We met the first Canadians evacuated home from Israel arriving at Pearson airport

A student who’d been volunteering at an Israeli daycare. A widower and his three children honouring the anniversary of their mother’s death. A 15-year-old studying at an Israeli boarding school—and her mother, who was visiting her for Sukkot. These are just some of the first Canadians who’ve returned home from Israel Friday, having been safely evacuated as part of Ottawa’s emergency airlifts which began Oct. 12. After Hamas launched a murderous attack on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people, including eight Canadians, the federal government took a few days to arrange the official evacuation. The Canadians boarded Royal Canadian Air Force transport planes in Tel Aviv, which brought them to the airport in Athens, Greece—where many had to spend the night sleeping on the floor, because there were no hotels available, given the mass exodus of travellers leaving the Holy Land. They then boarded an Air Canada flight home the next day, safely arriving at Toronto’s Pearson airport on Oct. 13.  _The CJN Daily’_s Ellin Bessner was there on Friday evening when the special flight landed. There she spoke with Simona Bitton and her family, Kinneret Butterfield-Morrison, along with her brother Noam, and Sivanne and Jordyn Detsky.

What we talked about

• Read more about Canadians scrambling to board rescue flights out of Israel in The CJN
• Canadians can register for emergency military airlift flights from the Government of Canada to get out of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, via Global Affairs Canada here
• How the Israel-Hamas war is playing out on social media, in The CJN

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.