My name is Joseph Seddon and was a member of the Jury that choose Haifa. I would like to echo what Austin has said.
I'm sure you could find many stories about the problems with visas in Israel but I'm sure you could do so for any country in the world. The issues of visas are not new. Every year people have not been able to get visas for attending Wikimania. The jury were well aware of the issues associated with visas when selecting Haifa as the host city.
Some people will always be disadvantaged with attending wikimania no matter where it is held. It is a fact that needs to be accepted. It is down to the foundation and organising teams, who will always do thier best to ensure maximum participation.This is why Wikimania rotates, to give as many people from as many backgrounds an opportunity to attend.
On top of all of this, the Haifa bid was exemplary and I have a lot of faith in thier ability to run a successful event. I am fully confident the Haifa team will do their utmost to ensure that as many people as possible are able to pass into the country unhindered.
As you have been made aware it is too late to change venue. I think that it is better for all of us if those people who have concerns with visas and entry into Israel to work with the Haifa team to ensure a successful event rather.
Many Thanks
Seddon
On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 11:42 PM, Yohai Edery yohaied@gmail.com wrote:
Did you read the respond by the minister of tourism of Israel? " Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov strongly condemned the event" also from the this report "“The ambassador in Finland and the representative of the Ministry of Tourism in our area worked hard to set up Finnish charter flights to Eilat. An investigation is needed so that such events do not recur and the activity does not stop,” the Israeli Embassy in Finland stressed."
Now, it's really a ridiculous attempt to send links to sporadic incidents that might happened everywhere in the world at any time. The fact is that Israel is having about 3 million tourists every year, not including Israeli citizens which with them its more than 10 million people going through security in Israeli airports and land crossing; having those few incidents (which btw I am very regretful for) and in the meantime saving lives of millions of air travelers just shows how good the system works.
Yohai Edery
יוחאי אדרי
E-mail: yohaied@gmail.com P Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to
From: wikimania-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimania-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Maysara Omar Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 1:25 AM
To: Wikimania general list (open subscription) Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Problematic aspects of hosting the next conference in Haifa, Israel
Alright, since you learn from it, here is another mistake:
http://coteret.com/2010/05/25/the-new-frontiers-of-israeli-public-diplomacy-...
;)
2010/8/13 Yohai Edery yohaied@gmail.com
Hi,
Well…let's start with a basic fact….mistakes happen. We are all human beings and sometimes we make mistakes…that was obviously one made by the security at TLV airport… BUT, did you read through all of it and saw what the Israel Aviation Authority spokesman said???
Quite from the report you sent:
An IAA spokesperson reported in response: "This incident is unknown to us. We performed a thorough check. There was no contact made with us or any other body. No unusual events were registered at Ben Gurion Airport, and we have no idea about this incident, which, from our perspective, never happened."
IAA officials said that root of the problem is that the host organizations don't bother accompanying their guests to the airport.
So did it really happened? I don’t know but I am sure that the Wikimania team in Israel (which I am not part of…let me be clear about it again) will do his best to make sure each guest will be taken care off.
On the same note, have you ever visited the UK or the US? Did you see the way they treat people with so called "Arab appearance"? will it make you say that we shouldn’t have Wikimania conferences in London or NYC?
Israeli security officers deals with thousands of tourists from all over the world every day. Sometime mistakes like this one (if it really happened) happens, It's great that those incidents are being published (btw, this is an Israeli newspaper and I have seen the story in the Hebrew version as well) so we can learn from it and make sure it won't happen again.
Enjoy,
Yohai Edery
יוחאי אדרי
E-mail: yohaied@gmail.com P Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to
From: wikimania-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimania-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Maysara Omar Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 1:03 AM
To: Wikimania general list (open subscription) Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Problematic aspects of hosting the next conference in Haifa, Israel
Yohai Edery wrote:
Again, accusation bout maltreatment and confiscation of belongings are NONSENCE I want to remind you that Israel is a full functioning democracy!!!
Could you explain this, then: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3931210,00.html
and could you guarantee that it won't happen even to non VIP youth such as ourselves, or maybe to Jimmy Wales if the Israeli officials would grant him VIP status? And is it "nonsense" or fact that the notorious reputation of the full functioning democracy derives from real incidents?
--
Maysara
"All that is necessary to right action, is right judgment." _Rene Descartes
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