By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-10-07 18:42:04 | Updated at 2026-10-07 19:47:32
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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 massacre, where attendees can hear from survivors, according to Saratovsky.
They also visit Israel’s national cemetery at Mount Herzl and meet Israelis who served during the war or lost loved ones in the attacks.
“Almost every person you meet in Israel has an October 7th story in one way or another,” Saratovsky said.
But he said the experience is not meant to be defined solely by war.
Travelers continue to visit Jerusalem, meet Israelis their own age and tour parts of the country that receive less attention abroad, including hospitals and Tel Aviv’s technology sector.
“The mission of Birthright remains the same as it was since the very beginning, which is to strengthen connection to Israel and strengthen Jewish identity,” he said.
The nonprofit has also become increasingly concerned about how young Americans form opinions about Israel through social media.
“We have an entire generation of young people who are being educated about the most complex place in the world through 30-second TikTok videos,” Saratovsky said.
“What we are asking young people to do, young Jews to do, is to go to Israel to learn for themselves and to make up their own minds.”
The post-Oct. 7 trips have required an increased focus on security.
Birthright has worked closely with the Israeli military, Home Front Command and other Israeli security agencies, while assuring prospective travelers and their families that safety takes priority.
“Our foremost responsibility is to make sure that they come home safely with a very meaningful experience,” Saratovsky said.
The organization’s relationship with the Israeli government has remained strong through successive governments since its founding, he added.
Birthright does not track how many alumni eventually move to Israel, but studies other long-term measures of Jewish identity and engagement.
Among the figures Saratovsky cited, 84% of alumni who are raising children are raising them exclusively Jewish, while their children are 122% more likely to have a Bar or Bat Mitzvah and 65% more likely to attend Jewish summer camp.
“We know that this program is not only strengthening connection to Israel and strengthening Jewish identity,” he said, “but we’re also contributing to Jewish continuity in remarkable ways.”
Saratovsky, who spent 21 years at AIPAC before taking over Birthright Israel Foundation in September 2023, assumed the job just weeks before the Hamas attack.
The organization is now pursuing a goal of bringing 200,000 additional people to Israel between 2025 and 2029.
It expects to have brought 60,000 during the first two years of that effort, leaving another 140,000 to reach the target.
“That will require greater investment in this effort,” Saratovsky said.
