Club Med
SKi without Israelis
Photo: AP
Club Med: Vacation without Israelis
Club Med tells customers if they choose not to vacation with Israelis, they could transfer to alternative resort. Swiss Jewish organization: Letter smells of anti-Semitism. CEO of Club Med Israel: We do this with everyone. Club Med loves Israelis
In a letter sent to their patrons in Switzerland, holiday company Club Med gave them the option to change their holiday ski plans if they did not wish to spend them with… Israelis. Sources within the Jewish community in Switzerland say that the letter has a whiff of anti-Semitism to it.
"Dear patrons, we would like to announce that between December 16 and December 23 we have the privilege to host in our Menuires ski resort in France an important group of Israeli citizens. Because your vacation is personal, you are able to choose an alternative ski resort at no extra charge," the letter said.
In the letter, the company offered their patrons a list of seven ski resorts for those who do not wish to share spend their vacation with skiers from Israel. The club offers ski resorts such as Tigres, Serre-Chevalier, Cervinia, Peisey-Vallandry, Chamonix, and Meribal Aspen Park.
The letter, which reached the hands of CICAD, a Jewish organization in Geneva who fights anti-Semitism and discrimination, angered them and prompted their quick appeal to the company to get a clarification.
"This is outrageous," said political sources. "Someone in Club Med thinks their customers have something against Israelis."
CEO of Club Med Israel Ze'ev Dahan defined the letter as nothing more than a misunderstanding which stems from the naïveté of those who worded it, and those who wrote it did not have any anti-Semitic intentions. According to him, during Hanukkah, there will be 480 skiers at the Menuires ski resort, and 450 of them are Israeli. "In this case we often notify our other customers and let them know that if it doesn't suit them, they can transfer to an alternative resort where there are open spaces. We did that lately in Kemer, Turkey when our club was filled with Italian bank workers. Then we approached our Israeli customers who booked their vacation at the club and offered to transfer them to another location," Dahan said.
"This is a service we provide so there will be no misunderstandings that there are only Israelis at the resort, and the vacationer, whose son doesn't speak any Hebrew, wouldn't understand anything. We do this with everyone. Club Med loves Israelis.
