The cabinet has voted to cancel limitations on air travel to and from Israel, starting Tuesday, March 16, allowing the airlines that serve Israel to operate flights to nearly all destinations worldwide.
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The cabinet vote comes after a discussion in the High Court of Justice about reopening Israel's skies. Later Monday, the government was supposed to submit to the court a list of Israelis stranded abroad who want to return. This is a key issue, as Israel will be holding a general election on March 23 and there is no mechanism in place for Israelis to vote by absentee ballot, unless they are serving in a very limited number of public positions and have permission to do so.
However, a cap on 3,000 incoming travelers a day will remain in place, at leastThe for now, meaning that 90,000 Israelis at most will be able to enter the country over the course of one month.
The decision to limit the number of travelers entering Israel stems from a desire by the health and transportation ministries to enforce quarantine for returning citizens, which would be difficult if more people entered. However, Israelis who have been vaccinated against or who have recovered from COVID are exempt from quarantine, so the more vaccinated/recovered citizens there are, the likelier it is that the quota will be removed.
Also on Monday, the cabinet was slated to discuss electronic monitoring, via a bracelet, as a method of enforcing quarantine. If approved, the government will be able to use it as a way of policing quarantine.
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