By Ira – JBizNews Desk

An El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Newark diverted to Paris early Friday after a crew member fell ill mid-flight, stranding hundreds of passengers, many of them Shabbat-observant, in a country gripped by nationwide riots and heightened anxiety in its Jewish community.

Flight LY27, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, departed Ben Gurion Airport at approximately 12:39 a.m. Israel time on Friday, Oct. 23, bound for Newark Liberty International Airport. Several hours into the flight, a crew member became ill and was unable to continue. The flight landed safely at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport at approximately 5:30 a.m. local time, and the remainder of the trip was canceled, according to Israeli aviation outlet Passport News and Kikar HaShabbat, which first reported the diversion. Matzav reported the crew member was one of the pilots and that a physician traveling as a passenger treated him mid-flight; other outlets described the person as a crew member. The condition was not publicly disclosed, and no passenger injuries or mechanical problems were reported.

The airline’s response went beyond standard rebooking. El Al housed the stranded passengers at a hotel at the airport and arranged kosher meals, a separate kosher dining room, and a designated synagogue area where a Torah scroll was brought in for prayers with a minyan, Kikar HaShabbat reported. A local rabbi was brought in to accompany the passengers and answer religious questions through the weekend, and Chabad emissaries in Paris assisted with Shabbat arrangements, according to Chabad’s COL news service. Passengers who did not travel on Shabbat were rebooked by the airline onto other carriers departing Friday. El Al said it remained in continuous contact with the affected passengers and opened a dedicated service line to handle their needs and the logistics on the ground, the Israeli consumer outlet ICE reported.

“It is not obvious that in a complex emergency landing situation, a company cares not only about a bed and food, but goes into the details of kashrut, a Torah scroll and a dignified place of prayer,” passengers at the hotel told Kikar HaShabbat.

The unplanned stopover placed the travelers, including Haredi and other observant Jews, in France at a tense moment. Nationwide riots over the rising cost of living swept the country in mid-October, and a synagogue in Paris’s 19th arrondissement was ransacked on Oct. 17, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the Jerusalem Post, JNS and Ynet. A French Jewish community leader said there were no indications at the scene that the synagogue incident was an antisemitic attack, JNS reported, while the SPCJ, the French Jewish community’s security organization, urged caution and reliance on official updates, according to the Jerusalem Post. Fox News reported that some French Jewish institutions advised hiding visible Jewish identity and canceling prayers during the unrest.

The unrest continued while the group was in Paris. An estimated 410,000 people protested across France on Saturday against school funding cuts and rising living costs, with clashes erupting in Paris and police making nearly 1,000 arrests, the Associated Press reported. France deployed 70,000 police officers for the day, France 24 reported, and the U.S. Embassy in Paris warned on Oct. 22 that violence and rioting tied to the protests had occurred and could continue. No reporting has indicated that the stranded passengers were threatened or targeted, that the unrest reached their airport-area hotel, or that the riots had targeted the Jewish community, and eJewishPhilanthropy reported community leaders saying the same.

Questions remained about the decision to cancel rather than continue. One passenger challenged why the aircraft could not refuel and proceed to Newark, noting that alternative flights to the United States departed more than six hours after the Paris landing, Matzav reported. A medical emergency involving a pilot can create operational complications, including the need for a replacement pilot and crew duty-time limits. Beyond the arrangements described by ICE, El Al had not issued a detailed public account of the diversion as of Sunday, and no reporting has detailed how the group was transported to the hotel or whether any dedicated security was provided.

The ordeal ended Saturday night, when a replacement flight departed Paris for New York after Shabbat, Chabad’s COL reported.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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