Unfortunately a substantial number of people would not consider Israel as a tourism destination. Unlike many others, that returns to Israel after having a very successful first visit. Form the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 until today around 60 millions tourists visited Israel. From the establishment of the stat of Israel until today 1652 people where killed by a violent act of terrorism. It means that the chance of getting killed in a terror attack in Israel is 0.002753 %. That percentage does not include the Israeli population that is a main factor, when adding up this number you have even smaller chance to get hurt. The number of 1652 people includes mainly Israeli citizens, so if we take out the number of Israeli citizens of the equation, we are now taking about Israel being the safest country in the world to travel!
Due to Israel's misfortunate experience in terrorism, Israel became a leading country in the world in fighting terrorism. Israeli doctrines of fighting terrorism are been taught all over the world.
Unfortunately due to the circumstances Israel has a lot of experience in preventing terror attacks. Israel police is spread all around the center of the towns and Israeli police personal are well trained in preventing danger. Add to that the Israeli intelligence forces that consider being the best in the world. No doubt that when you are traveling Israel you can consider yourself in good hands
Tourists in Israel feels perfectly safe eating in restaurants, using the public transportation or shopping in the mall. All places mentioned above are being secured by guards during all opening hours.
In the Israeli army there are about 180000 soldiers carrying guns, on top of that, around 350,000 citizens in Israel are carrying a gun. It means that in Israel 7% of the people are carrying a gun. We are talking about licensed gun that are listed and supervised by the state. Many people might think that this is irresponsible, yet it was proved with no doubts that citizens carrying guns in Israel helped many times to prevent crime and terror attacks. So basically, where ever you travel in Israel in any moment there is a good chance that you have a guard, even if you don't know about him.
Most Israelis are more alert to suspicious people or objects. Living in a country like that you develop a 6th sense for bed people who mean to harm. Identifying terrorism became a second nature in the common Israeli citizen. Therefore the citizens of Israel are not indifferent to suspicions event, people or things.
After eliminating the terror factor as a reason for not visiting Israel, let examine other safety subjects.
Traveling in Israel during the night- is very safe in all major cities. In many cities around the world you will be risking your life going out on nights. In Israel going out in the night and touring cities like Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa or any other city is very safe. Women can feel completely safe traveling in Israel alone, even in the nights. Homicide Percentage per100 thousand is 2.29% in 2006. Comparing to USA in 2004 that was 7.5%, comparing to Russia 18%. For example in Tel Aviv in 2005 there were 32 people who were murdered meaning 8.2%. On the same year in Washington DC the murder rate was 35.4%. So when comparing homicide rates to other countries in the world Israel is at the bottom.
Hitchhiking in Israel- While in many countries in the world hitchhiking is very dangerous, in Israel it's very common. Israel is known for its friendly people the reason for that is maybe due to the fact that Israel is a small country where everybody knows everybody, through family, university or service in the army. Maybe it's the Jewish legacy that effects the Israeli character, the fact is that when traveling Israel people will always be there for you. When you need guiding, help and assistants, people will do that for you. Israelis are very welcoming and pleasant to tourist in Israel. Tourist in Israel will experience the friendly atmosphere wherever they travel in Israel.
Traveling in Israel is nothing like traveling any other country. All the biblical stories happened in Israel and where created in Israel. Traveling Israel is traveling in the foot steps of Jesus, in the foot steps of Abraham and all the prophets.
There is no doubt that there is something in the air you breathe in the holy land that we can't explain. The only thing I can say is, that ones you visited Israel there is no going back, the meaning of the word HOME won't be the same. You will keep coming to Israel over and over again.
