India safe to travel - Israel

At a time when the US, the UK, Canada and Australia have told their citizens that India is facing a severe terrorist threat, Tel Aviv, has given its citizens the green signal to visit India.

The Bureau of Counter Terrorism in Israel’s National Security Council, an agency that reports directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has declared India safe for its citizens to tour.

Rough translations using of the travel advisories on the bureau’s website says: the bureau believes that there is a drastic drop in security threats to India and the warning issued in Oct 2009 stands cancelled.

“Israel was among the nations which suffered high casualties during the Mumbai attacks and had been among the first to react with a travel advisory in October,” said a senior government official. “In security matters the Israeli’s are acknowledged to be the last word as they take security seriously,” said Harpreet Singh, proprietor of TravelIndiaCorp.

Union Ministry of Tourism officials are also upbeat hoping that the Israeli stamp of approval may hold sway with non-Israeli tourists too.