Place
Tel Aviv
A full beach one hour from Gaza — hostage posters, pavement bunkers and armed civilians alongside ordinary city life, and the room where Israel was declared in 1948.
Tel Aviv
Harry’s entry point into Israel, and the first thing he says about it is that it is completely normal. The beach is full, people are enjoying themselves, and life goes on.
The second thing he says is that Gaza is about 60 kilometres away — an hour in that direction — and that he finds the two facts hard to hold at once.
The city that runs on two infrastructures
His own formulation, and the most useful sentence on the page: it is the first city he has been to where the infrastructure of ordinary life and the infrastructure of war occupy the same space.
What that looks like on the street:
- Hostage posters everywhere.
- Bunkers built into the pavements.
- People in army uniform, and civilians carrying guns, alongside everyone else.
- The Iron Dome overhead — Harry’s figures are 2,500 rockets intercepted at around a 90% success rate, and it is why the beach can be full.
- About 90 seconds to get to a shelter once the sirens sound. He didn’t have to.
Other things about it
- World-renowned as an LGBTQ capital, and — according to an Israeli he speaks to — a refuge for LGBT Palestinians, for whom the subject is taboo at home.
- Serious intelligence services, which Harry jokes about being followed by after a four-hour airport interrogation.
- Extremely expensive, which he flags as the biggest practical difference from neighbouring countries.
- Everything stops on Saturday. No buses, no trains. He hadn’t realised it was Shabbat and ended up getting a lift.
Independence Hall
A building on Rothschild Boulevard, and the reason everything else exists.
- In 1948, Ben-Gurion declared the State of Israel in this room as the British mandate ended.
- Five Arab armies invaded the following morning.
- 750,000 Palestinians were displaced.
- The same date is Independence Day here and the Nakba in Palestine — Harry’s point being that one day produces two entirely separate histories.
His aside: for the most important building in the country’s history it is in worse condition than you’d expect, which he assumes is why it’s being renovated.
Talking to people
The bulk of the city section is interviews rather than sightseeing, and Harry sets his own terms: get the range, present it without bias, and expect abuse from everyone. What people said is recorded on the Israel page.
The exchange he is most honest about is with a right-wing Israeli woman who turns the interview around and grills him instead — including on a casualty figure he had got from a quick search. He says afterwards that he was out of his depth, was trying his best, and that this is what he came for.
His conclusion, delivered on the street: this is why he travels. Speak to both sides, put yourself in their shoes, understand what motivates people — and accept that the world isn’t black and white, it’s grey.
Harry’s tips
- Don’t delete anything on the plane. He was reported by the passenger beside him for exactly that and lost five hours at the airport.
- Don’t plan to move on a Saturday. Public transport stops entirely.
- Budget properly. It is the most expensive country in the region by a distance.
- Ask the question you actually want to ask. Harry’s point is that this is one of the few countries on his channel where you can.
