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Why Israeli tourists are returning to Sinai despite warnings

Israeli official warnings about security threats are not stopping young Israelis from heading down to Sinai beaches.
Tourists enjoy the water at a beach at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh city, which is hosting the Arab Summit on Saturday, in the South Sinai governorate, south of Cairo March 27, 2015. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh  - RTR4V7SB
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TABA, Egypt — Media outlets across Israel echoed warnings Jan. 24 urging citizens vacationing in the Sinai to leave the peninsula immediately. Reports claimed that Israeli intelligence officials had unearthed a very high and concrete threat to Israeli nationals there and raised the risk of danger to the highest level. Less than an hour south of Eilat, however, on a beach near the town of Nuweiba, a group of Israeli youngsters continued chatting in Hebrew to their Bedouin hosts while relaxing at a camp on the stunning Sinai coast on the Red Sea's Gulf of Aqaba.

“It is my first time here in Sinai, but a lot of my friends have come here before,” said Aaron Avitsur, a 21-year-old from Jerusalem. “Everyone in Israel knows that Sinai has great beaches and allows a freer time than in Israel.”

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