Rutie and Barry Davis, an Israeli couple visiting Austria, were shocked earlier this week to discover that Austria had temporarily stopped sending mail to Israel due to the ongoing war with Hamas.
The husband, who spoke to The Jerusalem Post from Linz, Austria, shared that his wife had entered a post office to mail postcards to Israel and was informed that Austria was no longer sending mail to the country.
"My wife went into the post office to send postcards to our kids, and she was told by the clerk, that the Austrians had banned mail to Israel," Barry said on Wednesday.
"When my wife asked her, all she could think of to respond was, and do you not send to Palestine?" She asked. The young woman was a little bit perturbed, so she asked her senior manager to come over. "The manager made a face and said, No, we're not sending mail to to Israel."
Barry added, "this is Linz, where Hitler went to school. This is pathetic. This doesn't help anybody. And this is despicable, especially in Austria."
Barry was surprised by the situation, saying, "We couldn’t believe that regular services like mail delivery were affected. It really brought home the global impact of the conflict.”
In response to an inquiry from the Post, the Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed the following:
“Indeed, mail delivery has been suspended due to the cessation of Austrian Airlines flights to Israel, which has lasted for approximately three weeks. However, Austrian Airlines is expected to resume flights tomorrow, and the issue should be resolved.”
The ministry reassured Israeli citizens that this was a temporary issue linked to the disruption in flight schedules, which had a ripple effect on services like mail delivery. They also confirmed that other European countries had not implemented similar measures, although flight disruptions may impact services in other regions as well.
El Al has been flying to Austria
That said, El Al, Israel's national airline, has been flying to Austria and theoretically could have delivered the envelopes and packages.
Earlier on Wednesday, Lufthansa announced it will resume its flights to Tel Aviv from Thursday. According to an update from the company, one of a number of airlines to alter their schedules amid fears of an escalation in the Middle East conflict.
In early August, the airline announced that it was suspending flights to the Israeli city, repeatedly extending the suspension measures until up to and including September 4.
Lufthansa emailed a statement late Monday stating that its flights to the Lebanese capital, Beirut, would remain suspended until and including September 30.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.