To ask why people like Dubai so much?

[moreyoudoknow]

I know loads of people who now say it's their favourite holiday destination?

What's so lovely about it? Looks too hot to me? Can go above 45 weather wise!

I like the Canary Islands because the sun burns down but it has a cool breeze... a hidden gem if you hate sweltering heat

From pictures, it looks like a city like London that just has pools?

‘There is no apartheid in Israel - that's a lie.’

unfortunately for you we have news reporting here and organisations like Amnesty to prove that There very much is a 2 tiered society in Israeli which is largely dependent on whether or not you are Jewish.
muchnas I would love to go to Jerusalem, it’s not somewhere I could stomach being in holiday while the Palestinians suffer they way they do at the hands of the Israeli State.

Do you need to prove you're married or something? As my rings no longer fit me (put weight on!) and do you also need to cover up (no shorts, exposed shoulders etc - all the things you would normally do in other hot resorts?)

Indeed. But I don't see how an apartheid can exist when Palestinian Israelis have full civil rights. I've lived in Israel for work and study. My boss was an Israeli Palestinian (and he sent his kids to a bilingual Arabic/Hebrew school) and he was the manager of mostly Israeli Jews. I had Israeli Palestinian lecturers at an Israeli university. When I went to hospital, my doctor was an Israeli Palestinian as were most of the pharmacists. There are Israeli Palestinian members of Parliament, there are many Arab political parties, there are Israeli Palestinian supreme court judges (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaled_Kabub)!
So let's disagree but to me this doesn't look like apartheid.

There are massive problems of discrimination and marginalization within ISrael, this is true. There is also an occupation which is most certainly violating human rights of Palestinians in the Palestinian territories (who are not, and do not want to be, Israeli citizens). But that's quite a different beast to apartheid. Words and definitions matter.

And, like you said regarding the sad situation of Palestinians in Lebanon, the situation with the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel is complex too. No one planned there to be a 50+ year occupation. It's not like Russia and Ukraine, say.

Built on slavery

many tourist destinations where built on slavery, Taj Mahal for example or the pyramids. People don't seem to object visiting these places on the basis of being built on slavery

Someone has to do a job that involves cleaning toilets. I went to a country in Asia where they had toilet attendants. I suspect she is not supposed to sleep on the job.

I love the fact that they keep the sanitation areas clean. And people are willing to do it. In other countries you can't find the staff as toilet cleaning is beneath them...

Is anyone going to the World Cup in Quatar??

Maybe people bright enough to be able to spell it 😄😄😄

Yes I am. I have loads of tickets, was very lucky. And not racist so happy to not hate Qatar. And unlike you, I am there in the actual place.

It's vile.

Unfortunately for you, I know it's not true from first hand experience.

How can there be an Israeli Palestinian supreme court judge if there is apartheid? 🙄
There are Israeli Palestinian diplomats representing Israel.
One of the biggest government hospitals in Israel is run by an Israeli palestinian doctor.

Heck, my own boss when I worked in Israel was an Israeli Palestinian who was maanging mainly israeli Jews in a professional capacity.

Many countries have problems with discrimination and marginalization and there are huge problems in Israel. But that is quite different to apartheid. The demonization of Israel is really sad and it makes tackling the real issues facing the Palestinians that much harder (because all Israelis KNOW there is no apartheid and that this bullshit so they won't believe anything you say after that because you won't be considered a good faith actor).

And not racist so happy to not hate Qatar

What does that mean?

@smashmakesmash you can argue your point I'm never going to agree with you. If you think apartheid is acceptable that's your issue.

Not RTFT the full thread. Never been to Dubai and no interest in going except to visit friends, but if one is only going to visit countries that respect women and gays, and with no income disparity, most interesting countries are out right?
India
The US
Most of SE Asia
Egypt
Morocco
S Africa
China...
Even Singapore executed a mentally ill man recently.

Should we only wander around Europe?

I don’t do any international travel to the places you describe, so I’m not supporting that sort of exploitation. I travel by train to and within Northern Europe, when I don’t holiday in the UK.

I am sad you can’t see why Dubai, a completely invented destination with an appalling background and which supports modern slavery, is so much worse than places in the developing world, but I guess if your family has benefitted to the degree you mention it’s probably hard to square that circle. That’s not me being rude, by the way, it’s just human nature and completely understandable.

@smashmakesmash

www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/

For environmental reasons, it would certainly be better, and if we use the withholding of our spending power from countries with a poor record on human rights, that might start to have some impact, actually, so you might have hit on something there.

I have to agree with this, I lived in Qatar for a few years, not an amazing place I'd admit but I'd much rather my son grow up somewhere like Dubai/Qatar than the UK. I also don't agree with a lot of comments on this thread, unless you've actually lived there you're just getting second hand information. When I lived in Qatar I had to do a visa run and spent a few hours in the Dubai Airport, I think it was during some kind of holiday season as all the workers where flying home to India and they had trolleys stacked with toys and gifts for their families back home. televisions in bubble wrap etc. If your selling a television over there then they get snapped up. You must have the box though, worthless without the box. The workers get so much better wages than they ever dream off in their home countries. I'm not saying its right but if you have a family and you cannot afford to send your kids to school and Dubai is offering you enough money to send your kids through school and bring home amazing stuff you could only dream of then you'd do it. Yes they work long hours but wouldn't they work long hours at home. I'm currently in Egypt and the standard hours here (for the locals) are 6 days a week and long days, 10 hours +. Its easy to judge a place with our western views but I doubt working in Dubai is worse than working in their home country, at least they're earning enough to clothe, feed and school all their kids.

No. They never cared about tourists and have legalised sex outside of marriage now anyway.

You don't have to agree with me. Unlike you, I'm sharing my lived personal experience.
I do not think apartheid is acceptable. It does not exist in Israel as I have seen with my own eyes.
Until you can explain how an apartheid country could have an Israeli Palestinian supreme court judge, then I will assume you know not of what you speak.

On an overnight flight through Dubai, l walked into the women's toilet and there was an Indian woman sleeping in there. It was late at night, she worked there as the toilet attendant and had to sleep, sitting on the floor! The opposite of luxury.

Sorry, but this isn't true. She will work long hours (everybody does in Dubai) and may have decided to have a nap and then say she had no choice. But since I used to live in Dubai and have friends who work in this area it's quite simply incorrect.

in the UK you’re allowed to be gay, rape victims aren’t imprisoned, you’re not killing the planet with AC everyday, you don’t have to walk behind your husband, or wear a boiling hot ‘dress’ that covers you up because you’re in some way shameful.

Rape victims may not be imprisoned in the UK, instead they have their testimony picked to pieces, questioned on what they wore, what they did that meant the "deserved" to be raped. The may not be in a physical prison, but the mental torture is often lifelong. Tell me why that is less barbaric? Women also don't walk behind their husbands and commenting on that "boiling hot dress" is just showing your utter ignorance!

And that's the problem, the UAE certainly has it's issues and could definitely make progress in some areas, but it's people making sweeping statements from ONE interaction or hearsay that causes the hate.

Every country has it's problems, you could literally have substituted any city or area in any country and people would have an issue.

You need to prove you're married to work there and bring your family over, so your marriage certificate is very important as is/are your child's birth certificate.

And to add to that - did you think she lived in the toilet?! She was on night shift and napping during her working hours. Oddly enough the employer doesn't facilitate that by providing her with a bed. Do you think airports in the UK would do?

Ah ok. I already don't eat meat and don't have a car, so I think I have done enough for the environment. Absolutely not going to confine my holidays to Europe for the rest of my life; the food itself would drive me mad. ( apart from having family in India and the US).

The Amnesty report explains it all . Anyway we will never agree. Back to Dubai.

You need to prove you're married to be able to sponsor your partner for a visa, yes. Very common (same in the UK?). You don't need to be married to bring your children over or to sponsor them for visas. You may need consent from the other parent to sponsor, but that's child custody related.