I'm a so-called 'Westerner' who moved to Israel, and from what I've observed, Israelis' behavior in Israel is no different toward us than what you experience. 'Westerners' are also, for the most part, 'invisible' here. And the dynamic here is the same as in India: Israelis inconsiderate/rude, non-Israelis, (the 'Other') self-effacing.

Of course they behave the same in Israel. Israelis mostly travel in packs and are simply oblivious to other people. Most never learn anything in their travels because there is so little interaction. Most simply believe that everybody behaves the same. They confuse civility and politeness as dishonest and are suspicious when people are polite thinking that they just want to take advantage. However the writer is delusional when they suggest that Israeli is a Western Country and tries to frame it in some sort of neo-colonial dialectic. Sadly most Israelis are inconsiderate and simply do not think about anything beyond themselves much less about he writers proposed racial hierarchy. As someone who travels regularly all over Asia Israeli behavior is a never ending source of shame. I travel alone but when ever I go to places Israelis frequent I can feel the resentment of locals. For consideration, Josef Cohen

Dear Ahiyah, Its an rare case, I had been working with number of peoples from Israel, and found that they try get themselves adapted with the surrounding culture and ambience. They behaviour is nice. And you are right, that one should always try to adapt and respect the place where he/she is.

to be rude and not see others and to see through them like they dont exist .

So what do you hareidim bashers have to say ? y'know how hareidim and settlerrs give israeli's and jews a bad name eh ? quiet arent you ? well here's your Magnum opus, lets here you bash those violent hareidi animals for protesting the gay parade... of course when secular youth trash india and the entire world for that matter its ok right? First it was poland, now india... instead all you can do is blast the breslaver hassidim who supposedly make a mess in uman, or those that celebrate in meron. Ipso facto my friends... your guilty!come out of the hate box you live in and quit bashing jews just because thwy find swine and homosexuals repulsive and wrong.

Yes, there are incidents of Israelis not behaving properly in India....I will not deny it. However, NOT every Israeli behaves in a rude fashion. There are many, many Israelis who are considerate, polite, respectful and respectful to the natives of India and also respect the environment of the country they are visiting. Stop coming down hard on Israeli tourists all the time Y NET. Why don't you look at the behaviour of Italian soccer fans, British soccer fans, British beer drinkers in Israel and their disrespectful attitude to Israeli women....or better still, examine the culture behind the Muslim radicals who are willing to kill their own wives and sisters if they do not wish to marry a man bestowed upon them, or threaten their female TV broadcasters with slitting their throats from vein to vein if they do not have their heads covered on TV. Look around you... and get off our backs once and for all. We will deal with our own kind.

israelis are rude..inconsiderate..loud and obnoxious...they learn it as kids at school and at family gatherings where the loudest is the norm..no one listens to the other..israelis know everything about everything..line jumping...the etiqutte of their driving on the roads

I must have missed something of the Israeli behaviour...! In Israel, I did go out with groups of friends almost every night and their behaviour was always superb. When my friends from Israel come and visit me here in London, we go to bars and restaurants and they're NEVER rude, inconsiderate or obnoxious, as someone says in his talkback. It's a pleasure to be with them.

PARENTS, AUNTS, UNCLES, and Politicians.

i met a lot of really rude and loud travellers in india, mainly they behave like that when in groups. but very important to say that it is not the common behaviour of israelis abroad. problem is that the respectful, adapting tourists are not disturbing and therefore do not get any (negative) attention... and, by the way, did you ever encounter groups of germans, or dutch pepole on holidays? give them some beers and they are far worse than a bunch of israeli kids!!!

India IS a dirty country! lol suprise suprise....and the way that things are done there is in some regards horendous....so who was this pontificating woman on the train? A member of a "high" caste? One who could afford to have gotten an education, unlike the untouchables who probably couldnt even afford to get on the train? And was her life so miserable that she couldnt bear to see a group of forigners laughing and G-d forbid "touching" each other? lmao but that said the service there is really good.....

Very incoherent article! An Indian that probabably supports slavery, the cast system, the existence of the "untouchables" This Indian complains about a bunch of Israelies "not seing the other", or about "the others becoming invisible"? Ah!

This article is taking the fact that a bunch of Israeli kids who just finished a grueling torture of 3 years military service are acting like ***holes in foreign countries because after what they went through, they can't really think about anyone but themselves, and turning it into a whole racial, colonization, imperialism, superiority complex nonsense because of one quote from a newspaper. This is ridiculous. To that woman who asked "Is this how Israelis behave in your own country?" The answer is YES. I've been to Israel over 8 times and grew up there as a little kid. Being loud and direct, to the point of rudeness, or finding ways to cut a line, is part of Israeli culture. There's no secrets and no hiding of one's feelings. The loudest wins. Now Israeli tourists should definitely not apply this philosophy when travelling and instead respect the host country's culture, but saying it is because Israelis view Indians as "inferior like the Arabs" is nonsense.

I am an Indian-American and an ardent [some even say unconditional] supporter of Israel. So, this article was particularly upsetting. Especially since, India, besides being a massive regional power [dark skin notwithstanding], is also a friend of Israel. Not to mention, India was the only nation where Jews have lived freely and safely for more than a millenium. p.s. imagine if they behaved like this in pakistan?

Loud, rude, inconsiderate - that's Israel!

I was on a train in the Himalayas last month and, what makes me dubious about the accuracy of this article is that there was no airconditioning. That journey was one of the most unpleasant travel experiences of my life. The seats were hard & uncomfortable, & the latrines as they called them indescribably filthy. And a 5 hour journey took 7 hours. So if Israeli tourists want to have a bit of fun - why not. I could have done with some of them on my awful journey.

Israeli manners have become associated with arrogance and boorishness for one reason. Experience. Unfortunately the whole lot are tarred by the few. I recall an obnoxious young Israeli driving a tour guide to distraction. When he eventually cut off the conversation she started shouting he was anti Jewish, He replied that he was not anti jewish, he met some of the nicest jews in the world, they just wern't from Israel. I don't know how her fellow Israelis were feeling listening to her rant but none told her to shut up. Israel, get the chip off your shoulder, the world is a better place if you are friendly and well mannered. We know of the difficulties you have at home just surviving. You have friends outside why not reciprocate their goodwill?

My husband and I went on an organized tour with an Israeli group. We didn't know what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised First of all, the guide made a point of instructing us to follow certain rules such as: respect the holy Christian places. always dress modestly be careful not to talk loudly in Hebrew in restaurants do not abuse the hotel breakfast buffet by making sandwiches etc. The group took great pains to be as inconspicuous and polite as possible As for us we enjoyed the journey and made new friends.

Any country has its rowdy bunch that gives bad name to everyone else. My Australian friends who have lived abroad for a while can't stand being around Australian tourist groups - for exactly the same reasons as mentioned here! And you should see the Westerners who live in Japan and how they act - Israelis are not even a factor there for their small numbers. I remember being acutely ashamed of my German and American friends who were hanging from the handrails in a subway car in Tokyo. More than ones. And the Brits don't need to travel farther than their local bar in order to behave like animals, scary animals (again - personal experience). Read this http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2007/06/10/nosplit/ettelaviv110.xml Note, that this guy is complaining about the rude and impossibly self-absorbed behavior of the HAREDIM and has nothing but praise for Israel proper. Let's face it - we have our share of problems, mainly due to impatience and poor ability for self-restraint. We maybe very loud in public, but you'll rarely see us getting despicably drunk and debauch in public places. Criticism is not antisemitic, but get a grip, would you? And the quote of an Israeli traveler about Arabs - FAKE! Israelis can say a lot of unpleasant things about Arabs, but not that. U can see the anti Israeli bias of this article from the sentence about guns and "exploitative commercial ties". Because Indians who butchered a few 1000's of their Muslims 2-3 years ago are such tsadikim...

I have travelled to Europe several times, and I found the Germans to be very loud on buses and subways. Not to mention Americans and Japanese. Scots are also very loud. People travelling in groups tend to speak loudly. Israelis are no worse than the other and shouldn't be singled out.

Like it or not that is now it is. Any one elses bad acts don't count and hardly excuses anyone elses. Israel has a lot more to lose by this than other countries. So how do you propose to deal with your own kind in India? My family had to take classes in diplomacy when stationed outside the US and even the kids had to recognize what they did reflected on our country. Life is so tough. Grow up.

it is just how we are. we can't learn any better and instead of taking responsibility for our actions and behaviours we find ways to always point at the worse actions and behaviours of others in order to justify ourselves. I fear that we will never learn and I suppose that by way of justification we can say about ourselves "hey God in Heaven pegged us as a stiff necked people and still he chose us! So we are the light onto the nations the rest of you peons can either serve us or bugger off!"

This is so tybical of the arrogant Israelis. Just as they are occubying our land, they disresbect our beoble, and believe they are suberior. All because of their army service. That is why they occuby our land and misbehave in India and everywhere. Learn to resbect !!

I've just returned from my first visit to Israel and I must say I was I was impressed both by the land and the people. Considering that 40,000 Israeli tourists visit India every year and 20,000 Indian tourists visit Israel, there is bound to be the odd incident such as the one mentioned above, but surely, one can't tar all Israelis with the same brush because of this. My understanding is that many of the Israeli tourists who come to India are drawn here by here rich traditions and ancient practices such as yoga and meditation

They say that when you see falts in others is a reflection of your own, Hummm..

Israelis are extremely considerate people, they can walk on fire for you. Unfortunately they are extremely bad mannered and it is a sad image workld wide. Ministry of Education should change the rules at school.

You should not give an opinion about what you do not know. I pitty your ignorance.