Tourism Minister Avraham Sharir complained bitterly Sunday about the Reagan Administration’s caution to American citizens to avoid trips to Europe and the Middle East because of terrorist threats.
He said in an Haaretz interview that tourism has dropped 30 percent in recent months because of fear of terrorist acts. Sharir noted that more than 40 percent of American tourism to Europe was being diverted from the Western countries to Eastern bloc countries out of fear of terrorism.
“In this way the American Administration injects Dollars into the Communist countries and gives the Communist propagandists an opportunity to brainwash naive American tourists,” the Israeli minister maintained.
Washington’s warnings to Americans to stay away from possible terrorist targets are contrary to “one of the principles of the American Constitution–freedom of movement,” Sharir said. “If the American Administration continues with this line, why tomorrow they will urge Americans of some city in the States not to go out in the street. This is contrary to the American democratic way of life.”
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