But your passport is still tainted if you use any Israeli land crossing--they see the stamp from the other country and infer you were in Israel. Unlike what we saw in the 80s in Africa--so long as "South Africa" didn't appear you were ok. The border stamps into/out of South Africa didn't cause problems. The possession of a fair quantity of supplies with packaging in English/Afrikaans didn't matter--but the first day across the border the organizer had us stop and very carefully go over everything with a sharpie looking for labels that said "product of South Africa"--those had to be totally blotted out.
And to show how stupid things were--he also had a stamp he had made up to make forged entries on our yellow books. At that time your average joe certainly did not have an up-to-date smallpox shot--but at multiple border crossings they would hit you up for a bribe if you didn't have an up-to-date smallpox shot. Hence fake them. (Even around 2000 which was the last time I had occasion to have anything added to my yellow book there still was no anti-counterfeit protection.)
"Tainted" is an odd word. Any country that would reject a Jew from entering for having an Israeli stamp in their passport is a country I would never want to step foot in, whatever my views on Israeli politics.
> I visited Israel circa 2012 and this was true even then.
It used to depend on where you were coming from. When travelling to Israel for work a few years back, my passport (irish citizen) was not stamped, but my colleague's (at the time, a Turkish citizen) was.
No idea, Israeli border security are weird. Like, for the first few times I went there, they treated my like a terrorist (i am concerned that someone may have placed bombs in your bag etc). The last two times, OTOH, it's just been like a normal airport.
sad to hear this, but not suprised as much. according to wikipedia, turkey is one of the few countries/regions where israel requires a visa from; along with india, pakistan and arab countries.
And to show how stupid things were--he also had a stamp he had made up to make forged entries on our yellow books. At that time your average joe certainly did not have an up-to-date smallpox shot--but at multiple border crossings they would hit you up for a bribe if you didn't have an up-to-date smallpox shot. Hence fake them. (Even around 2000 which was the last time I had occasion to have anything added to my yellow book there still was no anti-counterfeit protection.)