Yad L'Olim, the NGO founded by former MK Dov Lipman that has been guiding and assisting travelers to and from Israel during the corona crisis, has officially called for Israel to allow the masses from around the world to enter Israel.
In a letter penned to Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, Chairman of the Knesset Law and Constitution Committee MK Gilad Kariv, and Population and Immigration Authority Director General Tomer Moskowitz, Lipman and Asher Altshul (the NGO's Director of Government Relations pressed the government to establish new policies now for when the current fifth wave ends in Israel.
Lipman wrote in the letter: "The Health Ministry has said that in about two weeks time the omicron variant will reach its peak in Israel and then the numbers will go down."
"We are being bombarded with messages from people worldwide who cannot enter Israel for a number of reasons - their vaccine is more than 180 days old, children who cannot be vaccinated, people who contracted the virus, and more."
"Take that last one - people who had the virus. They have antibodies! It is ridiculous that Israel won't allow them to enter. After two years of essentially closed borders with those who could enter having to go through bureaucratic hoops and trips filled with anxiety and tension, it's time to get back to some level of normal."
Yad L'Olim emphasized in a statement that it "respects the concern for public health and accepts that there should be testing for those who travel and quarantine for those who test positive."
"But beyond that," Israel should "plan to open the borders in a few weeks time and to let people know this now so they can plan properly."
The letter also references the damage that has been done to Israel's relationship with local Jewry and supporters of Israel worldwide during the pandemic.
And, in Lipman's words, "the time has come to begin healing those wounds. Millions have contracted corona in Israel and around the world during this last wave and everyone now wants to begin to come to Israel again and to love coming to Israel again."