Humans plan, and God laughs. I’d have to imagine that the whole trip will be unraveled. The scope and scale of this is as mind-boggling as it is horrifying. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684/72 "2023-10-07T13:33:36Z")
Yeah, here’s the right thread. And it sounds really really bad. > [@Hamas attacks Israel, October 2023](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netanyahu-says-we-are-at-war-october-7-2023/991234): > > Hamas claims to have captured some soldiers. From the article: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “we are at war, and we will win it” as the country’s air force began striking Hamas targets in Gaza on Saturday, in response to a surprise assault on the 50th anniversary of the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Hamas militants infiltrated Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip — including by paraglider and over the sea — and launched more than 2,200 rockets, Israeli military leaders … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-bail-on-my-trip-to-israel-next-week-leaving-2023-08-06/987684.md?page=3)