Israel's COVID vaccination campaign continues to astonish he world, and many people stuck abroad in countries where vaccines are in short supply are trying to get vaccinated in Israel.
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One of these people is Patricia Stern, who survived the Sabena airline hijacking in 1972. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took part in the operation to rescue the hostages as the commander of a Sayeret Matkal team.
Now Stern, who holds Israeli citizenship, is asking that Netanyahu allow here to come to Israel to receive the COVID vaccine.
Stern, 55, was six years old when she was on board Sabena Flight 571 from Brussels to Tel Aviv, with a stopover in Vienna. In the 1970s, Palestinian terrorism was beginning to make its mark, having carried out a few attacks against Jordanian and Israeli targets, such as the Black September massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics.
When the plane touched down in the Austrian capital, two terrorists in civilian dress boarded the aircraft, joining two who were already on board. They went into the bathroom and took out their weapons, which included pistols and bombs.
"I remember everything. I was the only child on the plane," Stern tells Israel Hayom from Belgium.
"I was going from Brussels to Tel Aviv via Vienna. Two terrorists got on in Brussels, and two more in Vienna. How can you not remember that? We didn't have food or drink, and I remember that when I went to the bathroom, one of the women terrorists pointed her gun at me because I was wearing a Magen David pendant, as if she wanted me to die," she says.
Sayeret Matkal commandoes under Ehud Barak boarded the plane, dressed as technicians. They pulled out Beretta firearms and within a minute took down all four terrorists. Two were killed and two female members of the cell were arrested. Netanyahu sustained a wound to his arm in the operation.
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"Later, when the soldiers got on the plane in disguise, I was the first one off. I just wanted it to be over. We went to Ben-Gurion Airport, where there a lot of people. I talked to Moshe Dayan, Shimon Peres, and Golda Meir, who wasn't very nice," Stern recalls.
Fifty years on, she says, "I haven't asked for a thing since it happened. Not from here [the Belgian authorities], and not from Israel. I just want to come to Israel and be vaccinated, please," she pleads.
Europe is in the midst of a third wave of COVID, and its vaccination campaign is having a hard time gaining traction. Stern is pessimistic about the matter being resolved soon and says: "I want to make aliyah. I'm sick of it here, that's it."
Stern is also despairing after encounters with official bureaucracy, including the Israeli Embassy in Brussels.
"The embassy here in Belgium is closed. Everything is closed, and there's no one to talk to. It's very complicated here. Belgium has vaccines from Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer, but they aren't letting people get vaccinated. I've been twice, and they didn't want to give it to me because I'm too young. They don't have enough vaccines for everyone," she says.
Stern is asking Netanyahu, who helped save her 50 years ago, for a personal favor. "My father is buried on Har Hamenuhot in Jerusalem, and I haven't visited his grave for two years. Last year, my flight was cancelled. There are no flights from Belgium at all," she says.
"Netanyahu could do me a favor. I want him to call me. It weighs on my heart. If he finds me a job, I'll also make aliyah," Stern says.
