Birthright restarting trips from US to Israel, but UK participants must wait

Birthright will resume trips from American to Israel – but participants from the UK will still have to wait until it’s “declared safe for group travel.”

The organisation, which flies young Jews to Israel for a free 10-day visit, issued a statement this week saying it “will resume providing the gift of educational trips to Israel for eligible individuals aged 18-to-32 from the United States who are vaccinated or recovered.”

Participants will be required to test for coronavirus before boarding and upon arrival.

Birthright applications from the UK are open to those between 19-32,  meaning the majority would not have been vaccinated.

The UK has vaccinated more than 47 million people and Israel has given a jab to 60 percent of its population, making them two of the most vaccinated countries. In the UK the age for vaccine eligibility is now at 42. Israel announced that vaccinated tourists could visit from 23 May.

In a statement from UJIA, which runs trips from the UK, it said they will “resume once it is declared safe for group travel between the UK and Israel, when all participants can be vaccinated and when there is an agreed travel plan between both countries.”

The Birthright trips running from the US stipulate that they are eligible for participants aged 18-32 who are vaccinated or recovered from Covid.”

In the UK that age group has not yet been vaccinated and there is also currently no system in the UK that assesses whether people are ‘recovered’.”

This comes after Birthright was suspended last year due to the pandemic.

Israel tour, which takes more than 1,000 16-year-olds to Israel after completing their GCSEs was also cancelled for a second year running earlier in the month.