As the world was waking up on Friday, November 8, there was already extremely troubling news: Thousands of Israelis who had traveled to Amsterdam to watch a football match were targeted and attacked on the streets, simply because of their nationality. With a modern-day pogrom ensuing, the government of Israel—and its national airline, El Al—needed to make a rescue plan. Ultimately, El Al received a green light to send six rescue flights to Amsterdam, and was able to retrieve over 2,000 Israelis and bring them to safety.
“We had received information from Israeli intelligence that the situation in Amsterdam was very bad,” explained Michal Gerstler, director of media and communications for El Al. Gerstler, who is based in Tel Aviv at the El Al headquarters, recalled waking up at 5 a.m. and springing into action. “We spoke with the prime minister’s office, the ministries of defense and transportation … and what we concluded was that this was an urgent situation.”
In a statement released by El Al, CEO Dina Ben Tal Ganancia shared that El Al was “proud to cooperate” in this rescue mission, as well as “ serve as a steadfast pillar in rescuing and providing medical services to Israelis in Amsterdam. It is both our privilege and our duty.” Chairman of the Board Amikam Ben Zvi added that El Al would focus on doing everything in its power to “maintain connectivity between Israel and the world.”
Gerstler told The Jewish Link that as soon as El Al announced its first flight out of Amsterdam, its call center quickly became flooded with calls from people trying to secure a seat on the plane. “We immediately understood that one flight would not be enough, and we ended up sending four planes on Friday and two more planes on Saturday, in addition to the two regular flights that were already scheduled. And of course, all the tickets were free.”
El Al spent millions of shekels on Friday’s rescue mission, which Gerstler explained was a given. “We just wanted to help Israelis get back home after such a traumatic experience.” Gerstler added that El Al teamed up with Magen David Adom to send paramedics to Amsterdam in order to treat those who had been brutally attacked. “It was like we were all on one big mission to bring all our brothers and sisters back safe and healthy.”
While El Al’s final tally for Israelis rescued from Amsterdam was approximately 2,000, El Al fielded tens of thousands of calls—from family members, friends and concerned supporters abroad, making sure that each and every Israeli was able to return home. In order to maximize their flights, El Al sent its Boeing 777 and 787 planes.
“We believe that every Jew who gets on an El Al plane should feel immediately at home, like they’re already in Israel. Even if our plane is on Netherlands soil, the passengers who boarded those rescue flights got to hear Hebrew from the crew and get a sense of comfort … there are videos of the passengers giving hugs to the stewardesses and singing ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ in their seats. It was so emotional for everyone,” shared Gerstler.
As Israel’s national airline, El Al touts itself as shomer Shabbat, but as the events in Amsterdam unfolded it became clear that the rescue flights would need to be operated on Shabbat. Israel’s chief rabbis — understanding the urgency of the situation — gave the directive to send the planes, adding some stipulations such as no entertainment system access and no food being warmed up on the plane. “This was so important to us; it was truly amazing that we were able to do this.”
Channa Fischer is digital editor of The Jewish Link and the resident 20-something in the office. She resides in Washington Heights.
