Gil Travel - Group Tours Worldwide

Like other accountants, lawyers and high-tech workers in the country, now visitors and business travelers are following the leads of their counterparts in Australia, North America, Europe and Japan, and are experiencing of one of the most popular games in the world - the thrill and the relaxation of golf in Israel.  Golf is still a relatively new sport in Israel and 2 Golf courses are operating and more are planned, both to meet growing demand within the country and in the the attempt to promote the requirements of quality tourism. (more…)

Don’t miss Jerusalem by train! – Far from the careening speedway is a great possibility - quiet, reflective, not crowded - the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem train, which takes almost two hours, double the highway time, to wind its way between the two cities.  It covers 50 miles, meandering from the coastal plain to the hills around Jerusalem. But unlike the highway, the train takes the traveler inside the topography.

It is slow, not efficient, has very low frequency, and the central train station in Jerusalem is next to “Malcha Mall” in the far end of the city, but after saying that: this is the most interesting train line in Israel — re-opened in 2005. The management of Israel Railways is preparing the infrastructure and the plans that will meet the public’s high expectations, and sweep the railways into a new era.

Fodor’s says that people take this train trip sometimes just for the fun.  The train leaves the Malcha Station (near the big Jerusalem Mall) almost every hour, with a first stop very close by at the Biblical Zoo. It terminates at Tel Aviv Hashalom Station, with connections to Haifa and the north. Service ends midafternoon on Friday (because of the Sabbath), and resumes after dark on Saturday. (A similar schedule applies to Jewish religious holidays.) The fare to or from Tel Aviv is NIS 19 one-way, and NIS 34.50 return, for any passenger over 10 years old.

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This amazing locale - Ein Bokek- on the southern shores of the Dead Sea is the recipient of a US$100M subsidy investment to build a 240-room hotel, with two indoor swimming pools and a helipad.  The funding comes from the beautiful and chic city of Moscow, considered one of the three richest cities in the world. Israel aims to boost the number of tourists to the country to about 5 million by 2012, from 2.3 million last year. About 9 percent of the visitors last year were from Russia. Russia and Israel signed a visa-free travel agreement this year, effective from September 20, which is expected to increase the number of Russian tourists to 400,000 in 2009. [source]

Moscow is home to some 400,000 people affected by psoriasis, a chronic skin disease which can be temporarily relieved with treatment at the Dead Sea. These people, along with other victims of skin disease, are expected to be the primary recipients of the subsidized vacations at the resort, set to open in 2011. The other half of the rooms will be used for commercial purposes.

It was the new visa regulations that made this project possible, encouraging an unprecedented $100 million worth of investment on behalf of the city of Moscow.

This tale begins with a shipwreck, but there was no Skipper, Professor or even a Gilligan.  What there was, about 2000 years ago, was the beginning of an amazing culture- Bene Israel of India- that has kept its ties to the land of Israel over the millenia.  Sounds too incredible, but it is true.

Meet Yael- Yael Jhirad, a decendent of the original shipwrecked group of Jewish families who were escaping Spain and in search of a new place to live.   Today, there are approximately 6000 Jews living in India, split into three distinct groups – the Bene Israel the Cochin Jews, who descended from Europe and the Baghdadis, who were originally from Iraq.  The common thread among them is their love and commitment to Israel. 

Together with her husband Ralphy and their children, Yael makes up a vibrant force for positive community activism for women at home in India and in Israel.

“We grew up with two identities, with India and Israel. And people know that we have family in Israel. In Indian homes, there is always a little temple, with pictures or statues of the gods. When they come to our home they look for it and can’t find it.”

Now Yael Jhirad wants to reconnect the Indian Jewish women to Israel and the entire Jewish Diaspora. This is a daunting challenge to be sure as a new member welcomed into the international WIZO family. But her experience in the travel business serves as a fine base of operations she conducts tours of Jewish India, and she even guided Ehud Olmert when he was the Vice Prime Minister. Self-identity as a woman, a Jewish woman, a woman of India, allows Yael to negotiate and advocate for a diverse population of women who have unmet physical, psychological, financial, legal and emotional needs.

Within every woman lies the potential and the strength to undertake a journey of personal empowerment. The progression is built in such a way that each woman can decide where and how much she wants to move forward. from WIZO