Stranded Photographer Was Robbed in Costa Rica

By COLlive reporter

Lubavitcher photographer Meir Alfasi has made a name for himself by taking on daring expeditions such as climbing the Everest mountain in Nepal and visiting Pyongyang, North Korea.

He now finds himself helpless in the face of bureaucracy.

Alfasi, a resident of Rechovot and a father of 4 children, was visiting Costa Rica when Israel went into a third Covid lockdown, and banned all commercial flights to and from the country on January 25, with little advance warning.

The decision left hundreds of Israelis who left the country before that date but expected to be able to return, stranded, allowing only those who gained specific approval by a special government committee to return, the Jerusalem Post reported.

New regulations have now been drawn up which extend the closure of the airport but which grant all citizens who left the country lawfully before Jan. 25 the legal right to return, the Post reported.

“My husband experienced a robbery in Costa Rica that left with him without anything – no money, no suitcases and no expensive photography equipment,” his wife Mushka Alfasi reported.

Writing publically to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mrs. Alfasi said: “I am here in Israel for over two and a half weeks alone, while my husband is the main breadwinner and the economic situation is shrinking to our detriment.”

She said her husband was able to receive special approval but the only flight to Israel is from Germany and that the country does not allow entry to foreign citizens.

“I want my husband back home by the end of the week,” she demanded. “He has jobs waiting for him, every day that passes, our economic situation gets worse…”