Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai praised the government’s decision Monday to reduce the number of “red” countries from which travel to and from Israel is forbidden without special permission. However, he said the move isn’t enough to prevent “further crises with Jews in the Diaspora cut off from the Jewish nation-state.”
Former MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh, who heads the Nefesh B’Nefesh Institute for Aliyah Policy and Strategy, added Tuesday that better rules were necessary to help Israelis, including immigrant families, whose lives have been upended by “continually changing exceptions” regarding entry permits. She cited “a repetitive accordion-like” pattern of opening and closing that has proved “taxing and unsustainable.”
From Sunday, the Health Ministry is removing Canada, France, South Africa, Hungary, Nigeria, Spain and Portugal from its red list of COVID-19 hot spots.
These countries will then be designated “orange,” or medium-risk: COVID-vaccinated people will be permitted to travel to Israel, and Israelis will be allowed to travel to those countries. Their quarantine upon return will be reduced from 72 hours to 24 hours, or sooner with a negative PCR swab test.
Remaining on the red list, where travel in either direction is barred without special permission from an interministerial committee, are the United States, Britain, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mexico, Switzerland and Turkey.
“I welcome the measures easing the entry restrictions into Israel for foreign nationals from many countries around the world,” Shai said in a statement in English, calling the move an “important step in reconnecting Jews around the world to the Jewish state.”
He also called for a “comprehensive policy framework for the entry into Israel of Jews and other foreign nationals from around the world during this pandemic era so that in the future regulations for entering the country are uniform, made in a transparent manner, and implemented in a consistent fashion, even during times of crisis such as the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant.”
Cotler-Wunsh said she was drawing up a paper on the issue. “Holistic, transparent policy must be formed to allow Israeli civilians, immigrants and other foreign nationals from any country who live in Israel or are long-term residents here to reunite with loved ones, on condition that they are vaccinated and comply with quarantine policy and Health Ministry instructions,” she said.
“While I am breathing a sigh of relief for the people who intended to come next week, that's a temporary solution,” added Cotler-Wunsh, who is one of the candidates to become the next head of the Jewish Agency.
Not only families were suffering, she said, but government clerks who cannot handle the thousands of requests for exceptions whenever the country shuts its doors to prevent the entrance of a new variant of the coronavirus.
“It was fine to have a model of emergency exceptions in the first wave, but two years in, you can’t keep putting everyone through this process,” Cotler-Wunsh said. For example, first-degree family members of Israeli citizens should be allowed to enter if they are fully vaccinated and willing to abide by quarantine requirements.
“There shouldn’t be a need to prove an emergency or a special event for a mother to see her child,” she said, adding that patchwork measures had led to heartbreaking situations.
“For example, funerals are among the exceptions. So are we saying that a son can’t travel to hold his mother’s hand while she’s dying but is allowed to come after she’s dead?” Cotler-Wunsh asked. “Exceptions can’t be a long-term policy.”
William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, joined the call for clearer, more permanent regulations.
“We continue to insist that the government of Israel, during this time of tragedy and uncertainty, craft entry policies that are transparent, consistent and holistic – and should do so with a good dose of empathy and compassion for their Jewish brothers and sisters across the globe,” Daroff said.
He expressed “optimism that our advocacy on behalf of Diaspora Jews seeking to enter Israel is having impact and resonance with Israeli policymakers.”
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Israeli minister warns of more crises with Diaspora Jews over COVID entry rules - Haaretz
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