Israel And Ben Gurion COVID-19 Reopening Master Thread

[CRACKERJACK]

Is there anything WE can do to put pressure on the israeli govt to make things more understandable reasonable clear etc.

[bp27]

To get space? Arkia & Israir flights were wide open last I checked Close to 100%. VS CEO is Israeli and they just loaded those flights this weekend.

Thanks. Still waiting to see how UA reboooks, but wanted a reliable backup plan.

[PlatinumGuy]

Do you think United just wants to mess with this route as revenge?

My speculation is UA pushes hard to get a slot for their sold out flight on March 8, and when that didn’t come through (likely with gross incompetence in the process), they got upset and cancelled all the flights for the week.

It’s also possible the executives in Chicago didn’t delve into the precise details, and just decided the whole thing is more headache than it’s worth (can’t blame them).

Is there anything WE can do to put pressure on the israeli govt to make things more understandable reasonable clear etc.

The Israeli media is already all over this. The government is under immense pressure. I don’t think there is much more that can be done. Hopefully the election results consolidate control and don’t make it even more fractured

[CRACKERJACK]

The Israeli media is already all over this. The government is under immense pressure. I don’t think there is much more that can be done. Hopefully the election results consolidate control and don’t make it even more fractured

Can we Americans get the American govt or DOT to add some more pressure maybe that will knock some sense into them?

[tavster]

Dov Lipman is not at all reliable on these matters, despite his authoritative tone. He often misunderstands explicit rules & procedures.

Humanitarian is YMMV

+100
For what it's worth I have two friends who submitted requests for their kids using reasons definitely not humanitarians, and we're both approved within hours of submitting the requests

[PlatinumGuy]

Can we Americans get the American govt or DOT to add some more pressure maybe that will knock some sense into them?

Not going to matter. The politicians are fighting for their survival, nothing America will do will have an impact.

[flyingace]

Not going to matter. The politicians are fighting for their survival, nothing America will do will have an impact.

Not sure what politics it is to prevent people with tickets from leaving the country.

[PlatinumGuy]

Not sure what politics it is to prevent people with tickets from leaving the country.

The flights inevitably carry out Israelis who inevitably come back, test positive and give the media an excuse to cry bloody murder about ‘The Ben Gurion Failure’.

[aisrael]

anyone have 2 seats on any flights from tlv to nyc this week

[PlatinumGuy]

OT, but this is a great visualization of the Israeli leadership approach to rules

https://twitter.com/tzvi_meir_/status/1368629128962916365

[aisrael]

anyone have 2 seats from tlv to nyc this week?

[ExGingi]

Thank you. Still trying to figure out what we are doing. My wife's grandmother is in hospice and we would love to get there before or at least for a funeral. As of now, we are on a United flight next week. Working on getting documentation and starting the process with vaad hacharigah. Hoping that there is a little less backlog now that it's only for non-green passports

Yup. They should have cleared much of the backlog. I just got notices about my applications (submitted at various times in the past 2 weeks) to enter (and/or leave) the country... that they are all being canceled, with many no-longer requiring any special permission.

[yelped]

OT, but this is a great visualization of the Israeli leadership approach to rules

https://twitter.com/tzvi_meir_/status/1368629128962916365

What was really happening in that picture?

[bb_sam]

Trying to find out what's actually happening (on the ground) for Israelis that arrive in Israel with a US (CDC) vaccination record?

The Ministry website says you still have to go into quarantine until you have an Israeli serology test, then you have to email the serology result and your proof of vaccination to the Ministry and wait for a text to let you out of quarantine.  This seems like a 24-48 hour process (at least??).  I can get a Roche serology test in America (ie the one the Israelis are using) and bring that with me..... and I'd be happy to do another one at the Israeli lab but not quarantine while waiting.

I realize we are on day 1 of the airport re-opening but if anyone has any experience on this - please PM or post your experience. 

I'm assuming that check2fly.co.il isn't doing serology testing at the airport?  Only PCR Covid tests, right?

[Ergel]

Yup. They should have cleared much of the backlog. I just got notices about my applications (submitted at various times in the past 2 weeks) to enter (and/or leave) the country... that they are all being canceled, with many no-longer requiring any special permission.

My application is in. Something tells me that after this post, the backlog will start to grow again

+100
For what it's worth I have two friends who submitted requests for their kids using reasons definitely not humanitarians, and we're both approved within hours of submitting the requests

[Ergel]

+100
For what it's worth I have two friends who submitted requests for their kids using reasons definitely not humanitarians, and we're both approved within hours of submitting the requests

What reasons did they give?

[tavster]

What reasons did they give?

MP 

[ExGingi]

Trying to find out what's actually happening (on the ground) for Israelis that arrive in Israel with a US (CDC) vaccination record?

The Ministry website says you still have to go into quarantine until you have an Israeli serology test, then you have to email the serology result and your proof of vaccination to the Ministry and wait for a text to let you out of quarantine.  This seems like a 24-48 hour process (at least??).  I can get a Roche serology test in America (ie the one the Israelis are using) and bring that with me..... and I'd be happy to do another one at the Israeli lab but not quarantine while waiting.

I realize we are on day 1 of the airport re-opening but if anyone has any experience on this - please PM or post your experience. 

I'm assuming that check2fly.co.il isn't doing serology testing at the airport?  Only PCR Covid tests, right?

My advice:

Schedule your test in advance at Shamir Medical Center, so you can take it shortly after arrival (depending on time of arrival you might need to do it the next day). You will have to quarantine upon arrival, but are allowed to exit quaranting for testing. IME while they say results in 24-48 hours it is more like 6 hours for a test taken around 10am (can't tell you what happens at other times) and at ILS 150 it is the cheapest place around.

If you are heading to JLM, you might want to do it at Hadassah. I don't know if it needs to be scheduled, but I believe it is ILS 350 and someone told me he got results in 5 hours.

Once you get the results you need to submit an online quarantine exit request. IME they respond several hours later. If your quarantine isn't supervised, just make sure you don't get stopped by law enforcement and you should be OK even before getting the official cancellation of quarantine.

[Ergel]

Just called to get PCR tests from Meuchedet and was denied. Will try in person tomorrow

[CRACKERJACK]

Just called to get PCR tests from Meuchedet and was denied. Will try in person tomorrow

Did you say you were around someone with symptoms?