Israel: Tourists can pay to fire weapons and hunt terrorists
Visitors to the Middle East are being offered “terror tours” of Gaza and the West Bank, during which tourists are being given the chance to fire weapons and sit in the cockpit of a fighter plane.
Organiser Jake Greenwald told the BBC News Online service that the four-day tours also include aerial tours of terrorist strongholds.
He said the idea for the tours developed while he was watching coverage of the 11 September attacks: “I realised that Israel, which has great expertise in dealing with terror, will be able to teach people to deal with fear, so there is not mass panic when something happens.”
Some 20 people – including doctors, a Middle East lecturer and a judge – have so far signed up for the tours at the cost of US$5,500 each. And, according to the BBC News website, one of the “highlights” is a paintball fight where participants are able to “go from room to room clearing out Arab terrorists”. For the full story visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2821391.stm.
