Despite how the media can present the situation, it is completely safe in traveling to Israel! Despite the “sensationalized” media coverage of the Middle East, we travel without any fear or anxiety. This is what everyone who travels with me to Israel discovers. After traveling to Israel some 66 times I have never encountered anything that would cause my group any fear, anxiety, or trepidation. Middle East culture is that if I am their friend, and your with me then you become their friend. I had a mother who offered her son, a priest $3,000 in cash not to go to Israel plus the cost of his trip. The priest went anyways and told me it was the best trip of his life. The Will of God will never take you to a place the Grace of God will not protect you.

While we do not travel to places like Gaza or the heart of the West Bank that are more prone to “tension” than other places in Israel, what you will find as you travel are friendly smiles from both Palestinians and Israelis alike.  You will feel entirely safe the entire trip! ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN broadcast many times from Jerusalem about the unrest in Gaza and many people think that this violence is happening in Jerusalem, because they are broadcasting from there. Gaza is some 150 miles away and we never go near it. Again another way the broadcasting companies are portraying false information about the safety of traveling in Israel.

As I tell people who inquire about the “safety issue,” being a husband and a father of 2, I would never lead others to Israel if my safety and the group’s safety was ever in jeopardy. I talk with Jerusalem twice or three times a week and have a much better view on conditions in the Holy Land than the local news. I would never lead someone in harms way. One 83 year old Franciscan told me after making the trip with me said, “that it is safer in Israel than it is to walk past many public high schools in America”.

If you have any questions about your safety either call me or e-mail at:  ChristopherXCross@gmail.com