Birthright Israel expects strongest demand in nearly a decade on third anniversary of Oct. 7 attacks

Birthright Israel expects interest in its free trips to hit the highest level in nearly a decade as the nonprofit ramps up recruitment following three years of war and upheaval in the region, its top US fundraising executive told The Post.Elias Saratovsky, president and chief executive of Birthright Israel Foundation, said registration for next summer is set to open after more than 60,000 young people traveled with the program since the Oct.7, 2023 Hamas attack.“We anticipate seeing the strongest demand that we have seen since prior to COVID,” Saratovsky told The Post.“So the strongest demand we’ve seen in almost a decade now.”Birthright expects to finish this year with roughly 30,000 participants and is aiming to rebuild toward the nearly 50,000 it brought annually before the pandemic.The group has enlisted 2,100 alumni who traveled to Israel over the past two years to recruit friends on dozens of college campuses nationwide.“The best way we can do that is by having people who just came off of a Birthright trip tell their friends that this is an experience that they need to have as well,” Saratovsky said.Birthright has brought nearly 1 million people to Israel since its launch in 1999, according to Saratovsky, who went on one of the program’s first trips that year while a student at Muhlenberg College.It has continued operating through periods of intense violence, including the three years since the Oct.

7 attack, which killed about 1,200 people in Israel and resulted in 251 hostages being taken to Gaza.Saratovsky said the war forced the program to navigate flight cancellations, last-minute itinerary changes and, for the first time, an evacuation from Israel.During the first year of the conflict, “almost every single tourist under the age of 30 was in Israel because of Birthright,” he said.The itinerary has also changed to expose travelers directly to the aftermath of Oct.7.Almost every trip now visits the site of the Nova music festival massa...