Explosion on tourist bus in Sinai kills four near Israeli border

The South Koreans had just come from the St. Catherine Monastery in Egypt, and were 50 meters from crossing into Israel when the explosion occurred.

How horrible!
That will END Korean tourism in Israel/the Holy Land for a l-o-n-g time.

What happened is horrendous, but I don’t think it will end South Korean visits to The Holy Land. South Korean Christians are among the most committed. But I do think all groups should stay away from The Sinai Peninsula. Keep going to Israel. I have had fifteen trips there and feel safer within Israeli borders than anywhere else.

Why should an explosion in the Sinai, which is a part of Egypt, impact tourism in Israel? Just stay out of the Sinai and Egypt, or any country that is primarily Muzzie. Then you should be fine.

Why should an explosion in the Sinai, which is a part of Egypt, impact tourism in Israel? Just stay out of the Sinai and Egypt, or any country that is primarily Muzzie. Then you should be fine.

I lived in the middle east and try to believe me, an explosion in the Sinaai DOES effect tourism ALL OVER the middle east. Egypt is Arab and Muslim and Israel is SURROUNDED by Muslim Arab countries. ISRAEL makes great efforts to keep the peace with its neighbors. Israel uses THOUSANDS of Arabs for labor that the Israelis can't do because there just aren't enough Israelis. Israel has farms, businesses, all kinds of enterprises and they NEED manpower and get it from Palestinian (Arab) Israelis.

And by the way, I DO actually KNOW where the Sinai is, but thanks for assuming that I am an idiot. Remember I LIVED in the middle east for FIVE years. Even if I didn't your reminder was unnecessary and condescending. We had oodles of time off (Thanks to ARAMCO.) and traveled to what was closest: ALL THE ARAB COUNTRIES. We went to Egypt twice, in fact, we liked it so much.

We went to Syria when Hafez Assad (Bashir's father) was in power. Sadaam Hussein was in power there too so we didn't go to Iraq. We didn't go to Iran because Khomeni was in power. We went to all the other countries over there EXCEPT Israel as we didn't want an Israeli stamp on our passports in CASE the Saudi customs took exception to it.

When we saw the Indian Jones movie that showed Jordan and all those wonderful places, WE KNEW ALL OF THEM because we VISITED there. It was quite an adventure for us. Not all good stuff, but nothing we couldn't handle. It was the adventure of a lifetime for us.

One thing struck us both and that was how IGNORANT Americans were about the middle east, their politics and EVEN their location. I saw the VERY short sultan of Bahrain. We even saw Tony Bennett in Bahrain.

The newspapers I read there were from the middle east and Europe and thus I got a very different picture of our world. American news was slanted and very anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and anti-middle east. It probably had something to do with what the media printed and said about the middle east. Who knows.

We originally went to live in Saudi Arabia for the money. There is no other reason to go there. My husband's take-home salary here in California in 1980 was $800.00 per month after taxes. His FIRST MONTH's paycheck from ARAMCO was $5000.00 per month ... no income taxes. When Americans work for ARAMCO (Arabian American Oil Company) they pay NO federal income tax!! We were California residences and after being away from California for a year we no longer were residences and thus paid no California income taxes either. ALL was gravy.

One other thing: saying "Muzzie" for Muslim shows YOUR character. Is name calling an okay thing if you don't happen to LIKE a group of people? Do you do that for ALL races or just the "Muzzies"?

Any more questions?

What happened is horrendous, but I don’t think it will end South Korean visits to The Holy Land. 1. South Korean Christians are among the most committed. 2. But I do think all groups should stay away from The Sinai Peninsula. 3. Keep going to Israel. 4. I have had fifteen trips there and feel safer within Israeli borders than anywhere else.

1. Why would the South Koreans be more committed than other Christian groups?

2. We lived in Saudi Arabia for five years and heard the same stuff about the dangers. I lived in SUCH a quiet little town. NOTHING ever happened there, ever. We had enormous amounts of vacation time and traveled quite safely all over the middle east. It was VERY peaceful because those countries had TONS of soldiers EVERYWHERE to make sure the peace was kept. I grew USED to seeing armed soldiers, as I'm sure YOU did.

The Sinai had NOTHING to see when we were there. It was merely a huge EMPTY desert, as hot as Saudi Arabia, but without the Eastern Province's humidity. The Saudi hot weather began in April (105 degrees), got to 125 in the summer on the coast of the Eastern Province where we were, and began to cool off in mid-November. The temperatures out in the desert got up to 145 degrees, with the baking sun on the sand making it EVEN hotter.

God gave those Bedouins a real hell-hole to live in...then gave them their reward with all the petroleum on the planet!
Lol. One Saudi soldier we saw at the main gate of our camp was picking his feet with his bayonet. The Saudis are NOT slick in any sense of the word.

3. I think most people WILL continue to visit Israel. You KNOW that it's very safe because you SAW that they have an Israeli settlement every so often on the main road, with all the Israeli soldiers guarding them. Armed soldiers are EVERYWHERE in Israel. After a few days of your first visit I'm sure you didn't even SEE the soldiers anymore. One gets used to them VERY fast.

4. After 15 trips there you know the drill. When is trip #16?

I feel VERY safe everywhere. I felt very safe in NEW YORK CITY; I was there alone. GREAT city, innit? We always knew where to go and where NOT go go. I learned how not to travel STUPID. People are generally the same everywhere, don't you think? We treated them well and the feelings were reciprocated. I'm sure your experience was equally civil.

THE LONG WAR JOURNAL: "ANSAR JERUSALEM CLAIMS TOURIST BOMBING IN EGYPT'S SINAI" by David Barnett (SNIPPET: "In a statement released to jihadist forums today, the Sinai-based jihadist group Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al Maqdis) claimed responsibility for the bombing of a tourist bus in Taba yesterday."(February 17, 2014) (Read More...)

Link

Link (Read More...)

THE BLAZE: "TOURISTS KILLED IN EGYPT BUS BOMBING WERE DEVOUT CHRISTIANS WHO HAD SAVED FOR YEARS TO MAKE PILGRIMAGE TO BIBLICAL LAND" by Sharona Schwartz (February 17, 2014) (Read More...)