Club Med opens its doors to stranded Israelis

Israelis are one of the only people around the world who rush home during a time of war rather than rushing away. So it makes sense that those who found themselves stranded abroad during the latest war with Iran scrambled to find flights as quickly as they could. But with airspace closed and flights cancelled, thousands of Israeli travellers found themselves still stuck.

For those holidaying at Club Med resorts, though, there was at least one piece of good news: they wouldn’t be footing the bill while they waited.

Club Med has decided to allow Israeli guests whose homeward flights have been cancelled to stay on at its resorts, at no extra cost, until they can find a replacement flight. That means an extended all-inclusive, five-star stay thrown in gratis. Many Israelis are currently staying at Club Med properties in Phuket in Thailand, the Seychelles, and Mauritius.

It’s a generous gesture. But given the chain’s deeply Jewish roots, perhaps not entirely surprising.

Club Med had its beginnings when Gérard Blitz, a Belgian-Jewish water polo player, came up with the idea of providing Europeans with inexpensive, bohemian vacations in the Mediterranean sunshine. In 1950, Blitz officially founded the Club Méditerranée association. He had served with the Belgian Resistance and after the war was employed running a centre for helping concentration camp survivors readjust and reestablish themselves.

To get his first resort off the ground, Blitz turned to Gilbert Trigano, a Jewish friend from his years in the French Resistance during World War II. Trigano, the son of French Jews from Algeria, had joined the French Resistance writing and distributing anti-Nazi leaflets. Together, they built something that would become a global institution – the all-inclusive holiday concept.

Both founders were also avid Zionists. In 1961, Trigano came to Israel to establish the country’s first Club Med holiday village. Ben-Gurion immediately recognised the Club’s potential and invited Trigano to tour the nation’s Mediterranean beaches by helicopter. When they arrived at Achziv, Trigano knew he’d found what he was looking for. Ben-Gurion gave him the land free of cost, and the first Club Med in Israel was launched.

It’s this spirit that seems alive in the chain’s current response to the crisis.

While many travellers caught far from home in a conflict zone might simply extend their holiday, Israelis are doing the exact opposite, going to great lengths to return home, some even flying to Jordan and taking a cab to the border. And they do so knowing full well what awaits them.

“A stranger might not understand it,” Yagil Sahar, stranded in Los Angeles after his flight was cancelled, told the Jewish Journal. “Friends told me to continue my trip and enjoy it, but how can I, knowing my family is running to the mamad and hearing sirens all day and night?”

Oksana Guriev echoed the sentiment. She told the Jewish Journal that she had been living in Austin with her family but couldn’t shake the pull of home.

“Listen, we don’t have another country,” she said. “Despite everything, I love Israel. Suddenly we felt such pride in our country — how Israel stands strong against its enemies.”

For some, the wait has been particularly hard. Gali, a 26-year-old Israeli travelling solo through South America, found herself stranded in New York, one of the most expensive cities in the United States. In a strange way, she told the Jewish Journal that she feels less afraid in Israel because the fear there is familiar. “While it’s not fun hearing the sirens and running to the safe room back home, at least you are going through it with your family and friends. There’s strength in being together.”

Club Med’s offer won’t solve every problem, but for those waiting in its resorts, it removes at least one stress from an already fraught situation.

It’s not the only example of hospitality during the crisis. In the UAE, a presidential order instructed hotels to continue hosting stranded guests at no charge, with the bill sent to the government. However, many travellers there have reported the policy wasn’t always followed on the ground. Club Med, by contrast, appears to be delivering on its promise quietly and practically. Just as its founders might have wished.

From tents on a Majorcan beach in 1950 to five-star resorts in Phuket and Mauritius, Club Med has always been about creating a refuge from the world’s chaos.

For hundreds of stranded Israelis, that refuge is more than just a tagline.