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Great, they hate us

We seem to 'enjoy' reports of negative attitude towards Israelis overseas

When taking a sideways glance at ourselves – a bit of acrobatics is required to get the right perspective – we'll notice that there's something somewhat amusing and sickly about how we take pleasure in cases of negative attitude towards Israelis overseas.

 

Looking at the newspapers in the last few weeks provides several such examples and headlines: A ski resort warned its patrons about a large group of Israelis about to arrive at the resort; there was an article about an Israeli backpacker in India who was perceived as a beggar, a swindler said to be doped and aggressive; or the story about a French guesthouse that refused to take bookings from Israelis.

 

Great, they hate us. It's so comforting knowing that the entire world is against us, just like in the good old days.

 

Naturally there are no facts or research to corroborate this; however, life experience has shown that human beings tend to love/hate other peoples for various reasons, without any rules.

 

The associative luggage, the source of these sentiments, is usually a private matter. The misbehavior of one tourist could tarnish the reputation of his people in a specific area for years to come. Another tourist with a welcoming demeanor and good manners could create a good reputation in that same place for just as many years. It's such a human trait.

 

A short while ago, while in conversation with Samira, a receptionist at a quiet Parisian hotel near Boulevard Saint Michel, I asked her to rank her private list of love/hate towards hotel guests of different nationalities. The young intelligent woman, who is the daughter of Algerian immigrants, didn't hesitate for a moment.

 

'Brits drink like pigs'

At the top of her guest hate list were Russian tourists. They are nouveau rich, loud and they behave as though they are entitled to everything because of their money. Right on their heels were the English. They drink like pigs and go wild. The Americans simply made her laugh with their questions that demonstrated their total ignorance of European history and geography.

 

The Austrians, according to the receptionist, are cold, miserly and distant people who do not laugh at a single one of her jokes "that make everyone else laugh."

 

What about us, I couldn't help asking, what about the Israelis? You are really okay, she said without batting an eyelid. But that's natural. You are Mediterranean. You are warm, clever and happy, she added. We have a lot of Israeli tourists staying here, and I like them.

 

Samira's sampling is not statistically representative, it only represents Samira, but it doesn't fall short of the case where the guesthouse proprietor in Provence, who hates Israelis for various reasons we don’t care to know about, or the work of an Indian reporter with a one-sided view of the world who collects materials and edits them according his worldview rather than reality.

 

Nonetheless, there seems to be something very appealing in our eyes when someone in the world thinks horrible things about us and slanders us and boycotts us, among other things. What does this say about us?

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.05.06, 23:25
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