Minister of Transport Miri Regev is holding a briefing about flights to rescue over 100,000 Israelis stranded abroad following the closure of Israeli airspace.
She says, “I understand the distress, but we are on the fourth day of a difficult war and a heavy price that the home front is paying, and we will not take a risk and God forbid there will be an incident on the ground, where we will have to explain how we allowed a plane to land on the ground with more than 300 dead. Therefore, we will do it in a phased, planned and coordinated manner with the Ministry of Defense and civil aviation professionals,” she said.
“We said it would take time and that it wouldn’t happen overnight, but we have given the okay, and in fact we are starting with a ‘safe return’ operation by the Ministry of Transportation together with the relevant authorities to bring Israelis home,” adds Regev.
Regev insisted, “We will not allow Israelis to fly abroad at this stage. Those who are currently leaving for abroad are those who have come to visit the country – diplomats, tourists, etc.”
She recounts, “The first phase has been implemented, and the plan was that as soon as there was an alert at 3 am (Friday morning), we would fly the entire fleet of planes out of Ben Gurion Airport. It was the right decision – otherwise we would have had nothing to bring Israelis back to Israel.
“Now, the second phase of the ‘Safe Return’ operation is being implemented. This means that after coordination with the IDF and risk management, which we will present later, we are preparing to return citizens home starting today. The departure is to those hotspots where we knew there were Israelis: Thailand, Larnaca, Athens, Italy and the US, and from there the first returnees will come.”
Regev explains “The Defense Ministry is rescuing Israelis in the security forces who need to be returned home, and we don’t get into that. The return of civilians home is done by the Ministry of Transport in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense. At this stage, the Defense Ministry’s response was understandable – there is a great burden on the IDF and the Air Force, and therefore IDF planes will not return civilians, but the Israeli aircraft fleet and through foreign companies that will be prepared to take part. We will establish a dedicated body that will consist of representatives from the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Home Front Command and the National Emergency Authority, with a hotline that will be announced to the public soon. This organization will actually know how to prioritize emergency cases of those citizens who need to return, and for whom the airlines do not know how to respond, and therefore the National Emergency Authority is also part of the team.”
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Regev notes, “In addition to the airs, we are working to provide a solution via the sea. In the maritime space, we have exempted Mano Shipping from Home Command orders I am glad that the company contacted us. We talked at length and agreed that shipping from Mano will help us return Israelis from Cyprus to Israel and will help ship out those who do not need to be here, such as tourists and teenagers from Birthright, whom we will take abroad.
Regev says, “I tell citizens: There is nothing to worry about. You are abroad, enjoy yourself. I know it is not easy, and I raised the issue of compensation in the last cabinet. We will sit down with the Minister of Finance and see how we can deal with this issue. I ask people to be patient.
“Despite the challenges of the war, we have kept the skies open, even though many foreign companies have left here and resumed flying. Just two weeks ago we brought back Wizz Air and Lufthansa. It is a huge challenge to operate civil aviation during a war. We will do everything to bring you back to Israel, and with God’s help we will bring everyone back to Israel, but it will take time.”
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 16, 2025.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.
