Regulations approved, Jerusalem still under discussion

Among those affected will be dozens of Israelis who purchased plane tickets to Israel from Germany, and the flight took off without them due to the curfew regulation here at night. They could have spent the days of isolation in their home, as this isolation obligation expired on the night between Monday and Tuesday – their original flight date – but now that the isolation obligation in hotels has been renewed until March 2, they will be forced to evacuate to these complexes against their will.

The return of the isolation obligation in hotels was accepted this evening by the Constitution Committee headed by MK Yaakov Asher (Torah Judaism), after earlier this week it approved extending this obligation by only 24 hours in order to “find alternative isolation solutions.”

The isolation obligation expired on the night between Monday and Tuesday, and since then many Israelis who landed at Ben Gurion Airport have returned directly to their homes. Stayed at the boarding gate at Frankfurt Airport.

During the original flight of these passengers, the Constitution Committee abolished the obligation to insulate in hotels for returnees from abroad – which would have allowed them to continue to their home. However, just before taking off for Israel, the hotel outline was approved and will remain in effect until March 2.

Yesterday, as I recall, during the examination of the documents before the Lufthansa LH690 flight to Israel, the plane took off while the passengers were preparing for the flight. The German airline claimed that if they did not take off immediately for Ben Gurion Airport, the flight would be completely canceled as the plane would land here during the curfew at night. It should be noted that at Ben Gurion Airport the night curfew only applies to takeoff planes.

Liav Ben Tolila, one of the passengers who took off for Israel, was furious that due to the airline’s conduct yesterday – he and other passengers would be forced to be taken to isolation hotels. “At least they would have exempted this flight, which was supposed to take off under other conditions,” he said, “We were not told anything there about changing policy, but everyone here at Gate is talking about it.”

Other passengers said that following the 24-hour flight delay, the corona tests they had performed before returning to Israel had expired – but due to the exceptional circumstances they were allowed to board the flight. “How are you going to take everyone to the hotels now?” Another passenger protested, “it doesn’t make sense for them to organize it so quickly from now on. It’s just a disgrace.”

The flight in question arose during the Knesset’s constitutional committee deliberations, but since it was not possible to deviate from the approved regulations, officials in the Ministry of Health said that they would try to make it easier for passengers if they met the criteria for home isolation.

The Israelis could not leave the boarding gate area of ​​Frankfurt, as they arrived from connecting flights from other parts of the world – without a visa to Germany, and they were left without food or drink. With the mutual intervention of Israir CEO Uri Sarkis, the director of the “Elegant Sand” group, Dudi Rubinstein and the “Medicine and Joy” and “The Satisfying” associations, boxes of equipment were loaded onto the plane directly to the passengers.

Meanwhile, 178 Israelis stuck for weeks in Russia will arrive in Israel tomorrow on a special rescue flight by Israir, at the initiative of MK Yoel Rezbozov (Yesh Atid) who said: “I collected them one by one, it was nerve-wracking, until we got all the permits.”

These passengers were granted an exception permit permit to return to Israel, but the existence of the flight was in doubt after it became clear that Israir needed to obtain a special permit for the Russian Civil Aviation Authority – and filled with less than five airlines. According to the renewed isolation obligation, upon arrival they will be evacuated to Home Front Command hotels.

Ministers will tonight approve the restrictions that will apply This coming weekend In order to prevent mass gatherings on Purim – but even before the telephone poll, the updated regulations were sent to them, stating that the guidelines would not apply to localities without a Jewish majority, ie Arabs. “All restrictions related to the holiday of Purim will not apply in localities where most of the residents are not Jews and in the East Jerusalem area,” the document said to the ministers.

Plus, though The traditional celebrations in the capital Every year – the closure will not take place on the night between Sunday and Monday, at the Shushan Purim celebrations.

The Ministry of Transportation, similar to the preparations before entering the third closure, has not yet announced how public transport will operate during the holidays – and passengers who leave for work tomorrow morning will do so without knowing how they will return home. In addition, it appears that the train stations, which have not been operating in the evenings and on weekends for the past 150 days, will close tomorrow at 20:00.

“Worse than making a decision that hurts the traveling public, is not to make a decision until a second before the last minute. Purim is held every year on the exact same dates, so it is not clear why our elected officials waited for the last minute,” revolted Shimrit Notman, executive director of 15 Minutes.