An Israeli company has a 'counter-terror boot camp' attraction for tourists
Tourists, mostly American, visiting Israel's Gush Etzion settlement in the West Bank territory have a controversial attraction available to them, Reuters reports: a "counter-terror boot camp" offering participants a two-hour training in how to respond to a terrorist attack in a marketplace. Tourists are armed with mock weapons which they use to play out intense hypothetical scenarios in the experience arranged by a company called Caliber 3, which was founded by an officer in the Israeli army reserves:
While organizers say the training offers valuable information and an engaging experience, the boot camp has proven contentious not only for its content — it is also organized on land Palestinians want for their own independent state. "The participation of tourists in training in these camps built on occupied Palestinian land means that they support the occupation and we ask them to stop it," said Mayor Yasser Sobih al-Khader, a nearby Palestinian town.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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