---
title: "Is this how Israelis are perceived?"
url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2007/11/29/is-this-how-israelis-are-perceived.md"
canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2007/11/29/is-this-how-israelis-are-perceived.html"
published: "2007-11-29T13:25:16"
updated: "2007-11-29T13:25:16"
tags: []
author: "Roy Osherove"
description: "Itai Braun, who works for Microsoft UK(but is an Israeli) shared some of the \"advice\" he got from MS Corp. before traveling to Israel. I found it a bit funny and somewhat hypocritical in some cases, as I'll note below(…"
usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)."
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
---

# Is this how Israelis are perceived?

By Roy Osherove November 29, 2007

**Historical article** · Originally published November 29, 2007; technical details may be outdated.

Itai Braun, who works for Microsoft UK(but is an Israeli) shared some of the "advice" he got from MS Corp. before traveling to Israel. I found it a bit funny and somewhat hypocritical in some cases, as I'll note below([full list is here](http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/itaybraun/archive/2007/11/29/working-in-microsoft-uk-what-do-they-think-about-israel.aspx)):

- **Conversation in Israel is candid, informal, and forthright**. If asked a question you would rather not answer, give a vague but polite response. (isn't that the opposite of candid and forthright? - how insulting. just say "I'd rather not, or can't answer that now")
- Any gesture displaying an extended thumb is offensive throughout the Middle East. For hitchhiking, the extender index is used. (not sure why it would be offensive here)
- **Though punctuality is not a key value in Israel, foreigners should arrive to appointments on time**. (aw, now my feelings are hurt, but it's pretty much correct)
- **Business dress is less formal than Westerners are accustomed to at home.** Men should wear slacks with a shirt and tie, while women are expected to wear a blouse with either slacks or a skirt. (we like it when people from abroad come all dressed up while we're in jeans. it makes us feel important)
- Business operates at a slower pace in Israel than it does in the West. (I have something to say about that, but it'll have to wait for tomorrow)
- Relationships matter in Israel's business world; if asked out for dinner or to visit someone's home, you should try to accept the offer. (now I won't invite any guests to shabbat dinner because people told them "Accept it no matter what"- thanks Microsoft!)

oh, there's also [a wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelis) about us..


---

## About the author

**Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery.

### Sites

- [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership.
- [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts.
- [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin.
- [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model.
- [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps.
- [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes).

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### License

Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/