While the Israelis are unable to return home due to coronavirus restrictions on air travel, hundreds of international athletes are ready to host the international Grand Slam Judo tournament in Tel Aviv.
The tournament to be held next week will host up to 500 athletes from 63 countries who will start arriving on Sunday.
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Ben Gurion Airport closed under government regulations in an effort to prevent COVID-19 changes from entering the country and spreading in the population
(Photo: AP)
The coronavirus cabinet voted on Sunday to allow up to 2,000 people a day to enter the country according to Ministry of Health instructions while many Israelis have been left with no choice but to return home.
Two of these Israelis are business partners Eyal Greenberg and Eli Salpter, who flew to the U.S. in late January after receiving the coronavirus vaccines, and were forced to fly to the UAE after being denied a seat on a rescue trip to Israel from Frankfurt from Germany. Airport.
“Our men came to Germany on flights from the US, then went to Kiev, and from there to Istanbul, but now they have to leave for the one country that is willing to accept them – the United Arab Emirates , “said Meirav, Eyal’s wife. “I am absolutely thrilled and disappointed in my own country,” she said.
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Eyal Greenberg and Eli Salpter
(, businessmen forced to seek shelter in Dubai after failing in emergency seats on a flight out of Germany )
Eli Yael’s wife has also lost: “Our men have not been in their business for almost a year due to coronavirus restrictions. They had to fly now, or their business would have collapsed. My three children and I have been waiting two weeks for the Exceptions Committee of the Ministry of Health to allow them to return on a flight, but there is no one to whom I can speak, without a telephone number. even. “
According to the Ministry of Transport, they are aware of the difficulties, and are working to schedule a rescue trip from Dubai for those Israelis who have been forced to leave Germany for the Emirates.
Alona, who is currently locked up in Ukraine after leaving at the end of January to visit her mother, cannot get permission.
“I flew because my mother’s condition was very bad and she was in hospital,” said Alona. “Now that her condition has improved I want to go back to my children, but not there is no one to speak to and the Exceptions Committee does not respond. to the applications I submitted. I was going to fly to Frankfurt and from there to Israel, but so far the committee hadn’t even admitted it. “
Carla Ben Simhon, whose 94-year-old grandmother Blanche Ben Simhon Cohen died this weekend, remains to see if her French family will be able to attend the funeral, which is expected to be held Monday in Jerusalem.
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Blanche ben simhon cohen
( who died over the weekend while the family waits for permission to arrive for a funeral )
“[My grandma’s] Children from France went to Frankfurt, they have tickets for the Israeli flight, but we have not yet received a response from the Exception Committee since Friday morning, ”said Ben Simhon.
Meanwhile, around 150 athletes from Istanbul are expected to arrive in Israel on Sunday afternoon, with hundreds more expected to arrive on Monday and Tuesday from Istanbul and Paris – to take part in a Grand Slam Judo tournament that will take place in Tel Aviv.
According to the competition organizers, athletes who come to Israel will undergo a coronavirus test in Israel, after which they will stay alone in their hotel room, and only after receiving negative results will they be allowed leave loneliness.