Factor exposed to data from the Exceptions Committee: There is no basis for reporting that 90% of those returning to Israel are ultra-Orthodox

Following the reports that 90% of the recipients of approvals from the Exceptions Committee who return to Israel on rescue flights are ultra-Orthodox, an inspection conducted by “Israel Today” with a senior official who is exposed to data shows that the publication has no grip on reality. According to the source, who is important to emphasize that he is not a government official, only about half of those returning to Israel are ultra-Orthodox.

It is important to note that it is not possible to obtain exact numbers because no passenger is identified in the documents as “ultra-Orthodox” or “secular”, but a senior figure in the tourism industry who is also unrelated to the government, clarified: “Unambiguously – there are many secular passengers on rescue flights to Israel “Including whole families.”

“About half of the passengers who come to Israel from New York during this period are ultra-Orthodox, it is not much different from the numbers we are used to seeing on this line even on weekdays. “90% and not even in a number close to that, it is in the range of about half of the passengers. There are a lot of secular passengers, secular families, unequivocally,” reveals a source in the tourism industry who is exposed to the data.

“The members of the Exceptions Committee have no idea who wants to return to Israel, what he looks like, whether he is ultra-Orthodox, secular or anything else. It is true that they try to put pressure on us from time to time, but it is not a broad phenomenon, it is quite spotty and certainly not thousands. “Once in the ultra-Orthodox sector and it happens in other sectors as well, we are not really affected by it and make decisions solely at professional discretion,” a source in the Exceptions Committee told Israel Today.

In an interview with another source, a senior official in the Israeli aviation industry, he explains, “About 40% of the passengers on the rescue flights are anxious, but this is not for any reason other than the fact that many hold double passports and pre-Corona lives in Israel and New York or London.” .

“There are a lot of butchers, Chabad emissaries, rabbis and other religious officials who are currently flying to Frankfurt or New York, and from there continue on to their work around the world. They live both in Israel and in other countries, which is why the percentage of ultra-Orthodox passengers is greater than their numbers in the population, “adds a senior industry official.

The Exceptions Committee has been headed by four different ministers, and is currently under Transport Minister Miri Regev. The committee consists of representatives from various government ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Absorption, Transportation and other ministries. It has often been claimed that there are “secret flights” that are not advertised, which is not true at all – every flight is advertised by the airlines. Although rescue flights do not appear on the board at Ben Gurion Airport, they are advertised for sale on airline websites, and there are many easy and quick ways to find out which flights land at Ben Gurion Airport every day.

Former Minister of Transportation and Chairman of Religious Zionism, Bezalel Smutrich, responded to the investigation into the failure to enter the country: “This is part of a false and planned campaign against the right and the national camp, which naturally includes the ultra-Orthodox. This campaign is based on demonizing the ultra-Orthodox and on top of that building a claim that the right has surrendered to them. A constant method of the left to conflict between the various populations in Israel and to rake in political capital for this. “