1.3 million tourists visited Israel last year, compared to three million in 2023 before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS

Israel’s major tourism fair of the year got underway on Tuesday in Tel Aviv amid initial signs of a tourism rebound following the two-year war against Hamas in Gaza still blunted by ongoing regional tensions with Iran.

“The last couple of years were difficult ones, with a dramatic drop in tourists during the war, but there are signs of optimism as the buds of recovery are beginning to be seen,” Israeli Tourism Minister Haim Katz said at International Mediterranean Tourism Market (IMTM) 2026, held at the Tel Aviv fairgrounds.

Israel, he said, was planning to launch a new tourism campaign in the United States, the top country for incoming visitors, dubbed “I am Israel,” directed at both the Jewish and evangelical Christian community.

Most international airlines have resumed flights to Tel Aviv, although some European carriers have recently reduced flights amid concerns over an impending U.S. military strike on Iran.

Israel’s 32nd annual flagship tourism exhibition was attended by ambassadors from around the world, including U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a staunch supporter of the Jewish state, and Cypriot Deputy Tourism Minister Kostas Koumis.

Some 50 social media tourism influencers and journalists from more than 20 countries around the globe also participated.

Some countries had operated their own colorful booths at the exhibition, including Greece and Cyprus, both top destinations for Israeli vacationers last year, alongside traditional allies such as Azerbaijan and Georgia and exotic Far East destinations such as Vietnam, which is now serviced with the first-ever direct flight from Tel Aviv, as well as Taiwan.

“With a colorful multicultural society and no antisemitism, Azerbaijan is the perfect place for Israelis to visit,” Florian Sengstschmid, CEO of the Azerbaijani Tourism Board, told JNS at the country’s booth at the fairground, which included fliers about special all-kosher tours for observant Jews.

Israelis were among the top 10 foreign visitors to Azerbaijan last year.

Post-war tourism: ‘A challenge for a restart’

1.3 million tourists visited Israel last year, compared to three million in 2023 before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. In 2019, a record 4.5 million people visited the Jewish state.

“Our goal is not just to go back to what once was but to break new records,” said Katz on Tuesday. He set a goal of 7 million tourists by 2030.

“Experience teaches us that adversity is often an opportunity for a significant restart,” said Eyal Shmueli, CEO of Travel News, which is co-hosting the exhibition.

“Tourism is a bridge engine for growth as we stand on the threshold of a historic era.”

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Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi is scheduled to attend a global conference of the Universal Postal Union in Saudi Arabia.

By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS

Israeli Communication Minister Shlomo Karhi is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia next week, the second visit by an Israeli minister to the Gulf Kingdom in as many weeks, Israeli officials said on Thursday.

The back-to-back ministerial trips to Riyadh are the latest indication that a normalization deal between the two countries, seen as increasingly likely in the coming months, is indeed in the offing.

The communications minister, a Likud Party Knesset member and close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is to attend a global conference of the Universal Postal Union in Riyadh, which he is slated to address.

Karhi, who is to be accompanied on the trip by fellow Likud MK David Bitan, the chair of the Knesset Economic Committee, is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with his Saudi colleagues during his trip.

Sukkah in Saudi Arabia?

Saudi officials have even tried to make special arrangements for Karhi, who is religious and will be traveling to Saudi Arabia over the week-long Jewish holiday of Sukkot, when observant Jews eat and even sleep in temporary outdoor booths known as sukkahs.

Communications corridor

His visit comes just months after news that a communications corridor connecting Asian and Arab countries with Europe and the West through Israel is expected to be constructed in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, in the latest sign of growing regional ties.

The proposal, which is expected to be signed in the coming months, will see the laying of fiber-optic cables along the 250-kilometer (155 mile) Europe Asia Pipeline Co. (EAPC) pipeline between Eilat and Ashkelon, while two-way underwater cables will be affixed between foreign countries and Israel.

Karhi’s visit also comes on the heels of the first-ever official visit to Saudi Arabia by an Israeli minister, Tourism Minister Haim Katz, who arrived in Riyadh this week for a gathering of the UN World Tourism Organization.

Home to Islam’s two holiest shrines, the Gulf Kingdom is a Middle East powerhouse, with a future peace accord with Israel seen as effectively ending the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said last week that peace with Israel is “getting closer by the day.”

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First-ever Israeli delegation led by government minister visits Riyadh, as Saudi Arabia sends new envoy to Ramallah.

By The Associated Press

In a clear sign that a landmark diplomatic deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia has gained momentum, Israel’s Tourism Minister Haim Katz on Tuesday led an Israeli delegation to Riyadh to take part in a conference hosted by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

Katz’s office described his visit as unprecedented for an Israeli minister and said he would hold discussions with officials from across the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s newly appointed envoy to the Palestinian Authority presented his credentials to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas during his first visit to the PA on Tuesday, a move linked to recent American efforts to normalize ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The trip by nonresident Saudi ambassador Nayef al-Sudairi — marking the first time that the Saudi delegation has visited Judea and Samaria since 1967 — came as Israel’s tourism minister became the first senior Israeli official to make a public visit to Saudi Arabia.

The visit by al-Sudairi to Ramallah is widely seen as an attempt by the kingdom to address the key sticking point in the Saudi-Israeli normalization deal: Saudi Arabia’s stance toward the Palestinian Authority.

The Saudi government has said it will only normalize ties with Israel if there is major progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state.

To kick off his two-day trip, al-Sudairi, who also serves as the Saudi ambassador to Jordan, met with Abbas and other senior officials.

Before presenting his credentials, he sought to assure the Palestinians that Saudi Arabia was “working to establish a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital,” without elaborating.

“God willing, next time this meeting will take place in Jerusalem,” al-Sudairi told journalists after the meeting.

Nearly two decades ago, Saudi Arabia and other Arab leaders endorsed the Arab Peace Initiative, pledging that there would be no diplomatic recognition of Israel without a just settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Saudi Arabia also wants Israel to grant at least some kind of concession to the Palestinian Authority in exchange for a normalization deal.

From Ramallah on Tuesday, al-Sudairi reiterated the kingdom’s position in support of the Palestinians, describing the Arab Peace Initiative as a “fundamental pillar of any agreement.”

Officials Tuesday were tight-lipped about the kinds of concessions under discussion, instead praising bilateral ties. Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki hailed the visit as a “historic milestone.”

“He is here to begin work developing relations between our countries,” al-Maliki said of the ambassador. “It is a major responsibility, to preserve the Palestinian cause.”

The Palestinian Authority also has not specified what it is willing to accept from the Israeli government.

Tuesday’s visit by Tourism Minister Katz to Riyadh appeared to further accelerate the countries’ push for normalization. Before taking off for Saudi Arabia, Katz described tourism as a “bridge between nations.”

“Partnership in tourism issues has the potential to bring hearts together and economic prosperity,” he said.

When asked about Katz’s visit, Ahmad Deek, the director-general of the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, said that the Palestinian Authority “is in continuous dialogue” about the developments with Saudi officials and “trusts in their support for the rights of our people.”

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The new Minister of Tourism Haim Katz entered office with a burst of energy, promising to develop new sites in the country including in Judea and Samaria.

The post WATCH: New minister calls Judea and Samaria ‘our Tuscany’ appeared first on World Israel News.

Israel’s attorney general is reportedly calling on Welfare and Social Services Minister Haim Katz to resign. 

By World Israel News Staff 

Israel’s Welfare and Social Services Minister Haim Katz has been indicted on charges of fraud and breach of trust, accused of acting with a conflict of interest and using his position as a member of Knesset to advance his personal gain.

The announcement from the Justice Ministry was made in the name of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who is said to be calling upon Katz to step down and is considering instructing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire the minister if Katz does not act on his own.

Katz is accused of advancing Knesset legislation to help the cause of a businessman, with whom he had mutual interests.

The minister is said to be pondering the possibility of employing his right to parliamentary immunity, arguing that the charges against him would involve alleged actions on his part that took place in the Knesset.

The businessman, Mordechai Ben-Ari, is also to be charged.

The legislation in question which allegedly involved a conflict of interest was an amendment to the Israeli Securities Law, which Ben Ari is accused of requesting. Katz allegedly acted on the request in 2010 when he served only as an MK. He did not become a cabinet minister until 2015.

Katz is a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party.

A more serious charge against him involving alleged bribery is reported to have been dropped.

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