A church group of about 84 U.S. Christians from North Dakota found themselves stuck in Bethlehem, Israel, as a war broke out.
They were forced to change their plans and escape the conflict zone.
The group faced difficulties in finding a safe way out, but with the help of contacts, including a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, they were advised to travel to the border with Jordan. (Trending: US Forces Attacked By Suicide Drones)
Mark “Oz” Geist helped save the Americans. He is widely known as a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who was one of the American contractors who famously fought off a 13-hour assault in Benghazi in September 2012.
John McDonald, an expert in crisis management whose sister was one of those stuck in Bethlehem, spoke about the rescue.
“I was getting text message from my sister that were pretty panicked about what was going on,” McDonald said.
“We were providing updates, just based on what we had seen on Fox News at that point. And I reached out to Mark and asked if he had any resources.”
“They were unsure of what to do,” Geist told Fox News Digital. “Their flights were out of Tel Aviv… but the arline companies at the time had told them that they couldn’t rebook them.” (Trending: Devastating New Poll For Joe Biden)
Father Gerald Braun, one of the Catholic priests leading the group, said, “We were thinking that made sense.”
“We’ve got to do a better job giving American citizens overseas that are stuck in a war zone information, intel, and guidance on where to go and what to do,” McDonald said.
The group successfully made the journey and eventually boarded flights back to the U.S. However, frustrations remained about the lack of information and guidance provided to American citizens in war zones.
The State Department stated that the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas is a top priority and that they are assisting citizens who want to leave Israel.
“We have been advising U.S. citizens who wish to leave and can do so safely to check the status of the border crossings or verify flights have not been cancelled before heading to the Ben Gurion Airport,” a State Department spokesperson said.
“We are acutely aware of the limited capacity on commercial flights and the high demand from U.S. citizens wanting to depart. Our goal is to assist U.S. citizens who want to leave Israel with a safe means of doing so.”
“In order to meet high demand for flights, we are exploring other contract options by air, land, and sea to nearby countries,” the spokesperson said.
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