American families in Israel, some with Long Island ties, struggle to get flights back to the U.S.
Passengers wait at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Oct. 7 as flights are canceled because of the Hamas attack.
Credit: AFP via Getty Images/Gil Cohen-Magen
As the U.S. State Department began offering charter flights to get Americans out of Israel on Friday, one former Long Islander detailed to Newsday his weeklong struggle to extract his family from the war-torn nation and back to New York.
Peter Rosenfeld, 76, who was born and raised in Floral Park, traveled to Ramat Shlomo, a suburb of Jerusalem, last month with seven family members where he was reunited with his son, daughter-in-law and their 12 children, who live in Israel, to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
But after Hamas launched its surprise attack last weekend on Israeli citizens and military, the Rosenfeld family has been unable to return home, with flights out of Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel’s lone international airport, repeatedly canceled.
"We had flights on United and Lufthansa. We keep renewing them, and they keep canceling them," Rosenfeld, who now lives in Albany, said by phone Friday. "There are no flights to North America, with the exception of El Al," the national Israeli airline.
The family, which has been hunkered down this week as rockets continue to fly overhead and supplies on grocery shelves slowly thin out, was eventually able to secure a flight on El Al to Newark Liberty International Airport that is scheduled to depart on Oct. 16 — seven days after their original flight.
Most major airlines, including United, American and Delta, have canceled all service out of Israel.
The airline said it's seen unprecedented demand and has even added, for the first time in more than 40 years, two Saturday flights this week on the Jewish Sabbath to get military reservists home to Israel.
"Our primary goal is to bring tens of thousands of Israelis safely back to their families and to vital positions that support the ongoing campaign," the company said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, earlier this week. "Simultaneously, we are committed to facilitating the safe departure of those who wish to leave the country."
Meanwhile, the State Department on Friday began providing charter flights to Americans and their families to Athens, Greece or Frankfurt, Germany and by sea from the city of Haifa on the Mediterranean coast, to Cyprus.
Once Americans arrive in Europe, officials said, they will be able to book travel back to the United States through other carriers. But Americans will not be able to choose where they go and will be assigned to the next available ride out, officials said. They will also have to reimburse the government for the cost of the trip.
"We know there is a demand out there," White House spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday. "And we’re going to try the best we can to meet it.
Other private organizations are also working to get Americans out of danger in Israel.
Project DYNAMO, an international rescue organization, said Friday that it is preparing to mobilize assets in the region to potentially evacuate Americans from the region.
“We are aggressively monitoring this grave situation, collecting intelligence, and receiving requests for assistance," said Bryan Stern, founder and chief executive of veteran-led organization. "We are likely forward deploying an American operations team very shortly to supplement our assets already operating the ground."
Rosenfeld, meanwhile, concedes it will be difficult leaving his son and his family behind in Israel next week.
"It will take the Israeli people a very long time to get over the traumatic events that occurred on Saturday," he said.
"While Israelis are accustomed to tragedy and terror, both the scale and the brutality of the events that happened here are simply on a different scale," Rosenfeld said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is scheduled to travel to Israel in the coming days as part of a congressional delegation, said he has asked all of the major airlines to resume direct flights in and out of Israel.
"More has to be done," Schumer said in an interview Friday.
Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the country, added that he has been in touch with the parents of Plainview native and Omer Neutra, who serves in the Israeli military and is missing and believed to have been abducted by Hamas.
"I told them that I would do everything I could in Israel to get him freed," he said.
"Tell the Israelis; tell the Americans and ask them to really give him some special focus."
As the U.S. State Department began offering charter flights to get Americans out of Israel on Friday, one former Long Islander detailed to Newsday his weeklong struggle to extract his family from the war-torn nation and back to New York.
Peter Rosenfeld, 76, who was born and raised in Floral Park, traveled to Ramat Shlomo, a suburb of Jerusalem, last month with seven family members where he was reunited with his son, daughter-in-law and their 12 children, who live in Israel, to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
But after Hamas launched its surprise attack last weekend on Israeli citizens and military, the Rosenfeld family has been unable to return home, with flights out of Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel’s lone international airport, repeatedly canceled.
"We had flights on United and Lufthansa. We keep renewing them, and they keep canceling them," Rosenfeld, who now lives in Albany, said by phone Friday. "There are no flights to North America, with the exception of El Al," the national Israeli airline.
The family, which has been hunkered down this week as rockets continue to fly overhead and supplies on grocery shelves slowly thin out, was eventually able to secure a flight on El Al to Newark Liberty International Airport that is scheduled to depart on Oct. 16 — seven days after their original flight.
Most major airlines, including United, American and Delta, have canceled all service out of Israel.
The airline said it's seen unprecedented demand and has even added, for the first time in more than 40 years, two Saturday flights this week on the Jewish Sabbath to get military reservists home to Israel.
"Our primary goal is to bring tens of thousands of Israelis safely back to their families and to vital positions that support the ongoing campaign," the company said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, earlier this week. "Simultaneously, we are committed to facilitating the safe departure of those who wish to leave the country."
Meanwhile, the State Department on Friday began providing charter flights to Americans and their families to Athens, Greece or Frankfurt, Germany and by sea from the city of Haifa on the Mediterranean coast, to Cyprus.
Once Americans arrive in Europe, officials said, they will be able to book travel back to the United States through other carriers. But Americans will not be able to choose where they go and will be assigned to the next available ride out, officials said. They will also have to reimburse the government for the cost of the trip.
"We know there is a demand out there," White House spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday. "And we’re going to try the best we can to meet it.
Other private organizations are also working to get Americans out of danger in Israel.
Project DYNAMO, an international rescue organization, said Friday that it is preparing to mobilize assets in the region to potentially evacuate Americans from the region.
“We are aggressively monitoring this grave situation, collecting intelligence, and receiving requests for assistance," said Bryan Stern, founder and chief executive of veteran-led organization. "We are likely forward deploying an American operations team very shortly to supplement our assets already operating the ground."
Rosenfeld, meanwhile, concedes it will be difficult leaving his son and his family behind in Israel next week.
"It will take the Israeli people a very long time to get over the traumatic events that occurred on Saturday," he said.
"While Israelis are accustomed to tragedy and terror, both the scale and the brutality of the events that happened here are simply on a different scale," Rosenfeld said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is scheduled to travel to Israel in the coming days as part of a congressional delegation, said he has asked all of the major airlines to resume direct flights in and out of Israel.
"More has to be done," Schumer said in an interview Friday.
Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the country, added that he has been in touch with the parents of Plainview native and Omer Neutra, who serves in the Israeli military and is missing and believed to have been abducted by Hamas.
"I told them that I would do everything I could in Israel to get him freed," he said.
"Tell the Israelis; tell the Americans and ask them to really give him some special focus."
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
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