retrieving people from a war zone

A Guest Post by Rafi G.
(cross-posted from LII)

Israel announced it is sending a plane to Georgia to retrieve the 230 Israeli citizens stranded there due to the war that has been raging the past few days.

In todays day and age where we live in a world that is increasingly capitalistic and democratic, one would think that 230 people who chose to go to a country for their personal profit (to run businesses and companies or touring or for whatever reason they are there), Israel, or any parent country, would have no obligation to retrieve them.

they went to make a buck, they can find their own flight back. Why should we, the taxpayer or the government, pay for them to come back now that they are in trouble? Why should we risk ourselves for them? It is a free market - you want to get to Israel, you had enough in Georgia, find a way to get there on your own.

It is particularly inspiring to see that not everything is dictated by the rules of the free capitalist market. We care for our people, no matter why they went or where they went. Someone is in trouble and we try to do what we can to save them.