A Canadian tourist visiting Israel was shocked to receive a text message from telecommunications provider Bell Canada welcoming him to “Palestine” while he was at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem, The National Post reported.
The traveler, an Ottawa resident identified only as Charles, said he had arrived in Israel the previous week.
While visiting Yad Vashem, Charles received an automated roaming notification from Bell that began with the words “Welcome to Palestine,” followed by information about his international travel plan.
He told The National Post that the message made him feel nauseated, particularly because of where he was standing when it arrived.
“And I get, from Bell Canada, a welcome to a non-existent country, whose aspirational goal…is to, again, eliminate the Jewish people,” he said.
Charles expressed concern about what he described as a “concerted effort” internationally to erase Israel’s existence, saying that receiving such a message from his Canadian telecommunications provider was especially “outrageous.”
“For them to say to me, a Canadian citizen and a longtime client, ‘Welcome to Palestine’ – to me, that’s making a political statement and it’s inappropriate,” he said.
Bell Canada attributed the notification to an automated roaming system rather than a deliberate decision by the company.
A Bell spokesperson explained to The National Post that international roaming messages are “automatically triggered when a mobile device connects to a network tower in a new region.”
“Because of the close proximity of network towers in the region, some customers flying into Israel or traveling nearby have occasionally received notifications for roaming in Palestinian territories,” the company stated.
“Like those of other global carriers, Bell’s roaming notifications are automated by an external vendor’s platform. This platform retrieves all location terminology directly from an independent, international industry-standard database, and Bell does not determine the language used.”
The incident comes amid continuing diplomatic controversy surrounding recognition of a Palestinian state.
Canada was among several countries that recognized the “State of Palestine” in 2025. At the time, Prime Minister Mark Carney said recognition was conditional on Hamas agreeing to “fully disarm, and play no role in the future governance of Palestine.”
Under US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, overseen by the Board of Peace, Hamas is required to surrender its weapons before Israel gradually withdraws its forces from the territory.
The plan calls for Israeli troops to withdraw from areas cleared of terrorists, with administration subsequently transferred to a technocratic government.
However, Hamas continues to control Gaza and has refused to disarm.
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News’ North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)
Source link
