With the declaration of a ceasefire in the Israel-Iran war, and the reopening of Israel’s airspace, Yehonatan Paz, who turns 17 this month, was sure that he would be able to participate as planned in BBYO’s Central Europe Discovery program, a 16-day trip exploring the Jewish history of Germany, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic.

“For the first few days of the war with the Iranians, I was sure that it would be canceled,” Paz told eJewishPhilanthropy. “With the ceasefire, we thought there was no reason that we shouldn’t go.”

His trip was scheduled for July 6, nearly two weeks after the ceasefire went into effect. But then, “10 days before the trip, we got an email saying that all Israeli participation in all BBYO trips was canceled,” said Paz. “It was very devastating.”

For decades, the “mifgash,” or personal “encounter,” between Diaspora Jews and their Israeli peers has been considered the most significant, fundamental aspect of an Israel education experience. See: the Israeli soldiers who join college students on a Birthright trip, the meetup between a youth group trip and members of an affiliated Israeli youth movement or the Israeli counselor at an American Jewish summer camp.

Those encounters will be far more rare this summer, in the wake of the Israel-Iran war, amid diminishing participation in Israel travel programs and restrictions on Israeli youth, like Paz, preventing them from attending programs abroad. 

Following the Oct. 7 terror attacks and the resulting wars in Gaza and Lebanon, Israel travel programs decreased precipitously. But the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, which resulted in an unprecedented nearly two-week closure of the country’s skies and foreign airlines continuing to refuse to fly into and out of Ben Gurion Airport, has resulted in a further drop in participation. 

“Pretty immediately after the attacks on Iran happened… around 1,000 kids who were registered on programs canceled because of the attacks,” Simon Amiel, CEO of the Israel trip funder RootOne, told eJewishPhilanthropy on Monday. 

“We’re hopeful that somewhere between 2,500 to 3,000 teens will still be traveling to Israel, and that’s a sort of best guess at this point, but we just don’t know yet,” he said. (This represents less than half of the number who would participate in an Israel trip in an average year.)

Trips within Israel have had to change their itineraries in light of the security situation, avoiding certain parts of the country. Other trips that were meant to include an Israel component have had to pivot as well, according to Amiel. “If they were going to Poland, first and then Israel. They’re now going to Poland, and then to another country in Europe,” he said. 

Debbie Shemony, a senior vice president at BBYO, said that some 300 American teens were meant to travel to Israel this summer on the youth group’s trips. Most of them were placed on trips to alternative destinations, in Europe or Asia, or opted to attend a BBYO summer camp in the United States. “Some have chosen to roll it over and say, ‘Just hold my spot for next year. I’m committed to going to Israel,’” she said. 

Even before the Iranian strikes, Jewish organizations have sought to find a next-best option for a mifgash between Israeli and Diaspora teens. One of those was a reversal of the norm: If we can’t bring the Diaspora Jews to the Israelis, why not bring the Israelis to the Diaspora Jews?

This included bringing hundreds of Israeli teenagers to American Jewish summer camps, as well as getting hundreds of Israelis to participate in Jewish travel programs abroad. To facilitate the latter option, the Israel trip funder RootOne expanded its offerings for this summer, providing vouchers for these types of programs taking place outside of Israel but with Israelis.

Now, in the wake of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, these next-best options are losing their Israeli participants in light of lingering concerns that Tehran may direct attacks against Jewish targets abroad and amid the general rise in global antisemitism. 

During the fighting, the Israeli Education Ministry’s security department issued a directive barring “independent delegations traveling abroad to all destinations,” which remains in effect through July 30. Though an Education Ministry spokesperson told eJP that it does not have official authority over youth movements’ travel, the directive has de facto resulted in the cancellation of Israeli delegations abroad. (Most youth groups outsource their security protocols to the Jewish Agency, which does follow Education Ministry directives.)

“The Israeli Ministry of Education has said that no delegations are able to join [trips abroad], and they’re in partnership with JAFI, and that’s who we’ve been working with for all of this,” Ariel Rosen, BBYO’s partnership outreach director, told eJP on Monday. “So unfortunately, we haven’t been able to make that happen, which is disappointing for everyone. Those are a lot of the emails in my inbox from Israeli families asking for exceptions, and that’s just not something we’ve been able to do.”

This decision will not affect the participation of Israeli children in American Jewish summer camps, as these types of arrangements — with participants in one, more remote location — were considered easier to protect than travel programs, with participants moving from place to place and interacting with the public. 

In light of the ministry’s directive, organizations like BBYO, Maccabi Tzair and the Jewish Agency have canceled Israeli teens’ participation in programs abroad, though some organizations have continued with their trips.

“The hundreds of Israeli teens that we recruited and screened and trained and got to know, they’re just not able to join the alternative experiences,” Amiel said. “Of course, we’re still honoring the vouchers… I think our partners are going to do a great job of providing them with as much of an immersive Jewish experience that has components of Israel education as possible. … But again, it’s a shame. It’s a lost opportunity.”

Not all opportunities for mifgashim have been cut off. 

After evacuating some 2,800 participants last month, Birthright Israel announced that it will restart its trips next Monday. 

Despite initial concerns, nearly all of the Jewish Agency’s 2,050 shlichim, or emissaries, made it to North American summer camps despite the closure of Israeli airspace. This included sending 120 of them on buses to Jordan, from which they flew to Greece and then on to the United States. Another 700 were placed on special flights, either direct to the U.S. or through Europe.

“There is no substitute for how shlichim bring firsthand accounts from Israel to North American campers and staff,” Hanoch Greenberg, director of the summer shlichut program at the Jewish Agency. “This relationship-building also goes both ways. Being at camp allows shlichim to form real bonds within the North American community, and they return home to Israel enriched with a deeper connection to world Jewry.”

According to Shelly Kedar, director of the Jewish Agency’s Connecting the Jewish People Unit, the Campers2Gether program — sending Israeli teens to American Jewish summer camps later this month — is also still meant to go ahead as planned. 

Paz, who found out about the BBYO trip through his mother — Ruthie Saragosti, who now works in the Israel office of UJA-Federation of New York and previously worked for BBYO — said he is now on the lookout for other opportunities. 

“I have a Navy boot camp in late July. So I’m going to do that,” said Paz, who hopes to qualify for an elite naval officer program. “And I’ll try to find other stuff to do with my Israeli friends. I’m looking for other programs.”