Actually, I think he's been in Crete.

As for ORD-TLV nonstop, LY did have that service for quite a while, but it got cancelled when tourism dropped. I'm sure there are others who can imagine the sheer joy of a nonstop all the way from ORD to TLV. It was lovely thing...even in Y.

I don't know enough about the economics of flights into TLV to comment authoritatively (thought that doesn't seem to stop many FTers ), but I do know that as early as April, and then in the summer, merchants I spoke with in IL were quoting numbers of 40% YOY tourism growth.

Perhaps the Ministry of Tourism (which actually closed its Chicago office some time ago ) is hopeful that this trend will continue, also reinvigorating the ORD market. Maybe they're counting on the security fence and Gaza withdrawal to keep things quiet. Anyway, I'm intrigued by the LA traffic hypothesis. That's a big market of about a gazillion Israelis.