While the sky is closed: Hundreds of foreign athletes will arrive in Israel Israel today

Ben Gurion Airport is not expected to open for commercial flights by the end of the month, but hundreds of foreign athletes have received permission to enter the country • Israelis abroad are angry: "We can not return home for two weeks"

• Ben Gurion Airport will remain closed at least until the last days of February

  Photography: 

  Gideon Markovich

While thousands of Israelis are trying to return to Israel and have difficulty obtaining a permit or finding a way to do so, hundreds of athletes are expected to land in Israel next week as part of an international judo competition that is scheduled to take place in the country.

As you may recall, Ben Gurion Airport is closed to commercial flights at this time until at least February 21.

Even before the airport closes, the athletes who arrive in a few countries around the world will enter Israel with the approval of the authorities.

Currently, about 800 athletes have registered for the judo competition, but it is estimated that only about half of them will come to Israel.

They are supposed to arrive in wide-body planes from two destinations in Europe, move immediately to a hotel in Tel Aviv and only go out to compete.

The athletes are scheduled to be in Israel for the entire next weekend.

The athletes who are expected to enter the country are not expected to come into contact with Israelis, they are supposed to be supervised in the hotels, move to competitions and from there back to the hotels.

However, thousands of Israelis stranded abroad are expected to return to Israel for supervised isolation in hotels, a situation similar and even safer than that of athletes.

In conversations with Israelis stuck in Dubai, they are furious at the decision, "How can it be that non-Israeli athletes are brought into Israel for competition, but we can not return home for two weeks? It is very annoying."

We tried to check with the Ministry of Health how approval was given to a delegation of foreign athletes while thousands of Israelis were stuck abroad and the sky in the country was closed, but the Ministry of Health did not respond to the questions we addressed to them.