MY SPOUSE AND I ARE ISRAELIS. We also are U.S. citizens; me by birth, she by naturalization. We have been in the States 40-plus years.
Our daughter and grandchildren are in Israel. We have two sons, but no grands, remaining in the U.S.
UNFORTUNATELY, the Chinese virus has “snafu’ed” our return.
We have tickets on El Al LY18, a direct flight MIA-TLV.
The flight is — was — supposed to leave Sunday evening.
The flight was canceled and rescheduled for the following week.
That flight was canceled and rescheduled for the following week.
That flight also was canceled and rescheduled for the following week.
Is it El Al or politicians?
We are pretty certain the problem originates in Jerusalem.
The politicians are allowing only “n” number of returnees per day, and only from one departure site per country. For the the entire United States JFK is the ONLY port of exit.
That might be OK IF El Al flights could originate elsewhere — e.g. MIA, LAX, ORD — and add passengers at JFK for, as far as Israel is concerned, a single point of origin from the U.S.
U.S. law — indeed most countries with multiple international airports (Spain is another good example) prohibits foreign carriers (e.g., El Al, Delta) from transporting passengers in-country UNLESS the flight either originates or terminates in another country.
Only U.S. carriers can fly passengers from one U.S. airport to another U.S. airport.
El Al COULD pick up passengers at MIA, LAX, ORD, etc., fly them to JFK, add passengers at JFK but cannot discharge passengers at JFK. The same applies on El Al flights TO the U.S.
Been there; done that.
Testing, testing
Because of the Chinese virus — don’t tell me that’s not “pc; remember the (misnamed) “Spanish” flu? — the world was turned upside down. Between common sense and paranoia, borders, schools, places of worship, public places, and a host of other things were shut down.
During World War I, Spain was a neutral country with a free media that covered the outbreak from the start, first reporting on it in Madrid in late May of 1918. Meanwhile, Allied countries and the Central Powers had wartime censors who covered the flu, many believed it originated there (the Spanish, meanwhile, believed the virus came from France news of the flu to keep morale high. Because Spanish news sources were the only ones reporting on and called it the “French Flu.”) (https://historiography/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic)
As this is written, passengers heading to Israel must have a special test within 72 hours of departure and submit a form within 24 hours of departure to a government clerk who will decide if the passenger is allowed to board.
On arrival in Israel, the passenger may be tested again and may be sent to a quarantine hotel for 14 days.
Appropriate timing
If Moses left Egypt today, we STILL would be wondering in the wilderness.
HaShem promises to gather us together and being us back to Israel, but with Israelis who refuse to follow guidelines (masks, social distancing, hand washing, refusing vaccination) and an indecisive government, going home nearly is impossible.
With Pesach at hand, I am surprised the government still has not opened the airports — Pesach is, after all, the merchants' (and tax collector) money-making holday equivalent to other counties' Christmas and yet another election in the offing, the incumbents may fear for their seats in Knesset.
Meanwhile, we survive with the kindness of others who tolerate our infringement on their good natures while El Al ignores our plight and the plight of other Israelis stuck — fortunately not in Lodi (CA) — in limbo while El Al or Bibi & Company cannot get it right.
Color me an unhappy camper.
When I made aliyah in 1975, everything went smoothly. All my dealings with Israeli government offices, banks, etc. were fine.
Forty years later … a different story.
Blame it on the Chinese.
Why not fly to JFK?
1. My wife and I are seniors with mobility issues. Shlepping luggage, a rollator (walker), and mobility scooter borders on the impossible. El Al will not arange transfer from the domestic flight to its flight.
2. Each time the mobility scooter is loaded/unloaded from a plane, there is a chance it will be dropped and made useless.
3. Any delay with either flight could put our pre-boarding test in jeopardy; we would be "stuck" at JFK for an undetermined duration.
American Airlines is to inaugurate 3 flights a week MIA-TLV BEGINNING IN JUNE. A long time to impose on people.
* Then again, Moses never made it into the Promised Land, so perhaps I should have re-thought the headline.
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