Israeli Media Walk Back Claims Of IDF-Approved Passover Hiking Tours in Syria

April 16, 2025

In response to communication from CAMERA’s Israel office, Israeli media outlets have walked back coverage which lost its way reporting on Passover tours for Israeli hikers on Israel’s side of the Syrian border. 

The Jerusalem Post in particular is to be commended for entirely withdrawing an article which had wrongly reported that Passover hikers passed over the border into Syria. An April 4 article had wrongly reported in both the headline and the article that the army offered Passover tours in Syria for Israeli hikers (“IDF offers tours on Syrian side of Golan Heights Over Passover: Tourists have been invited to tour the eastern Golan Heights in a cross-border tour”).

Going astray, the article misreported:

Those who choose to join the cross-border tours will hike along the Nahal Rokad, an easy to moderate hike, then will cross the border between the Golan and Syria in the Kibbutz Afik area, along with the approval of the military.

Other tours in the Hermon area will also be held, as well as tours of the Hasbani enclave and the Hejaz railway tunnel in Yarmouk.

The tours will happen twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and will be the first time Israeli civilians will be allowed to cross the border for a tour. (Emphases added.)

In fact, though these tours cross Israel’s security fence, that fence lies within Israeli territory, and the hikers are to remain fully within Israeli territory.

As Mako explains (CAMERA’s translation from Hebrew):

Despite the enticing offer to cross the border, in actuality hikers will cross the security fence, but will remain in Israeli territory the entire time. The official border between the countries passes to the east of the fence and the IDF conducts activity in that territory all year long, mostly patrols and lookouts. (Emphasis added.)

Further, contrary to the paper’s reporting which repeatedly referred to “unprecedented” access to the sites in question, the majority of the sites in question are not accessible now to Israelis only for the first time.

A map depicting hiking trails which the Israeli army reopened in northern Israel for Passover, April 11, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

As Times of Israel reported (“IDF counters misleading Guardian report, says it is not letting Israeli hike in newly seized Syrian territory“):

On April 3, following a misleading Ynet report, the IDF responded to a query by saying: “The trails in the Golan Heights are within Israeli territory, and are not in Syria. The trails that are being opened in the Golan Heights were open in the past, except for one trail, the Ruqqad River, located near the Hejaz railway, a route that was open years back. In preparation for Passover, the Northern Command, together with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, the Defense Ministry, and the local authorities, are reopening or opening for the first time trails for hikes in northern Israel. The opening of these routes is enabled following the creation of a security reality in the north that allows the routes to be opened to the general public.”
Jerusalem Post editors agreed that the reporting was inaccurate, and opted to entirely remove the article.
Haaretz was more cautious navigating coverage of the border-area tours. It’s April 6 article by Moshe Gilad, “Passover’s Hottest Tourist Attraction for Israelis: A Demilitarized Zone in Syria, Courtesy of the Army,” did quote the army clarifying: “. . . it’s not inside Syria” and “These tours are inside Israel.”
But given that the tours are entirely inside Israel, the headline citing “a demilitarized zone in Syria” is incorrect. The tours in question are no way in Syrian territory, demilitarized or otherwise. 
Notably, the article’s Hebrew headline did not contain the fallacious reference to the trails being in Syria’s DMZ: “With Army Approval: What’s the Point of the Stupidity in Conducting “Cross-Fence” Passover Tours?” (CAMERA’s translation.)
Relatedly, in both in English and in Hebrew, the article erred: “You’re not in Israel and you’re not abroad.” (Emphasis added.) In fact, the tours in question are fully within Israeli territory, though they are across  the Israeli security fence, which sits inside Israeli territory. 
In response to communication from CAMERA’s Israel office, Haaretz slightly readjusted its navigational heading; the amended headline now refers to ” The Demilitarized Zone on the Syrian Border,” as opposed to “A Demilitarized Zone in Syria.”
In its April 4 story, Ynet article misleadingly reported that the army is offering unprecedented Passover tours over the “border fence” with Syria for Israeli hikers (“Israel approves guided tours inside Syria military zone during Passover“). Thus, the article erred: 
For the first time since Israel’s founding, civilians will be allowed to cross the border fence with Syria and join guided tours inside a restricted military zone during the upcoming Passover holiday, the Israeli military announced.
Notably, Ynet’s Hebrew article adds clarification from the army that the tours are fully within Israeli territory and most of the sites have been previously open to Israelis. Yet, the English edition overlooked that information, and even failed to correct course despite CAMERA’s communication with editors.
The misdirectional Israeli reporting on cross-border hikes did not stay confined to Israeli territory. As the aforementioned Times of Israel article noted, Israel’s military published the geographical clarifications following misreporting in a British news outlet: “Countering a Guardian report, the IDF says it is not allowing civilians into newly occupied Syrian territory for hikes during Passover.”
Our colleagues at CAMERA UK have contacted Guardian editors to request correction.

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