Israeli Cruise Passengers Barred From Arab Port Israeli tourists on a cruise ship owned by a U.S.-based cruise line were barred from disembarking in the port of Tunis and were forced to remain on board while other passengers — including non-Israeli Jews — were allowed off. A Canadian Jew on the Norwegian Jade cruise ship told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that there were about 20 Israelis on the ship and that at first, no one knew they were being denied entry because the ship kept it a secret. We met with the captain twice and his story was that he was waiting for instructions from the head office in Miami, the passenger said. We told him he was making a political statement by not allowing the Israelis to leave the ship and he said it was out of his hands. According to a report in The Algemeiner Journal, Bnai Brith Canada issued a statement criticizing the ships owner, Norwegian Cruise Line, for failing to inform Israeli passengers ahead of time that they were barred from disembarking by the Tunisian government. Bnai Brith said the cruise line is not only responsible for advising passengers of such a discriminatory policy before boarding, but also should seek to avoid ports with such policies altogether. Yaacov Zacharia, one of the Israelis aboard, said he was extremely offended when told he could not leave the ship in Tunis. He told Haaretz that he and his wife had decided to take the cruise in the belief that the stop in Tunis was part of their itinerary. It was one of the reasons we chose it — the experience of visiting Tunisia, he said. The cruise line did offer compensation for the experience, Zacharia said. Relations between Israel and Tunisia have not improved since the turmoil of the Arab Spring. In October 2011, the Ennahda Movement, an Islamist political party, won a plurality of seats in Tunisias Constituent Assembly. In November 2011, the partys general secretary held a joint rally with a parliamentary deputy of the Palestinian Hamas party and reportedly said the liberation of Tunisia will, God willing, bring about the liberation of Jerusalem. Norwegian Cruise Line is headquartered in Florida and controls an estimated 8 percent of the cruise market.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 13:53:54 +0000