When Israel began its strikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets on June 13, Talia Reidler, the New Jersey-based CEO of the Kol HaNearim summer program in Israel, promised that she wouldn’t allow the war to interfere with the camp for the 420 participants who had signed up.

“We bring kids to volunteer at orphanages and children’s homes across Israel, and dozens of homes are counting on our programming and the donations we’ve raised. So I said, unless they cancel our flight, there’s no way we’re not going,” Reidler recalled, adding that several of the homes are run by the religious Zionist women’s organization Emunah. “And then, a week before we were scheduled to fly, El Al canceled all flights.”

Heartbroken, Reidler told participants’ families that the program would be canceled. When the war ended 12 days later, Reidler was hopeful the program could be salvaged — but found that about half of the participants had already made other plans. Meanwhile, a sudden spike in air travel demand made it seem unlikely the program would be able to secure tickets in any case.

It’s a story that has become common for Israel trip organizers this summer.

Israel’s 12-day Operation Rising Lion against Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs wreaked havoc on summer plans for untold numbers of travelers, including thousands of youth registered for educational programs in Israel.

As many as half of all participants in such programs may have postponed or canceled their visits, tourism professionals have estimated.

But unlike many others, the Kol HaNearim program managed to overcome the complications caused by the conflict, thanks to Reidler’s perseverance.

“I wrote an email about the importance of our program and sent it to everyone I knew, asking for help,” Reidler said.

Through a series of connections with El Al Airlines arranged by campers’ parents, including a personal meeting with vice chairman Darryl Hagler at a synagogue dinner in Englewood, New Jersey, the camp was eventually able to book 200 participants on a flight and start the program on June 29, just a few days after the original start date.

“El Al understood how important our program is, and they bent over backwards to help us,” Reidler said. “They were simply amazing.”

El Al director of international affairs Stanley Morais confirmed the story, saying that [Reidler] “did everything possible to find a way to get those kids on an El Al flight, and we were able to make it happen.”

At the beginning of 2025, it looked like summer programs in Israel would see a marked recovery after the bloody Hamas-led invasion of October 7, 2023, and subsequent war in Gaza had battered the local tourism industry.

Israel trip organizers were previously expecting 60,000 participants in 2025, after only 35,000 came between the October 7 atrocities and the end of 2024, said Anna Langer, executive director of the Israel Educational Travel Alliance (IETA), which represents 140 such programs.

After the Iran war, however, only 30,000 are expected to come this year, including 25,000 scheduled to arrive........

© The Times of Israel