They came, they swam, they left
In Israel's 52nd year, the rich, famous, and obscure came to visit. Here are our 52 top distinguished tourists

43. Irish pilgrims
It took them a while, but they finally got here. Twenty-four Irish Catholic pilgrims, who had been mistakenly identified as members of the doomsday cult Concerned Christians and turned away in October, were allowed to enter the country several months later. Israel had been concerned that Christian doomsday cults would try to enter the country and carry out violent acts around the turn of the millennium, and thought the Irish group was part of the plot. The real cultists were less fortunate - groups of Concerned Christians were turned away and deported.