I have spent most of this week fielding phone calls and messages from parents separated from their children, lone soldiers unable to return to their units, and people unable to keep up with their work because they are separated from their home offices.
These Israelis, many of them English-speaking immigrants, had left Israel legally, some to be with their aging and dying parents, others to attend funerals of loved ones; many lone soldiers visiting families they have not seen for more than a year, after being given a short break from the army; and hundreds who went for work, as they have done on a monthly basis since making aliyah.
One scenario this week captures the absurdity of it all. Last Thursday, the government announced that Israelis could fly back to Israel on an emergency Israir flight from Frankfurt with no pre-approval needed.
I posted this and notified many who were desperate for help. One 23-year-old new immigrant, whom we’ll call Esther, was stuck in the USA, after traveling to help her parents. When Esther asked if she should grab a flight to Frankfurt and buy a ticket on the Israir flight, I said that according to the government’s announcement, yes.
When Esther arrived in Frankfurt on Saturday, this Israeli citizen was informed that Israel had canceled that Sunday flight. As she had no documents and due to coronavirus restrictions, Esther was told by Germany that she could not enter the country.
With no place to go, Esther slept in the Frankfurt airport – on Saturday night, on Sunday night, and on Monday night. At the gate in a foreign airport. With no kosher food to eat.
When Israel announced that Israelis could apply for approval to return home for “humanitarian” reasons, and that another Israir flight would be available on Tuesday evening, she applied for approval, bought a ticket for that Israir flight, but heard nothing back.
I beseeched government officials involved in the approval process early Tuesday morning, and was told that Esther would be approved for that night’s flight.
Hours went by, and she still had not received approval (this is not a criticism of the incredible staff of Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz that has been thrown into dealing with these approvals, and who showed incredible care and concern for this woman).
The authorities questioned whether Esther fit the criteria for approval.
This immigrant who had been sleeping in the Frankfurt airport for three nights with no food.
They weren’t sure if she fit the criteria of a humanitarian need.
I have no other way of saying it: our leaders have lost their minds. They have implemented a policy with official rules, in order to convince themselves and the public that they are doing something to protect Israelis from the coronavirus, when in reality they have lost their humanity along the way.
In the end, after a flurry of phone calls during which I told government officials that Esther may not survive another night in the airport, she received approval, just as the gate to the flight was closing.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
I helped to organize a petition to the Supreme Court, written and submitted by attorney Nadav Haetzni, to put an end to this madness, and to allow Israelis to return to their homes under the strict rules, of course, of testing before the flight and quarantine upon return.
We appeal to the court to step in and take action.
But that will only address this one specific issue. The Israeli government must change course and implement a clear, thought-out plan to address the spread of the coronavirus – a plan that includes enforcement for all, and focuses on the ramifications and consequences of the decisions to prevent unnecessary harm to its law abiding citizens.
The writer served as a member of the 19th Knesset.