Repatriation from Israel – Americans adopted Dutch registration system
Weblogs
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs mobilises a Rapid Deployment Consular Support Team (SCOT) to help Dutch nationals worldwide in crisis situations and during major events. Arjen Nauta, senior policy officer Taiwan and Hong Kong, is a member of the team and helped with the first four repatriation flights from Israel.
‘I was called in as a SCOT member on Tuesday 10 October, three days after heavy fighting broke out in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. The next day I was on board a military aircraft from Eindhoven to Tel Aviv. After I arrived in Israel, I spent four intense days at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport. I spent ten hours a day there with another SCOT member helping with the repatriation flights. Every day at the airport there were also three staff members from the embassy in Tel Aviv present and two staff members from the representation to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. Twice air raid sirens sounded and everyone in the airport had to take cover on the ground. But other than that, everything in the airport was as normal as possible, and planes took off for Europe and the rest of the world. This included our repatriation flights.’
The Rapid Deployment Consular Support Team is made up of staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who can be quickly mobilised to places where Dutch nationals need help. The team’s role is to support the work of an embassy or consulate. They might help Dutch nationals who have lost their passports, or work to get Dutch nationals safely back to the Netherlands in a time of crisis. This is Arjen’s second mobilisation as a SCOT member. The first time was earlier this year in April, when he went to Khartoum, Sudan to support the evacuation there. Arjen became a member of the SCOT team after being involved in the evacuation from Afghanistan during a regular posting in Islamabad.
‘Despite the threat and the violence in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, the repatriation process has been fairly smooth and the situation has not felt overly dangerous. And so we’ve been able to do our best in relatively calm circumstances to help Dutch nationals wanting to fly home from Israel. My job as a SCOT member this time was to check whether the people who reported to our desk at the airport were also on our list and could be sent to the regular check-in desk to board. We gave everyone who was on our list a card from the Ministry of Defence with a number on it. That way, when they presented the card at check-in it was immediately clear that they had our authorisation to board. The Israeli airport authorities thought our system worked so well that they asked the Americans to use it too. Our team had a stand in the departures hall with orange flags, a pair of clogs on the table and a large glass pot full of licorice. Staff in orange vests with “NL Embassy” on the back were walking around the airport looking for Dutch nationals and answering questions.’
After four days, it was time for Arjen himself to return to the Netherlands. He boarded the fourth repatriation flight carrying his own card with the number 75 on it. As a rule, there are always two SCOT members and two spiritual counsellors from the Ministry of Defence on repatriation flights, and so for the first time Arjen had an opportunity to have longer conversations with people. ‘It’s always moving to hear people’s personal stories in situations like this. Fortunately, everyone seemed to be happy with the help we provided getting them home and, more importantly, most people seemed to be doing okay emotionally.’
During his first workday back in the office, Arjen himself also received a call from a staff welfare officer checking in to make sure he was all right. That’s standard procedure when SCOT members are back in the Netherlands. ‘I’m fine. It was an intense few days, but the main thing looking back is that the repatriation process was very smooth. I’m really impressed with how we accomplished what we were there to do. And I’ll be there again for the next crisis. It’s so great to be able to provide such immediate, practical support to Dutch nationals in need.’