"I've been on my way for 48 hours just to see the kids, I have to be home already," says Susie as the Israir plane takes off from Larnaca airport. In the Cypriot city, only Hebrew has been spoken in the past week. Together with Athens, it became the main 'father' of Israelis. People come here from all corners of the world: "New York, London, Cyprus," Gustav explains to us, who together with eight couples went on a month-long dream trip to the United States and the way back turned into one big adventure.
The Cypriots do not yet fully understand the magnitude of the matter, as far as they are concerned, this is another small military operation, but they feel that they are part of us, and their sense of mission fills them too. "You have to have a lot of fuel in the planes, in case you can't land and it takes you a while to be in the air."
Israelis from Larnaca on their way to Israel, Photo: Yoni Rikner
Captain Hagai Gofer explains to the passengers in Hebrew and English: "There may be delays due to missile fire and the security situation, but everything is under control in front of the control tower." The Israelis on the return plane don't care. Just get there. In the window on landing, everyone is watching maybe by chance there will be some kind of interception like this on the way, like they saw on the news.
Avi Weissman and his friends went on a trip on a Saturday at the end of the holidays. Prices plummeted then, and they left for Italy. Only then, when they arrived, came Order 8 with them. "By the time we got there, we were already starting to come back. It's now 12 o'clock at night, and by nine we should already be there. But it's important to come back, you can't give it up. There's a lot of concern when you look at things from the outside."
On the plane itself, people are trying to find out if the intensity of the atrocities is indeed as told in the media. "It's just that from a distance it seems a lot scarier." Ron Saban had just started his semester in Denmark as an exchange student, but before he could even get used to what was happening, he received the order. "From Denmark to the 710th Army Battalion, but as far as I'm concerned, everything is fine, it will be okay not to worry."
Flight passengers to Larnaca,
Israelis at Ben Gurion Airport and Larnaca buy three tickets from three different companies. The fear that one of the flights will be cancelled leads to a strange phenomenon at the airport in Israel. As if it were Bloomfield Stadium, tourists stand outside looking for tickets at all costs wherever there is in the world, others ask "if it is possible to change from Larnaca to Prague", and others stand in front of the mirror boards and decide which ticket to skip, without even notifying the airlines. "Maximum went the money."
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