TEL AVIV – The situation in the Middle East is hitting close to home, for the families of 20 Hoosiers now on a pilgrimage in Israel.
They were the second to last American flight to land in Tel Aviv, after the rocket attack that led the FAA to ban flights in and out of Israel until at least Thursday afternoon.
“We got word about it after we had already landed here,” said father Jonathon Meyer, who is leading the group in Israel. “For us it was almost in some ways like `wow this is kind of shocking` because everything seemed so calm and casual at the airport.”
“I was actually amazed at seeing all twenty of them and not one person was concerned,” said Richard Sontag, the director of Tekton Ministries. “(But) I think the people they left behind, those people were concerned.”
Sontag has been keeping an eye on the situation since the news broke yesterday.
“Pray for their safety,” he said. “But at the same time (we’ll) make sure all their backup plans are in place if this does drag on another 10 days to have a way to get them all home.”
“We of course have been praying for the situation and that’s pretty much the best that we can do,” said Meyer. “We just wanted to let people know that we do feel very safe and we haven’t had any incidents and praying to God that none come about.”
The group is scheduled to return home July 31.
Organizers say the group is safe, and could potentially fly out of Jordan instead if flights out of Israel still aren’t available for several days.
