AmCham called on the US to differentiate between high security areas and places where "it's business as usual”.
The “Yediot Ahronot” daily reports that American Israel Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Yaacov Yisraeli has appealed to the US to retract its blanket travel warning calling on US citizens to defer visiting Israel. Yisraeli is asking for a softer warning to be issued. In letters to US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk and Chamber of Commerce of the United States president Thomas J. Donohue, Yisraeli stated that the travel warning issued by the State Department is seriously damaging Israel.
Yisraeli called on the US to differentiate between sensitive security areas and places such as Tel Aviv, Haifa and high-tech centers in Herzliya, Ra’anana and Migdal Ha’emek, where “it is business as usual”. “It is sad to realize that the US, Israel’s great friend, is recommending its citizens refrain from visiting Israel, while European and Asian businessmen do so,” he said.
Yisraeli’s letter was sent in the wake of the decision by the US government to publish a blanket travel warning against trips to Israel. As a result of the warning, fears have been raised that US insurance companies that insure trips abroad could stop insuring travelers to Israel on the grounds that it is a high-risk country.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 27 November 2000