I kept hoping beyond hope we could pull it off, but it’s just not going to happen. For multiple reasons.

No U.S. airline is flying to Israel right now or booking flights. Two of our favorite hotels over there still are not reserving rooms for American tourist groups. Even if they were, I doubt we could get a large enough group together, under the current circumstances, to put down a deposit and commit to getting on a plane. Even if we did put a group together, there are at least two sites–Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs / the cave at Machpelah in Hebron–that we would not be able to see. I hate to take folks on what, for most of them, is a once-in-a-lifetime trip and not visit some of the key sites.

We are targeting November 3-14, 2026. If you want to be on a list of those interested in taking this trip, whenever it happens, email me at allan.stanglin@gcrcc.org  and I’ll keep you in the loop.

In the meantime, please join me in continuing to pray for peace in Israel and throughout the Middle East. Pray for Israel and Iran, pray for the established cities and the Palestinian territories. Pray for my friend and our guide Anton Farah and his family in Nazareth. Pray for fighters to drop their weapons, for everyone on all sides of the conflicts to be protected, and for the thousands of innocents caught in the middle to be safe. May our God’s love and peace prevail in these war-weary areas and throughout our troubled world.

Peace,

Allan