An anonymous donor is covering travel costs for IDF reservists returning to Israel.
An orthodox Jewish man reportedly stood by the counter of El Al Airlines at JFK airport on Monday and paid for anyone’s flight who presented him with an IDF call-up notice. He paid for 250 tickets, according to Avi Meyer, the Editor-in-Chief of the Jerusalem Post, who was the first to tweet about the encounter.
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I just read an account by an El Al crew member.
An Orthodox Jewish man who preferred to remain anonymous stood quietly near the El Al counter at New York’s JFK Airport yesterday.
Anyone who showed him an IDF call-up notice got his ticket paid for.
He paid for 250 tickets.
— Avi Mayer אבי מאיר (@AviMayer) October 10, 2023
The news comes after 300,000 military reservists were called to join the war following Hamas’ attack on Israel last weekend.
The draft is the largest-ever for Israel and includes people under 40 who were previously enlisted and retired, per Fox Business.
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Most U.S. airlines, including American, Delta, and United Airlines, have suspended flights to Israel, but El Al and other Israeli-based airlines have added flights to help reservists return to the country.
Several Israeli business leaders have left their desk jobs to help in the war efforts, including Itamar Friedman, co-founder and CEO of artificial intelligence startup CodiumAI, per The Wall Street Journal, and Shmuel Chafets, co-founder and chairman of the venture capital firm Target Global, per Bloomberg.