Israel programs for Diaspora students reopen

April 5, 241 US students swelled JFK’s lounges and counted the hours until El Al Flight LY004 whisked them back to school in Israel — a year after COVID-19 sent them packing. The mission, pulled together in a few fast weeks of planning and interagency cooperation, was aptly named “Operation Zion.” Jewish National Fund-USA and educational host Alexander Muss High School in Israel, a JNF partner since 2013, held a remote, hastily arranged global press conference that day for Jewish leaders, students, parents and the media. Impassioned speeches by JNF CEO Russell Robinson; Ron Werner, president of the school; El Al’s Yoram Elgrabi and others recalled footage of rescued Ethiopian Jewry arriving in Israel during the 1980s. JNF’s Robinson praised the 241 teens for their […]