Coronavirus: Government rules upend plans, anger travelers
“People were taken against their will. Their passports were taken, and they were forced onto these buses. They were treated like animals.”
By HANNAH BROWNUpdated: DECEMBER 22, 2020 19:31Ilana Shalev, seen with her twins, Kai and Leni, is staying in London to avoid being stuck quarantined in a coronavirus hotel due to restrictions.(photo credit: Courtesy)
The sudden government decision to stop allowing foreigners into Israel and to require all returning Israelis to quarantine for 10-14 days in hotels has wreaked havoc with many people’s travel plans. Social media blew up with posts by Israeli travelers and tourists trying to figure out what the new rules were and what they would mean.The decision, which was made when some planes were already in the air, came as a nasty shock to many. Residents at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Jerusalem protested the lack of adequate food and medication on Monday, and many other residents of the coronavirus hotels described unpleasant and upsetting conditions in the hotels and on the way there.Their stories have convinced many travelers that the hotels are to be avoided at all costs. One man in a quarantine hotel committed suicide, and while the circumstances of his death are still under investigation, they do not make the prospect of entering such a hotel any more inviting.Ilana Shalev, an Israeli mother of five-month-old twins, is in London visiting her family and plans to come back to Israel in early January. But a quarantine hotel would definitely not be a stop on her itinerary, she said.“I’m not going into bidud [quarantine] in a hotel room with twin babies,” Shalev said, adding that she did not understand why she could not return to her house on a moshav.“I’d rather have my phone tracked than stay in a tiny box hotel,” she said. “What am I going to do in a hotel with no cribs and no baby baths and no fridge to keep milk?”Because she has twins, she would need two of everything, Shalev said.She said her husband was planning to join her in London at the end of the month so he could see her family and help her fly back. But if the UK decides that travelers from Israel need to go into quarantine, she is not sure what she will do because he cannot take a month off from work to go through quarantine on both ends.“I’m pretty disgusted by it all,” Shalev said, citing what she has read on social media and heard from friends about the treatment those returning from London have received. “People were taken against their will. Their passports were taken, and they were forced onto these buses. They were treated like animals.”Until the rule is changed, Shalev said she is staying put in London.Another Israeli who has had his plans derailed due to this new directive is Yoel Israel, the CEO of Wadi Digital, an Israeli company that provides digital marketing services for hi-tech and cybersecurity firms. He arrived in Philadelphia on Sunday for a planned two-week visit to see family and clients.Israel knew he would have to quarantine when he returned, but he had it all worked out.“I have an office set up next to my house where I can follow the quarantine rules,” said Israel, who lives with his wife and two daughters in Pardess Hanna. But he balked at the idea of being confined to one of the quarantine hotels.“To call it a hotel is a joke,” he said. “You’re being locked in a room... I can’t run my business from one of those rooms.”Israel thought about coming back just before the new rules go into effect on Thursday and discovered that he would have to pay $650 to change his ticket – the difference between the ticket he had and a new one; the airline said it was waiving an additional $300 fee for changing his flight date in light of the situation.Instead, he opted to stay until early January, hoping the directive regarding quarantine will not be renewed after it expires in 10 days. “The last thing I want is to be stuck here,” he said.Israel was critical of the government’s decision, saying, “This quarantine is a blunt instrument.”Rena Magun, who lives in Jerusalem, wrote in a Facebook post: “My husband and 2 others that I know are struggling with this. They were scheduled to come for the vaccine but are now unsure because of 2 things: the forced hotel stay and the possibility of being unable to return to the US. Crazy crazy times.”She later added that the couple, who are Israeli citizens over the age of 60, have appointments to get vaccinated through their health funds here but had decided to wait and see what happens with the travel regulations, while her husband was still deliberating.Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, whose octogenarian mother visits Israel every year from the US to work with the Sar-El program, which places volunteers with the Israeli army, said: “She had a ticket. She was planning on coming next month. She is in the process of making aliyah [immigrating to Israel].”Because her immigration process is not complete, she will not be allowed to enter the country. Last year, he said, she was in Israel working with Sar-El when the pandemic started, and she got stuck when the skies closed in the first wave of the pandemic, staying in Tel Aviv for nearly six months.Even though Sar-El is not operating due to the pandemic, Berkowitz said his mother was looking forward to being here and seeing her grandchildren.“She loves Israel, and not being about to come here is very difficult for her,” he said.
