Is the failure of the Israeli airport COVID-19 about to end?

May Prime Minister Naftali Bennett end COVID-19 failure at Ben-Gurion airport, which has left Israelis trapped abroad and prevented foreigners from entering Israel even for weddings, bar mitzvah, births and deaths?

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health made two announcements in the Knesset marking what appears to be a policy change.

First, the director general of the Ministry of Health, Professor Nachman Ash, confirmed that foreigners could leave quarantine under the same conditions as Israelis if they perform a serological test to confirm the presence of sufficient antibodies and call the direct telephone number of the ministry.

At the time, Ilana Gans, a senior official at the Ministry of Health, explained that Israel was working on an agreement with the European Union and some other countries that would facilitate the registration of Israeli vaccinations abroad by simply scanning a QR code. It would also allow Israel to easily confirm the inoculation of citizens who were abroad. This program would alleviate the need for validation through a serological test.

Although an announcement is not final, a ministry source said this would also apply to vaccinated foreigners abroad.

The government’s failure to effectively manage Ben-Gurion Airport over the past 18 months has played a major role in exacerbating the coronavirus crisis that ultimately caused many of the more than 7,400 deaths. for COVID-19. It also destroyed Israel’s tourism industry, which in 2019 accounted for 5.9% of the country’s GDP.

While other countries with similar physical attributes to Israel implemented controls that allowed them to travel abroad safely, the previous Israeli government ignored repeated recommendations to establish effective policies.

The failure began almost at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, when former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waited five days to close Israel’s borders to American travelers, causing more than 70% of coronavirus infections during the first wave.

In mid-March, Netanyahu bravely prevented all foreigners from entering the country, allowing only non-Israeli citizens to demonstrate their ability to isolate themselves in accordance with Health Ministry directives at the time. Israel, a policy that continually hardened.

For more than a year, with rare exceptions, they could only visit diplomats, people with special connections, and those with funds to operate private jets.

Only in April 2021 did Israel begin granting entry permits to first-degree relatives vaccinated from people living in Israel. But even then, the entry process was complicated and complicated and many struggled to get permission to come.

Tour guides and operators celebrated in June 2021 when the government announced that Israel would open up to small groups of vaccinated tourists. The pilot program was to be expanded in July to allow vaccination of individual tourists, but was withdrawn continuously (first on August 1, then indefinitely) and there is still no plan to allow tourists individuals return to the country.

In addition, the group visits were short-lived, as as the infection increased, the government labeled most of the world as “red” or “orange,” effectively banning incoming travel from most countries. or requiring people to isolate for a minimum of seven days after entry.

The almost empty Ben Gurion International Airport departure lounge near Tel Aviv on January 25, 2021. (Credit: YOSSI ALONI / FLASH90)

Earlier this month, Israel redefined the term “fully vaccinated” based on research showing that Pfizer vaccines decreased about five months after inoculation, but that a third shot provides a new dose of antibodies. At the same time, officials agreed to relaunch small group tourism.

As of Sept. 19, people traveling in a group of five or more, arriving and leaving together and fully vaccinated, can enter the country according to the same rules as Israelis. In general, this means that they should be vaccinated completely with two or three doses completed in the last five months with vaccines approved by the US or the European Union (Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca or Johnson and Johnson). They must take a PCR test within 72 hours of arrival and back at the airport. If everything is aligned, these travelers can leave the isolation as soon as they receive a negative result or within 24 hours, whichever comes first.

Of course, tourists from “red” countries are not yet allowed to enter. And there are still no plans to reopen individual tourists who are not first-degree relatives of Israelis or who do not receive special permission to enter the country.

The Israelis have also fought.

The previous administration wanted and wanted to label countries red, sometimes even the night before a change came into force. Israelis were forced to cancel trips or get trapped abroad or isolated if it is now considered that the country they were traveling to or coming from was too infected with coronavirus.

And there was also a period of almost two months between the end of January and March that the airport was closed and only special humanitarian or other travel permits were granted.

Even this government, while always warning travelers a week in advance, called red some of the countries where Israelis travel the most, such as the United Kingdom, banning the visit of family and friends.

Israel is a melting pot of immigrants from all over the world, so stopping travel has meant lost births, bar mitzvahs, weddings and funerals.

Commercial offers were canceled. Tour guides at best may change careers. Others, at worst, committed suicide, unable to support their families through the pandemic.

THE ANNOUNCEMENTS made on Tuesday in the Knesset are small preliminary steps. But they show that the new administration is thinking strategically about the airport.

They show that Bennett strives to align his words with his actions.

Bennett, when sitting in opposition, condemned Netanyahu for shutting down Israel when he should have learned to try, track down, and isolate better. As prime minister, he strives to learn to live with the virus.

Therefore, he also believes that Israel does not need to stop all travel in the country if it manages the airport properly. And as it implements policies to do so, it is opening up Israel more and more.

Of course, there are concerns.

First, Israel still lives around 10,000 new cases daily. The reproduction rate fluctuates as schools resume and families celebrate the holidays, praying and eating together.

In addition, most countries around the world have not even inoculated their health workers and the most vulnerable populations, let alone the rest of their citizens. This means that the pandemic will not only prolong, but there is a greater risk that new variants will appear, possibly variants even more resistant to the vaccine than the Delta variant.

Finally, Israel has not yet managed to effectively isolate people returning from abroad. About a million unvaccinated Israelis, as well as millions of others who were vaccinated more than six months ago and have not received a third shot, are more vulnerable to infection. With Israeli police only controlling 6,000 isolated people a day, huge percentages of travelers are likely to continue to break isolation and put all Israelis at risk.

However, many believe that now is the time to rethink Israel’s tourism and travel strategy.

Israel is a small country. He needs the rest of the world for business and pleasure. Israel relies on tourism as a means of economic development, but also for connection and continuity.

It seems that the government is heading towards developing a way to return to Ben-Gurion’s life. When it does, Israel will really live next to the coronavirus.