Israeli Military Training Camps Lure Foreign Tourists

GUSH ETZION INDUSTRIAL ZONE, The West Bank -- At a law enforcement training facility in the hills of the West Bank, more than 200 visiting Norwegians do pushups as Israel Defense Forces reserve Col. Sharon Gat counts aloud and tells them what to expect for the rest of the day.

"We are going to make you sweat, maybe even bleed, because this is the only way to make soldiers," shouts Gat, dressed in the IDF's signature olive green uniform. "Can you promise me that no one will quit today, even if it's hard?"

"Sir, yes, sir," the Norwegians, ranging from teenagers to middle-aged adults, shout back in unison.

These tourists from a church group spent the previous day at Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center and after they finish being soldiers for a few hours here at the Caliber 3 Israeli Counter Terror and Security Academy, their tour bus will take them to visit the revered Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Caliber 3 and other similar places allow tourists to experience military life, which in a country with compulsory service for most citizens is part of the local culture. With dozens of wars, military conflicts and security threats over the years, including the ongoing tensions with the Palestinians, Israel is often associated abroad with its armed forces.

"The actual professional material we can give is very limited," says Yoav Flayshman, the marketing director of Caliber 3, which was established in 2003 to train Israeli civilians and law enforcement officials. The academy opened up to tourists in 2009, and has been seeing growth in recent years. "It's more like an experience than actual training. It's more about the values and mystique of the IDF."

At Caliber 3, there is no mention of Palestinians, who have been living under Israeli military occupation since Israel took over the West Bank -- where Palestinians hope to someday establish a state -- from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War. In his opening remarks, Gat tells visitors -- who have crossed an IDF checkpoint from Jerusalem to get to Caliber 3's West Bank location -- that they are standing on land mentioned in the Bible.

"When you read about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, this is where they lived," Gat tells the group.

During demonstrations of searching suspicious people for weapons or sending an attack dog ahead of a soldier, the targeted people are simply referred to as terrorists, which Gat emphasizes can strike anywhere in the world today.

Although there hasn't been any large public criticism of these programs, some groups have said they are problematic because they claim they are not political and do not mention Palestinians.

"You cannot just delete the context out of the situation," says Anat Ben Nun, director of development and external relations at Peace Now, an Israeli nongovernmental organization that pushes for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. "These boot camps really perpetuate a specific narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with good guys and bad guys, and don't mention the occupation. Besides, the conflict is not a game, people are dying and getting hurt."

Rather than get into political discussions, such programs say they try to demonstrate the IDF's values.

"People want action, not talking," says Ohad Machun of Zikit Extreme, an outdoor adventure company that five years ago began organizing military experience training programs for tourists across the country, including in the wilderness of the desert, in rented abandoned buildings and in villages built for urban combat training. Zikit Extreme started out as a company for paintball games 12 years ago, but when Machun saw that many visitors associated the games with military fighting, he came up with a new business idea.

"I saw that most people just think that all soldiers do is have a gun and shoot," says Machun, who served in the IDF. "And this really bothered me. This is nothing compared to what people really need to know and understand about being a soldier."

Now, through acting out hostage situations and military raids, which include activities like rappelling down buildings and trying to target only suspected terrorists and not others when firing rubber bullets, visitors at Zikit get a glimpse of the moral and tactile challenges faced by the IDF, which often operates around civilians, especially in confronting the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Depending on the program, tailored to each group, the cost ranges from $100 to $1,000 a person. Some programs last a few hours while others stretch out over multiple days.

Once catering mainly to visitors from the Jewish diaspora, such programs are now attracting a more diverse set of visitors, including many from China and India, which have increased their business and tourism ties to Israel in recent years. Overall tourism to Israel is up about 25 percent this year, amid a relative calm in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and increased efforts by the government to market the country as a place for sunbathing, nightlife and outdoor adventure, rather than just religious pilgrimage.

While these companies declined to detail the number of visitors they receive, they say business is growing. Caliber 3 recently opened a facility in California.

Back at Caliber 3 in the West Bank, after about 30 minutes of instruction, including using a wood cutout shaped like a gun, the Norwegians take turns shooting 22-caliber semi-automatic Ruger rifles at open-air targets.

"Focus on rapid fire, shoot as fast as you can," the instructor shouts. "Your job is to stand on the fire line and just fire."

After emptying her magazine toward the target and running back to her place in line, with a few jumping jacks and pushups on the way, Elizabeth Kransted, a 56-year-old in the group is smiling. This was her first time shooting a rifle.

"It's very exciting," she says. "It feels real."

At the end of the day, after shooting guns, lessons in the locally developed krav maga self-defense system, and participating in armed responses to simulated terrorist attacks, participants receive a certificate of completion, and sing Israel's national anthem.

"This all feels very serious," says Olav Kronstad, 32, another Norwegian participant who spent one year serving in Norway's army, as required. "I would say this maybe even feels more serious than my service in Norway."

Sara Toth Stub is a journalist based in Jerusalem. She spent a decade writing for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, and has also written for The Atlantic, The Washington Post, BBC Travel and other publications. You can find her on Twitter here.