JERUSALEM POST
by Yishai Fleisher
May 22, 2014

We Israelis seem to have a problem embracing our own biblical narrative; many Israelis feel alienated from the Bible stories.

A few months ago, I was in Nashville for the massive Christian broadcasters’ conference known as the NRB.

Maybe not surprisingly, there were a lot of Israelis at the conference, hawking their wares to this lucrative, pro-Israel market.

One of the largest displays on the expo floor was the information booth and lounge of the Israeli Tourism Ministry, a fun place to meet people and get some kosher Israeli chocolate in the huge and not-so-kosher Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. Tourism Minister Uzi Landau himself was on hand to meet and greet pastors and Christian media in the hopes of getting them interested in bringing more groups to Israel.

I was invited to a press conference that the Tourism Ministry held, at which the minister was sitting on the dais while Chaim Guten, the Israel tourism commissioner for North and South America, was unveiling the new 2014 campaign to reach potential Christian Evangelical tourists.

Guten first went through the numbers. He said that 2013 was the best year yet for tourism to Israel, with an astounding 3.5 million tourists arriving, and the US and Canada contributing about 20 percent of that number. Guten explained Israel’s efforts to reach the Evangelical market, including an aggressive and traditional new media campaign, and education for pastors on how to organize trips. In total, $2 million was spent on outreach to the North American Christian market last year.

…..However, there are two stumbling blocks for Israel when it comes to promoting genuinely Jewish, Hebrew-Bible tourism. First, we Israelis seem to have a problem embracing our own biblical narrative. Many Israelis feel alienated from the Bible stories, and many simply don’t know them…..Second, we have allowed the very places where the Bible happened – Shiloh, Hebron, Shechem (Nablus) and even parts of Jerusalem – to become disputed, the Jewish narrative of these places being replaced by a Palestinian one. 

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