Keshet 12 host Avri Gilad: 'I can buy everything I need. I feel like a rich man'
The Keshet 12 host shared his surprising experiences from a two-week vacation abroad, explaining what made him feel like a rich man and what important lesson his country must learn from the place he visited.
After two weeks outside of Israel, Avri Gilad returned with several insights about life in the country compared to his experience overseas. During a live broadcast of the program "Avri and Sharki" on Keshet 12, the host spoke about his vacation, the low prices that surprised him, the sense of security he experienced, and the different attitude toward cannabis.
Gilad described the feeling that accompanied him during his two weeks in Thailand: "I was there for exactly two weeks; it was very interesting, fun, and pleasant—a vacation for the soul, resting from all these difficult challenges."
One of the main things he focused on was the cost of living and how prices influence a sense of calm.
"When everything is so cheap, something in your soul rests, because you eat a meal for four people in abundance for one hundred shekels. Your existence is calm. You can buy everything you need; you just feel like a rich man."
According to him, it was precisely the distance from home that made him notice how the preoccupation with money affects daily life. "You realize that something in your soul is tense because of money in Israel. The feeling that you are just calm with your money, that it doesn't pressure you—when you are in Europe or America, you don't calculate every dish on the menu. You just order what you want to taste."
Later, Gilad moved on to the sense of security: "You almost don't see police anywhere, and yet no one dares to steal." To illustrate the point, he shared a story he heard during his stay: "I heard from a local about someone who stole two million baht from her employer and received four consecutive life sentences. Go ahead and steal in such a situation!"
Gilad also recounted a personal incident where he accidentally left his wallet in a public place and discovered that no one had touched it. "I forgot my wallet on a massage chair in an airport—I'm usually careless about it—and left it on the chair next to me. I sent my daughters, they ran and brought it back; no one touched it. No one touched it."
Towards the end of his remarks, Gilad addressed the cannabis issue and the gap between the prominent presence of shops and what actually happens on the streets. "In the airport, cannabis is legal. Every third shop is a cannabis shop. And there is no smell of cannabis on the streets, the shops are empty most of the time, and it is allowed to smoke, but it is calm."
He concluded with a message he believes is relevant for Israel: "This is a model that should be studied in Israel, because in Israel, everyone smokes everywhere."
