Israelis earn bad reputation in UAE for poor behavior, violation of laws

(Karachi) Israelis, who landed in Dubai in droves last year after normalisation of ties between Israel and United Arab Emirates, have now become a menace for the local residents and authorities due to their poor and disrespectful behavior, Ynet News has reported.

As per reports, Israeli tourists who flocked the bustling city in large numbers to celebrate the New Year are found involved in stealing light fittings, cooking in hotel rooms and damaging luxury vehicles. Data by tourism companies revealed that an estimated 66,000 Israelis visited the Gulf state in a month.

Wrongdoings highlighted

Dubai has become a favored holiday destination for Israeli tourists but bad reputation has blackened Israel's international image.

Even, the Arab media highlighted the wrongdoings of Israeli nationals who stole everything they can in hotels, from towels to bedside light fixtures. The tourism companies complained that most Israelis indulged in wild parties and started cooking inside their hotel rooms in clear violation of hotel rules. Besides, Israelis also avoided payment for minibar purchases by replacing the liquor with water.

Israelis will pay the price

Commenting on the matter, owner of an Israeli travel company Amalia Lazarov said: "The UAE is very accessible to the Israeli visitor now. The fact that you can speak a few words in Arabic does not make the hotel desk clerk your friend. It is disrespectful to behave as if he is."

She added, "I have been working in the UAE and in other Arab countries for the past 12 years and am happy to see Israelis are finally welcomed there after years of dreaming of this opportunity. Now it is all blowing up in our faces because of this inappropriate behavior."

Lazarov warned that things will "end badly" if this behavior continued. "Israelis should undergo some sort of training before visiting the Arab world and paying $95 for an entrance visa is not enough," she pointed out.

"I would by lying if I said this did not have an impact on the conversation in the UAE. Some of the companies with which Israelis are coming into contact are not Emirati-owned. They are Egyptian and Jordanian and Lebanese. If we don't behave better, we will pay the price," Lazarov said.

Similarly, Egyptian tourism agent in Dubai Omar Abu Khaled said that Israelis do not understand where they are and how they must behave.

He mentioned that recently five Israeli nationals were involved in a car crash incident as they were driving wildly and violated traffic laws. "The car overturned and crashed causing great financial damage."

The backdrop

Last year, the UAE and Bahrain signed agreements to normalize relations with Israel, becoming the latest Arab states to break a longstanding taboo in a strategic realignment of Middle Eastern countries against Iran.

US President Donald Trump hosted the White House ceremony, capping a dramatic month when first the UAE and then Bahrain agreed to reverse decades of ill will without a resolution of Israel's decades-old dispute with the Palestinians.

The deals, denounced by the Palestinians, make them the third and fourth Arab states to take such steps to normalize ties since Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

The pact which brought Israel, the UAE and Bahrain together reflects their shared concern about Iran's rising influence in the region and development of ballistic missiles. Iran has been critical of the agreement.