Published on 6/29/2026
A state of overwhelming anger prevailed among the Israelis in general and the residents of the city of Eilat in particular, after they discovered that they had been prohibited for several months from entering a tourist resort in their city, and that entry had become restricted to American soldiers.
The case, as monitored by the Shabakat episode (June 29, 2026), began when the residents of the “Kibbutz Ilot” settlement were surprised that they were prohibited from entering the “U Splash” resort, which they used to go to, especially in the summer. They later discovered that entering the resort and enjoying its facilities was no longer available except to American soldiers residing in the city. As for the Israelis, they would have to wait at least until next October until they could enter the resort and enjoy its facilities.
The matter did not stop at the borders of hotel reservations; The swimming pool was surrounded by a barbed iron fence, and armored gates were planted at its entrances. The “U Splash” management also closed the doors for new reservations for the hot months (July, August, and September), and canceled hundreds of advance reservations for Israelis while offering promises of financial compensation. Indicators confirm that the resort has become completely outside of civil service, and completely devoted to the service of the “American ally.”
The pictures coming from the resort and circulating showed a stark paradox: American soldiers were resting in the water, behind walls that isolated them from their angry external surroundings.
These scenes made Israeli social media platforms abuzz with angry tweets about this measure, and in this context, Levy wrote: “I do not understand what is happening in our town. The swimming pool was available to us for years, and suddenly it was closed for American soldiers. We feel like strangers in our country.”
As for the settler Noa, who lives in Kibbutz Ilot, she did not hide her feeling of insult and wrote, saying: “This is insulting and cruel. It seems that our lives are being managed from the outside now, and that Washington is the one who controls the details.”
In the same vein, Avital expressed her anger after she and her children were deprived of going to the resort and escaping the summer heat. She wrote: “At the height of summer and its extreme heat, my children cannot enter the swimming pool because it is designated for foreign soldiers. This is absolutely illogical.”
On the other hand, voices emerged trying to justify the scene for higher security reasons, as settler Eitan commented, saying: “We may not like the matter, but it is clear that there are sensitive security considerations behind this decision, and not everything can be explained at the local level.”
According to what “Shabakat” showed, the strict alert at the “U Splash” resort is not isolated from the military geography of the region; The city of Eilat is currently filled with air defense batteries and military sites, and the resort is located very close to key strategic points such as the Ovda Air Base, which is only 40 kilometers from the resort, and the Ramon Military Airport, which is 15 kilometers away and is considered one of the most important centers of the Israeli Air Force in the south, which was used as a major logistical artery during the recent military confrontations with Iran.
