Still not discouraged? No? Well, stay away from anywhere you planned to be for the upcoming Tishrei high holidays, that’s for sure. You don’t want to be where the Jewish action is – no prayer gatherings, no celebrations, no crowds.
“Visitors are advised to avoid large gatherings or demonstrations and keep current with local news, which is available through numerous English language sources… U.S. citizens are advised to avoid open air public parks after dark as they are poorly lit and policed. There have been numerous reports received of after dark criminal activity associated with these parks.”
How do either of these two warnings differ from the average admonition a parent gives a teenager heading out with friends in nearly every city in America, pray tell?
“U.S. government personnel are not permitted to use public buses anywhere in Israel or the West Bank due to past attacks on public transportation. While U.S. government employees are authorized to use the light rail system in Jerusalem, there has been an increase in individuals throwing stones at light rail trains, particularly near Shuafat and along the northern end of the route.”
This truly amazes me. The Light Rail is safer than the public bus system?? It would make sense if U.S. government personnel were prohibited from using the Jerusalem Light Rail, which has been repeatedly targeted by Arab stone-throwers in the northern neighborhood of Shuafat since the start of the summer. Nearly half of the passenger cars were damaged by the attackers, in fact, due to the rock attacks last month. But this has no logic at all.
So how is it that U.S. government employees are authorized to use the light rail system in Jerusalem, but they are not allowed to travel south of Ashdod, where nary an attack has been perpetrated for weeks?
Hm. Could it be the State Department doesn’t quite trust Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorists to keep their kidnapping hands off American targets?
The Obama White House was quite willing to force Israel to abandon the military operation that would have permanently ended that threat to the lives of its own citizens.
Is President Barack Obama’s administration using Israel’s civilians as America’s human shields?