Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman is standing his ground after sparking an outcry by advising people in the tourism sector unable to make a living amid coronavirus restrictions to find another job.
“Perhaps my words weren’t the best, but the numbers are correct,” Liberman says at the top of a faction meeting for his Yisrael Beyetnu party.
At a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Liberman said he didn’t see the tourism industry recovering anytime soon and indicated tour guides and others should give up trying to make a living from it.
“Start to change careers,” he advised travel agents and tour guides. “We went from 4 million tourists to 200,000, and it’s the same when you look at forecasts.”
Some 300 tour guides and others held a protest against Liberman outside Ben Gurion Airport earlier Monday, calling on him to change careers. Protesters blocked a road leading to Terminal 3 and scuffled with police, according to Channel 12 news.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Support our work
Support our work
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 13, 2021
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
