Calling Big Brother

September 3, 2008 - 9:48 AM by David

Israelis love to travel, both at home, and especially abroad. Which means we get into all kinds of mischief – and worse. The papers regularly carry stories about usually young post-army travelers who have been killed in hiking falls in the Himalayans, bus accidents in India, robberies in Peru.

When disaster hits a part of the world – whether it be political unstability in Thailand or Hurrican Gustav in Louisiana – our thoughts usually arrive quickly to ‘what’s happening with the Israelis there?

That question also looms large over the staffers at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, which connects with all the Israeli embassies and consulates around the world. Too large, according to a report today in Ha’aretz.

“Why aren’t you sending planes to evacuate Israeli tourists from Thailand? What are you waiting for?” asked a frantic caller to the Foreign Ministry’s situation room Tuesday, following the Thai government’s declaration of a state of emergency in the capital, Bangkok.

Foreign Ministry officials were not alarmed by the hysterical calls about the safety of Israelis in Thailand. Only a day before, they had been flooded with callers asking the ministry to evacuate Israelis from New Orleans in light of the approaching Hurricane Gustav.

Such incidents illustrate a subject that has been hotly debated in the Foreign Ministry’s corridors and offices in recent months: To what extent is the state responsible for its citizens’ safety abroad?

It is doubtful whether any other country’s diplomats invest as much time and effort in tending to the problems of individual citizens overseas as Israeli diplomats do. For example, Israel chartered three planes to evacuate 500 Israelis from Georgia during the latter’s war with Russia. None of the Israelis were asked to pay for the flight, and some were even reimbursed by their original carriers. In comparison, the United States chartered buses to evacuate its civilians from Georgia and charged every passenger tens of dollars for the service.

Israel’s concern for its citizens can backfire, however, with people occasionally trying to take advantage of the government’s good will. According to the Ha’aretz report, a member of Knesset recently called the ministry’s situation room requesting help for Israelis ‘stranded’ in Lithuania, a country currently not undergoing any particular crisis.
The crisis at hand was that the airline the Israeli tourists were booked on had gone bankrupt, and the travelers didn’t want to spring for another plane ticket.

Another incident citing how citizens can try to take ‘work on’ the government took place in Spain when a tourist was injured during a mountain trek and the Israel Embassy organized a helicopter rescue. The consul received a phone call soon after from the traveller’s mother requesting that the helicopter be sent back to the accident site because her son’s backpack had been left behind.

I’m going to California soon, and was thinking of calling the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles to see if they could possibly send a car to pick me up at the airport. Worth a shot…

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