Selfies in a war zone? Unwise tourists force the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to act

The situation in the Middle East has been tense for a long time. The competition between Iran and Israel for dominance in the region has been going on for several years. One of the main sources of tension is the Iranian nuclear program, which Israel sees as a threat.

Iran, in turn, sees Israel as an occupier of the Palestinian territories, as well as an adversary. Other factors also play an important role in this conflict, including Iranian support for Hamas and Hezbollah.

War in the Middle East. The tourists ignored the appeals of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The conflict escalated on Saturday, February 28, when the United States, shoulder to shoulder with Israel, carried out a series of attacks on Iran. The regime did not wait long to respond. The retaliatory actions included targets in many countries in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Drones struck, among others: in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

As a result of the attacks, air traffic in many cities was completely paralyzed. Most of the attacked countries closed their airspace and suspended flights. Since mid-January, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been appealing to tourists to avoid all non-essential trips to the Middle East. Since this is only an appeal and not a ban, many travelers said that the authorities were spreading unnecessary panic and advised people to start thinking.

The reflection came only when returning to the country became impossible. Then, crisis experts began to sprout up like mushrooms after the rain, hurling accusations at embassies, consulates and the Polish authorities. “They left us to our fate!” – screamed the headlines of internet recordings. But before, no one wanted to listen to any warnings. The classic “Pole wise after the damage”.

Poll. Should the Ministry of Foreign Affairs evacuate Poles?

In the latest survey conducted by SW Research for Wprost zWe asked respondents whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should actively engage in bringing back tourists who, despite official warnings, went to endangered regions of the world.

“As many as 50.5 percent of respondents were in favor of such support, while 33.2 percent were of the opposite opinion. Slightly more than one sixth of respondents (16.3 percent) did not have specific views on this matter.”

Taking a closer look at the survey results, it turns out that there are slightly more men (52.1 percent) than women (48.9 percent) supports the involvement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in evacuation actions, but expresses opposition 34.8 percent men 31.8 percent women. Significant differences appear depending on age.

The youngest respondents, up to 24 years of age, show the greatest support for the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – as many as 68.4 percent of them are in favor of it. In turn, the most opponents (37.3 percent) can be found in the 25-34 age group.

In terms of education, the highest percentage of supporters is among people with primary and secondary education (64.5 percent), while the most skeptical towards the state’s involvement are people with higher education (36.9% against).

War in the Middle East. The shocking ignorance of influencers

In this context it is worth mentioning that the level of ignorance of some tourists is truly shocking. There was a lot of talk on social media about a couple of influencers – Paweł Jaworski, known online as Jawor, and his wife Zukoll – who decided to fly to Dubai when it was already certain that the conflict in the Middle East was escalating.

The YouTuber stated that he had no idea that anything dangerous was happening in the Middle East. He explained that he was not interested in politics and considered the media hype around some issues to be exaggerated.

– I don’t follow politics (especially foreign politics) at all, and I don’t follow the media in general. To such an extent that I don’t even know who Epstein is or what this whole thing is about. I’m just not a fan of this information and it just bores me to read it – he explained.

When asked why he did not check the situation in Dubai earlier, he explained that “on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for example in Thailand, it is always written to avoid traveling and this way he would have to stay in Poland all the time.”

Angelika Trochonowicz also went on holiday to the United Arab Emirates with her husband Luka and their two small children. During her stay in Dubai, Andziaks regularly recorded Instagram stories, in which she assured that life was going on completely normally.

– It’s quiet today. We haven’t heard anything yet, I know in other parts of Dubai people have heard some explosions. People function normally here, sunbathe, relax, walk around the city, children play. Let’s just say that during this unpleasant time, life here goes on normally, even though most people are probably going through it and are stressed about it, she said.

In the context of Dubai, it is worth mentioning, among others: about reports from the German daily “Die Zeit”, which show that the UAE authorities closely monitor the content about their country that influencers post online and make sure that everything is shown in the best possible light.

But the problem does not only concern influencers. The scale of naivety and ignorance of some tourists really takes away faith in people. Some travelers bragged on social media about asking chata gpt if it was safe to travel to Egypt or Oman. I also noticed an entry by a lady who explained that she ignored the warnings because they were in English and she didn’t know the language, or another who thought they were just another advertisement and deleted the messages without reading them.

There were also quite absurd calculations on social media, as to how far Tehran is from Cairo or Dubai, or explanations that “there is also a war on the Polish border.” What most of the entries had in common was the complete belief that “it doesn’t concern me” and “it will work out somehow.”