So a mate has invited me to his wedding in Tel Aviv and i am going but as i work abroad both my passports have Arab country visas in them, mainly Libya, does that make a difference when going into Israel and secondly it will make a difference coming back into Libya so is there a way they do not mark your passport up has having visited Israel.

You will probably get a lot of questions going through immigration on the way in, more so if travelling alone.
On the way home they will perhaps rank you as slightly higher threat, but it just means worst case they put your hold luggage for manual search after X-ray. As someone who travels there frequently never had any problems.
Since the start of the year they have stopped stamping passports and issue paper visa instead.

Thank you TG, do i need to arrange a visa prior to travel or just get an entry stamp when i get there.

Just allow 5 hours each way to get through security.

Put ALL electronics in hand luggage to speed up the swabbing process and avoid a manual case search.

Mate of mine has two passports, one for Isreal and US and one for everywhere else. Some arab countries can get a bit shirty if you have an Isreali stamp.
not sure of the process for getting two,it’s a little complicated initially but then you just renew each in the usual way. Ask at your passport office.

I have two passports already but both have Arab stamps in them !! i am assured it will be worth the hastle once i get there. 😀

When I flew to Israel a good few years ago I found myself in the departures lounge of Manchester airport, topless and shoeless being hand searched at gunpoint by the police with a crowd of curious onlookers.

I’d never flown before so sort of assumed that was normal!

(In fairness it turned out to be fairly normal for the rest of my Israeli comings and goings)

Edit – even back then they did paper visas instead of stamping if you asked.

I went to Israel last year and didn’t get a second passport due to time constraints. I have Eygptian, Jordanian, Gulf State and a Saudi stamp/visa in my passport. I had no problems getting in to Israel but an hour and half of ceaseless questions (what were doing there, did you stay in people’s homes, do you have friends there etc…) from a string of people who were obviously comparing answers. Pretty intimating and I’ve travelled all over the world. I’d agree as well you will need maybe 4hrs a departures. My lesson – get another passport if you have Arab stamps.

Oh and it’s a weirdly militarised place to go.

Thanks guys, appreciate the feedback.

Don’t fly ELAL and you won’t face any interview/baggage search before arriving in Israel.
No visa application is required before travelling.
No need to be at Ben Gurion airport on way home until about 2.5hrs – 3hrs before departure. They prioritise people based on flight departure so no gain in going too early. I learnt this the hard way.
I fly BA usually, relatively straightforward at airport. If possible fly on a Saturday – airport & flights devoid of the religious nut jobs and nice and quiet.

Israel don’t really care about ME visas, whereas most Muslim countries won’t let you in at all if you have an Israeli Visa in your passport.

NB The endless questioning and repeated X rays is standard practice an Ben Gurin airport – doesn’t matter who you are you where you’ve been….

To a layman this looks like SpyTrackWorld.

All this information is being knowledge banked.

Anokdale – I would keep a copy of the wedding invitation and hotel booking confirmation with the passports. they may ask for that.
If your mate has an Israeli id/passport , it could help to get a letter of a few lines from him about your visit, quoting that id..
Clearly none of that is essential and even without any of it, just be prepared for some extra questions. probably most intensly on the way out. If you don’t fly elal you shouldnt have any problems on the uk side.

Also, and i think this is probably obvious when dealing with all state officials -although I’ve often been amazed to hear that apparantly its not- avoid sarcasm /be straighforward when answering.

Have fun! – Tel Aviv is a great city!

You can have the entry stamps put on a piece of paper they staple in your passport. Easy to remove when you leave as there are a few countries who don’t like seeing them.

Oh yes don’t get freaked by the amount of guns you see everywhere and prepared to get your mind blown by the stunning women 😀 god I am so shallow.

Great info and backed up by the lad I know there, I am ex forces anyway so not phased by uniforms and the like and oh yes to keeping stum at the security desks. Looking forward to it now I must say.

Great info and backed up by the lad I know there, I am ex forces anyway so not phased by uniforms and the like and oh yes to keeping stum at the security desks. Looking forward to it now I must say.

keeping stum at the security desks

Yeh that would be good. Was a lad in our queue when were leaving Ben Gurion (many years ago) who was cracking jokes about bombs and stuff quite loudly. He “left the queue” for quite a prolonged period

Israel don’t really care about ME visas, whereas most Muslim countries won’t let you in at all if you have an Israeli Visa in your passport.

Footflaps – is that really true? How come?

Hi. In Saudi you can’t get in with an Israeli visa. Most other Arab countries are fine. Israel doesn’t ban travellers with Saudi visas but views then suspiciously. Not sure how I would have got on with old passport Iranian visa getting in/out of Israel.

I would not get back into Libya with an Israel stamp. They thought the one I had from Laos was from Israel and I was almost back on the plane I had just come in on.