‘It’s a shame they’ve brought this chaos’

 ISRAELI MINISTERS were delighted by Thursday’s turnout in Jerusalem. Market traders, however, were not so sure.

“Business is down 90 per cent today,” said Eliyahu Zach at Jerusalem’s Machine Yehuda market, which was surrounded by road closures and movement restrictions. The baklava seller was incredulous that it was a Thursday, normally the second busiest day of the week when people shop for Shabbat, “but the alley in front of us is so empty you could play a football game here.”

He pointed to the wine-seller opposite his store, who is normally rushed off his feet. “Look! He has time to polish bottles on a Thursday.”

He said that the visits are “politics,” a subject that “doesn’t interest me” — though he would not criticise them as “everything comes from the Lord and is good.”

Shai Koper, who was packing baked goods at another stall, said that while Holocaust commemoration is important, Jewish people have “other ways” to remember that do not involve an influx of foreign leaders.

He was convinced that normal Israelis — “the little people like me” — do not benefit from such visits.

“For us, the citizens, it doesn’t help us, but just bothers us,” he said, complaining that roads were blocked and the media was over-egging reports of movement restrictions — causing lots of

Eliyahu Zach

potential customers to stay away.

Fruit seller Meir Lansky said his takings were down 70 per cent. “If you ask me, in terms of my business, it’s a shame they’ve brought this chaos,” he said. “But from a state point of view it needs to happen.”

Others at Machane Yehuda were more upbeat.

“In my eyes it’s positive and it’s an honor for Israel which helps the country’s international relations,” said Yael Madman, who works in a cafe.

Wine trader Daniel Maman was so unbothered by the impact on trade, and so excited by the visits, that he turned to the Bible to express his joy.

“It’s a great day,” he said, commenting that it reminds him of a prophecy from Isaiah.

“In the Bible there’s a prophecy that all the nations of the world will descend on Israel,” he said, adding that the day was “good for taking a moral stance, for diplomacy and in general terms for Israeli business.”