As antisemitism continues to affect Jewish communities around the world, a new website is helping Jewish and Israeli travelers make more informed decisions about where to travel.

Safe for Jews is a Hebrew and English website created by Shay Yaish, a 34-year-old software developer who was born in Teveria and now lives in Pardes Hanna.

The idea came to him while he was looking for a vacation destination with his wife.

“With all the antisemitism around the world, we started searching for safe places for Israelis to visit,” Yaish said. “And then I thought: Why isn’t there a website online where I can find this information easily?”

The website launched about a year ago and, according to Yaish, it now gets hundreds of visitors each day.

How does it work?

Safe for Jews uses artificial intelligence, official Israeli travel advisories and reports from users and online sources to provide safety ratings and information for different countries and cities.

The goal is not only to answer the question, “Is this country safe?” The site also looks at what is happening in specific areas and what antisemitic incidents have been reported recently.

The website also makes clear that its ratings should not be treated as official advice. Because some of the information is collected and processed automatically using AI and online reports, the site warns users to do their own research and use their judgment before making travel decisions.

Which destinations are considered safer?

According to the site's current ratings, countries with some of the highest safety classifications include the Czech Republic, Albania, Lithuania and Belarus in Europe; Bolivia, Paraguay and Ecuador in South America; and Japan, Vietnam and Cambodia in the Far East.

Nepal, Iceland and Cyprus are also listed as safe, along with more remote destinations such as the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau and Tuvalu.

Meanwhile, popular destinations such as the United States, Australia and much of Europe are currently listed under a “caution” category. The site advises travelers to keep visible Jewish or Israeli symbols to a minimum.

Countries that have seen more serious antisemitic activity, including Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Russia, are listed under “warning,” with travelers advised to remain alert and avoid openly identifying as Jewish or Israeli.

Countries including Iran, Afghanistan and Egypt are listed as “dangerous.”

The situation can change quickly

Yaish says that safety levels are not permanent and that conditions can change quickly, sometimes even between different regions of the same country.

He points out that some Israelis may feel comfortable identifying themselves as Israeli in one country, while choosing to keep their identity private in another.

Since the October 7, 2023 attacks and the war in Gaza, antisemitism has become an increasingly important factor for Jewish travelers when choosing where to go.

For many travelers, the question is no longer simply where they want to vacation, but where they can travel while feeling safe from harassment or violence because they are Jewish or Israeli.

What comes next?

Yaish currently does not make money from the website. In the future, he hopes to turn Safe for Jews into a broader travel resource for Jewish travelers, including information about Jewish-friendly hotels, kosher restaurants and other services.

For now, the goal is simple: to help travelers understand a complicated and rapidly changing situation.

“People just want to figure out where they can go without taking a risk,” Yaish said.

Website: https://safeforjews.org/en

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