War of will: youth groups reinstate Israel trips

Many young South Africans head for Israel during the July holidays, especially on organised youth or religious trips. This year, however, there was a lot of confusion about the status of these trips, with the skies around Israel closing due to the Iran-Israel war from 13 to 24 June.

It was a situation of guessing whether it was on again or off again, until final decisions were made. And parents and youth organisations’ security concerns came into play.

During Israel’s strike against Iran, dubbed Operation Rising Lion, many youth trips were cancelled when there were no flights in or out of Israel, but since the skies have reopened, there’s the chance to rethink later trips that hadn’t yet been cancelled.

Do organisations take the risk and go to Israel for their planned trips, or cancel with so much uncertainty in the air? It has been a rollercoaster journey for all involved. Many organisations tried to delay cancelling as they hoped things would change in Israel. The strategy worked for Bnei Akiva, as its last-minute decision to keep its annual Hadracha trip going has made its channichim happy.

Dina Diamond, a mother of two, both going to Israel on Bnei Akiva’s Hadracha programme, said, “I think it’s safer now than it was before the 12-day war with Iran.”

Diamond said that before making her decision about her children’s trip she did what she does best – research. “I phoned all of my friends in Israel and asked them what they thought,” she said. She got a positive response overall, with people saying that life had gone back to normal and suggesting that she come for a holiday as well. “Now, not only are my two kids going to Israel on Hadracha, I’m going for a holiday,” Diamond said.

Joshua Pimstein, Bnei Akiva national chairperson for 2025 said, “We are incredibly excited to be running Hadracha this year for Grades 10 and 11. Running Hadracha has been a challenge due to the recent war with Iran. After deliberating over the programme throughout the period of the war, we took the decision to proceed as a consequence of the ceasefire announced on 24 June, which has thankfully held.

“We’re excited to be taking more than 300 participants split between madrichim and channichim to Israel this July for an unforgettable, meaningful, educational, and enjoyable life-changing experience,” Pimstein said.

The Diller Teen Fellowship, an organisation of Jewish youth leaders, had to cancel its trip, which led to some of its Grade 11s applying for Bnei Akiva’s Hadracha programme at the last minute.

Said Dani Sack, Diller programme co-ordinator for Johannesburg, “The decision to cancel Diller’s Israel Summer Seminar [ISS] isn’t a local one. Diller is a global organisation, with 32 cohorts around the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and Israel. The ISS is meant to be a global seminar spanning two weeks, with more than 700 participants.

“When the war with Iran began, many Israeli Diller staff members were called up for reserve duty, and many others, as well as Israeli Teen Fellows – participants in the programme – were directly impacted by the destruction caused by ballistic missiles,” Sack said.

“It soon became clear that running a programme on such a large scale was going to be impossible with so many Diller members affected, and Diller International made the difficult decision to cancel the Israel trip. As a result, cohorts around the world, including Johannesburg and Cape Town, are running local programming centred on Israel education, Jewish identity, and leadership development.”

One of Diamond’s daughters was set to go on Diller, but being a committed Bnei Akiva member, she was able to join Hadracha when the former was cancelled. Said Diamond, “For Diller, the complexities were a bit more involved because it was an international programme and it was co-ordinating multiple countries, whereas Hadracha is South African-based and it can manage it.”

However, “I was devastated for my daughter when Diller got cancelled,” she said. “It all worked out though, because she was meant to go on Hadracha last year, which was cancelled because of the war, so they did Hadracha for the Grade 10s and 11s this year instead.” Diamond’s daughter would have missed that completely because she was scheduled to go on Diller. Now, she has the opportunity to go on Hadracha.

Not all parents are feeling so content about their children’s safety in Israel. One father who had two children scheduled to go to Israel on Hadracha and Ohrsom respectively, told the SA Jewish Report, “As long as Iran and/or its proxies are still firing missiles indiscriminately into Israel, we won’t let them go. We, the parents, wouldn’t travel to Israel in the current situation, and we would therefore certainly not allow our kids to do anything we wouldn’t do.” This family has decided to take a family trip elsewhere.

Feelings are mixed in the community. For some, the thought of sending their kids into a literal war zone seems absurd, others believe their children will always be safe in Israel.

Ohrsom Student also cancelled its Israel trip, taking participants to the Kruger National Park instead.

Birthright cancelled some of its trips, but not the ones scheduled for later in July. The organisation put out a message on 26 June, saying, “Following the recent ceasefire in Israel, we are closely evaluating the situation and preparing to resume trips. At this time, all trips scheduled to depart through 10 July have been cancelled. We’ll continue to provide timely updates as the situation evolves.”

Birthright has put in extra precautions in place to make sure that the trips are as safe as possible. Having had a tour in Israel during the 12-Day War, it has first-hand knowledge about what it is getting itself into, making its decision to continue with its trips more accurate.

All the organisations that have gone ahead with their tours have built extra precautions into their itinerary. Extra security measures are in place, including curfews and trained security personnel. All madrichim are going through training for possible scenarios, which helps ease the anxiety for all involved. Birthright and Bnei Akiva have made it clear that they will analyse plans each day to see if the activities are still safe and accessible for participants.

A Birthright madrich, who is scheduled to leave in mid-July told the SA Jewish Report, “I was worried about the trip being cancelled because taking teenagers to Israel now is the best time!” He made it clear he wasn’t worried about going, insisting that “Israel is still the safest country to be in. No-one should be nervous to go to Israel. At any time.”

The madrich believes that even after everything that has happened, “Jewish people need to show the world that we aren’t afraid. Continuing these trips shows the world exactly that, and Israel needs our support now more than ever.”