<p>and I don’t want her to. I wasn’t very enthusiastic about it before the latest mess, and I’m really against it now. Of course, by the summer there could be peace in the Middle East (and pigs could fly, and the economy could be booming), but it could be much worse. Obviously, if worse then no go, but who can predict?</p>
<p>dufay, has your d worked out the financial side of this trip?</p>
<p>Maybe that will make it a no go…</p>
<p>we were just having this conversation the other day. one of our friend’s son wants to do the same.
I would feel the same way as you do, dufay…I wouldn’t support it and would have to do what I could to stop it.</p>
<p>Last summer, my D had been talking about taking the Birthright trip in January, which is right now. Boy am I glad she is not doing that! Fendrock-- and others-- that is a FREE TRIP (really, and truly) for young people who have at least one Jewish parent. As I wrote, I am very glad she is not going. I don’t know if the tour is in the troubled area, though. But it is always danger in the world. Are we, once again, being over-protective? I don’t think so…</p>
<p>D thinks she might have the financial side worked out, using Birthright for transportation and then some kind of scholarship for study. While I think “peace in the Middle East” will be a long time coming (although one can hope that the next administration makes it a priority), current events are very unsettling.</p>
<p>A lot of the kids from our suburb and the neighboring suburb do Birthright trips. Two of my best friends’ daughters did a Birthright trip together last summer and it was a wonderful experience for both of them. Security is a high priority. [Taglit-Birthright</a> Israel: Safety and Security](<a href=“http://www.birthrightisrael.com/site/PageServer?pagename=trip_safetyandsecurity]Taglit-Birthright”>http://www.birthrightisrael.com/site/PageServer?pagename=trip_safetyandsecurity)
The girls felt safe, with armed escorts/guards (sometimes the escorts/guards were young women about their own age) but I understand your concern and I recognize that things have changed. The State Department put Israel and the West Bank on an official Travel Warning this fall.
[Current</a> Travel Warnings](<a href=“404 - Page Not Found”>404 - Page Not Found)</p>
<p>Can you encourage your daughter to wait until the Travel Warning has been lifted? This way it is the State Department being cautious, not you-the-worried-mother being cautious. Birthright provides a wonderful opportunity for young people to spend ten days in Israel at no cost, but my understanding is that they have up until age 26 to take advantage of it.</p>
<p>This is an interesting discussion. My 22 year old niece is in Israel right now for a month. She went there on the Birthright trip with a friend and then to travel within the country for several weeks on their own. The Birthright trip just ended and they are on their own. But of course, the news right now is unsettling and I have not called my brother (the dad) about it, though talked to him five days ago before this latest violence erupted and my niece was having a great time (my other niece went on just Birthright itself for ten days last May at age 19). My 20 year old D has talked about going on that trip but has never had time to go and I would have supported the Birthright trip (my husband was less gung ho) as it is highly supervised in a very secure way. However, given the current situation in Israel, I would definitely have qualms about my child being there RIGHT NOW as my niece is, and also not with Birthright. I don’t like to live my life in fear and think we should carry on, but I would avoid a country during times of crisis, uprising, etc., which is the current situation in Israel. If things die down, I likely would let my kid do what you are considering, dufay. So, each person has to do what is comfortable to them but for me, it would be OK if things were in a more settled way (relatively speaking, no guarantees) in Israel, but not under the current situation. I supported my niece going on Birthright this month, and my other niece back in May (or if my own kid chose to go) but given the latest news, I would have my child come home now. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, my own D (age 22) is about to head out on a three week adventure on her own traveling through Cambodia and Laos. I am OK with it as those countries are not currently in crisis (she will not fly through Bangkok, however, given the recent situation there). But that is about as nervous as I am willing to get. She has a friend who lives in Beirut and talks about going on a trip to visit her but I am NOT comfortable with that.</p>
<p>I venture to guess that you live nowhere near any sort of large population center, commonly referred to as a “city.” They can be dangerous too. In fact, you should probably never go near other people, as they might endanger your life. Driving is out (too dangerous). Anything with plastic in it could be poisonous. Food from other locations could have some sort of disease; you should probably grow your own. Although food you grow could also be contaminated by something. Come to think of it, food waste can attract rats which can carry the plague, you should probably not eat anything. Let me know how it feels being Howard Hughes.</p>
<p>My brother-in-law chaperones these trips for his temple/synagogue/whatever it’s called. He’s still alive.</p>
<p>636</p>
<p>The Birthright trips are extremely secure - sometimes almost “suffocatingly” so…</p>
<p>Other than that - there’s danger anywhere you go or stay. Once your children are more-or-less adults, and fund their travel themselves, you can give them advice, and voice your opinion, but you can’t really stop them… neither should you.</p>
<p>Re post #8, most places in the world are not under rocket attack. Don’t be so condescending.</p>
<p>I went on a birthright trip. I agree that they are “suffocatingly” secure. They won’t take your daughter to any unstable regions, and she will be under constant supervision. I would have no problem sending anyone I loved there.</p>
<p>I would not have a problem with having my DS on a Birthright trip right now. The Gaza rockets are a problem for a limited area of the country, and I’m sure he would not be taken through those particular areas.</p>
<p>The greatest threat to a tourist in Israel today is, IMHO, the chance of being at the wrong place at the wrong time during a suicide bombing attack in a public place. These attacks are spectacular and newsworthy, but the chance of any particular individual being caught in one of them is quite low, and probably comparable to other risks like the ones THX listed above.</p>
<p>D1 will be going this summer on a high school trip. I’m actually more worried about her learning to drive. We have friends who sent their kids on summer programs during the height of the intifada. They reported that their kids were kept well insulated from any trouble or danger. Another friend’s son was on a high school program when Hezbollah started shelling northern Israel. That was actually far more of a danger than the Hamas attacks from Gaza. All of the group tours rerouted away from the north. </p>
<p>I agree with SamK that the big risk is being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that that particular risk is relatively low.</p>
<p>Israel has been on the state department warning list for years. I first went in 2000, several months before the second intafada started, and it was on the list then. It probably will be for many years.</p>
<p>However, I will echo what others have said. The violence is mostly in communities near the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As long as you stay away from those areas, I don’t think the risk is particularly high.</p>
<p>I went on Birthright last summmer, and the supervision is if anything stifling. What I would say is make plans, but with the awareness that this is a dynamic situation. If Israel is, G-d forbid, in a full fledged war this summer, yeah, it might be time for a change of plans. If Hamas starts succesfully suicide bombing again, same thing. But right now, Israel has been amazingly effective at keeping terrorists out of the main areas of the country - Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa have been blessedly free of attacks for some time.</p>
<p>I’m a high school senior and my friend spent last summer with the Israeli Armed Forces and her experience, as she recounts, was absolutely life-altering. According to her she never felt unsafe with the program, and came back a more mature and more grounded human being. Just something to think about.</p>
<p>Being evacuated while excavating at Megiddo a couple years ago was an interesting experience. Some terrorists simply have no respect for ancient sites. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I hope the situation will be calm by the summer. However, the Birthright trips are very secure, and they never put the kids in any situation that is remotely dangerous. They don’t, if I recall, even take regular city buses, and the kids are extremely well supervised. </p>
<p>The problem with visiting Israel is that it never feels like a totally “right” time, because there has been a decade of unrest. This leaves a lot of people always waiting until there is total calm, and that can be a long wait. However, I know kids who were on high school trips during the last Lebanon war, and they just were kept out of the north part of the country, where most of the violence was concentrated. Currently, they would keep all kids away from the south. Inside Israel, people usually feel quite secure, although one could never plan for a crazed suicide bomber. But I don’t think I would let the fear of that, in a non-active war time (like we have currently), prevent me from letting my kids go.</p>
<p>The Birthright trips stay away from Gaza, and do not utilize public transportation. They are extremely secure, as the last thing Israel would want is American students being injured. The trips are to help foster a connection to Israel. As a parent, I’m sure I would worry, but things in Israel aren’t going to be calm as we know it for a long, long time. I agree with Allmusic-this leaves people just waiting and waiting for the “right” time.</p>
<p>re post #8
I am guessing you have no kids.
Are you denying the dangers of traveling to a country such as Israel might pose ?
I wouldn’t feel comfortable and I know others share my concerns.</p>
<p>Two of my kids live in a major city , though I don’t recall any rockets attacks aimed at them.</p>
<p>If you are comfortable with traveling there, more power to you. I have never heard of anyone who visited Israel having anything but a lovely time.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t want to have any of my family on a cruise ship traveling near the coast of Somalia either…yet we still eat food and don’t live as recluses either.
Everyone has their own level of comfort when it comes to where they choose to travel.</p>
<p>Every family will have to make the choice for themselves, and I would like to share mine.</p>
<p>The summer of 2006 my D spent 6 weeks doing a HS program in Israel. I was opposed to it for nearly the entire 8 months leading up to it, however at one point I realized that each of us has a life to live and that we must do…live our lives. </p>
<p>It wasn’t easy and I never bit my nails more than I did that summer, especially when air strikes hit at the Lebanese border and the “kids” were less than 5 miles from the strikes (that day, as they were traveling all over the country). They were immediately herded back on to their buses and sent as far South as possible for several days. Each “kid” had a 5 minute phone call home (I got mine on July 4th) and then cell phones were shut down to keep the air open for emergency and security. Each “kid” had an opportunity to be sent home immediately or to stay. 3 of the 21 “kids” in my D’s group came home. After talking with my D for the 5 minutes I couldn’t get over how much more grown up she seemed, and how perfectly calm (and informed) she was about what was going on around her. I agreed she could stay. I think it was a growing experience for both of us that summer (she left for college 10 days after returning home). </p>
<p>I lived in Israel for a year in the 70s, also during war time. I would lay in bed at night and hear bombs in the distance. Like counting between lightning and thunder I would count after I heard a bomb. After 15 if I didn’t hear helicopters I knew there were no injuries. It was stressful (I was 15) but I learned a lot about life (and death) and about myself (and others) that year. I lost 4 good friends in a bombing. Over the past 38 years I have lost another 6 family friends (including my Rabbi’s brother). </p>
<p>The programs like Birthright and the program my D did use their own transportation, and have serious security measures they adhere to at all times. AT ALL TIMES.</p>
<p>Here’s a small portion of a letter my D wrote to the Principal of the HS she was studying with after she came home, which she titled, “A letter of gratitude and thanks”</p>
<p>…"I want to thank you for taking such good care of us, making sure we were kept safe in such dangerous circumstances. I’m glad my mother had the strength to allow me to stay with the group until the very end.</p>
<p>This has been an experience that my friends and I will never forget. It has made us stronger–in our religion, in our character, in belief in ourselves and our own courage in sticking it out.</p>
<p>My family is grateful to you and the Israelis who welcomed the group and showed such hospitality to us. They appreciated the constant newsletters telling them what the group was doing and where we were, so they could follow our journey on a map. It also provides me a written journal of experiences I may forget along the way. One thing I will never forget is how well taken care of we were, and the friendships solidified during this amazing adventure."</p>