Israel on Business

I'm traveling to Israel on business in 6-7 weeks time. I am sure our local sales office in Israel will be taking good care of us and will pickup & drop off at Tel Aviv airport as well as escorting us during our customer visits. Are there any extra precautions I should be taking or is there anything I need to watch out for ? I can travel on either an Irish or USA passport. Any idea as to which one is best to use ?

I cant imagine either the Irish or American passport will make much difference. I was there for Xmas past with a group and what I do know is that the security is horrendous - they may go through every item of your luggage, my purse and ATM cards were taken out and scanned. I was questioned in great detail on why I had Morrocan, Turkish, Egyptian, Jordian and Malaysian stamps on my passport, and you really are treated like a potential terrorist. The two people out of our group who had the most hassle were a New Zealander, with Indian family and an English guy of Goan (Indian) family, they were taken aside and questioned in detail about their reasons for visiting Israel while the rest of us (white Caucasian), stood and waited for them. I'ts a good idea to take a good book and just be patient in the knowledge that it could be a slow process.

I would use the Irish one, it would raise less suspicion to be honest especially if you are resident in Ireland, though there is one major downside.

Which passport would you prefer your Israeli stamp to go in?

Having an Israeli stamp in your passport will make travel to a lot of other Middle Eastern countries difficult or downright impossible, unless you can get a second passport.

Remember to travel with one passport only though!!!!! Travelling with two passports is never really recommended especially travelling in or to and from the Middle East. Two passports raises even more suspicions and additional searches. Imagine presenting your US passport in Dublin Airport on your way out and then your Irish one in Tel Aviv on the way back, instant redflag!

the only "conflict" is having an israeli stamp on passport.

this will do less harm on an american passport.
use your irish one for all other countries in that area (and cuba)

do not carry both on single trip. you may use by accident, or it may be seen and stamped.

I would certainly prefer to have an Israeli stamp on my passport rather than some of the Middle Eastern countries. Some of these countries insist you have to obtain a visa to leave never mind entering the country !!!!

It's several years since I had occasion to visit Israel, but at that time you had the option of not having your passport stamped; they stamped a piece of paper that was stapled into it and they then took that back on leaving.
I would prefer not to have an Israeli stamp on my passport for ease of access to Arab countries. I understand that Israeli stamps can cause you hassle if you visit many of the Arab states, particularly around the gulf.
This was the case in the past anyway, anyone know what the story is now?

As Lollix says, you can request that the stamp be affixed to a piece of paper rather than put into your passport. It is not guaranteed that they will do this though. You will not be able to enter certain Arab states if an Israeli stamp is spotted in your passport (Saudi Arabia for example).

mercman said:

I would certainly prefer to have an Israeli stamp on my passport rather than some of the Middle Eastern countries. Some of these countries insist you have to obtain a visa to leave never mind entering the country !!!!

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That's a touch hyperbolic, don't you think? That situation only applies to Saudi Arabia and possibly also Kuwait, and only if you are a resident of the country and wish to return. In most of "these countries" it is not an issue in the slightest.

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel...ssports_which_contain_Israeli_stamps_or_visas