Birthright Israel approves summer trips following Israel Iran ceasefire

Birthright Israel on Monday announced that it will resume its trips for the Summer 2025 season, following a recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran after 12 days of war.

"Our commitment to connecting Jewish young adults to Israel is stronger than ever, and we expect thousands of participants to arrive from now through the end of the summer season," Birthright Israel said in an official statement. 

The organization’s announcement also comes after the Israeli Home Front Command decided to lift its security restrictions. 

Birthright Israel is an organization that was born out of the vision to reconnect young Jews in the Diaspora with the Jewish state. 

The organization announced that its summer trips will begin on July 6 and follow the classic 10-day format. In addition, it offers various volunteer programs, Onward internships, and excel fellowship. The first American participants are expected to arrive in Israel on July 7

Birthright Israel’s announcement comes merely 10 days after the organization evacuated some 2,800 participants from Israel during the Operation Rising Lion military offensive against Iran. The recently evacuated young adults hailed from the United States, Australia and various countries in Europe and South America. 

Gidi Mark, CEO of Birthright Israel addressed the recent evacuation efforts while articulating cautious optimism about the future. 

"We led a historic operation grounded in resilience, responsibility, and care, and now we’re opening the gates to Israel once again,” Mark stated. 

The specially designed program enables young Jews in North America, Europe and elsewhere who have never visited Israel to personally experience Israel together with young people from all over the world.

The overall goal is to strengthen Jewish identity among young Diaspora Jews during their formative years 18 to 26. Since its inception in 1999, some 900,000 young participants from 70 countries have joined the organization’s trip programs in the Holy Land.

The organization cancelled its trips to Israel following the unprecedented Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. During Israel’s ongoing multi-front war, Birthright Israel has adapted its trips according to current security considerations. 

In January 2025, Birthright Israel announced that it would resume trips to northern Israel. The decision was directly linked to the internationally brokered ceasefire in November 2024 between the Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist militia Hezbollah and Israel. Prior to the ceasefire and the Israeli military’s severe degradation of Hezbollah’s military capabilities, the jihadist terrorist organization had fired thousands of rockets and drones at northern Israeli communities. 

The organization’s work was also severely affected during the global Covid pandemic. In February 2022, Birthright Israel announced that it would resume trips to Israel after the country had effectively barred all international visitors from entering during the peak of the crisis.