London victim of coronavirus taken for burial in Israel

But despite the suspension of passenger flights to Israel, Mr Simons’s body was able to be transported to Ben Gurion Airport on a cargo flight with the help of the US representative, Shamzi Mozes, who handles its Israel burials.

Mr Simons’s Jerusalem-based son Michael told TOI, “A lot of people went out of their way to make this possible.”

The Jerusalem Post has reported that 151 diaspora Jews have been taken to Israel for burial in the past month with one family paying over £500,000 for a private jet.

US burial head Melvyn Hartog told the JC that Mr Simons was so far the only case he was aware of someone in its scheme being taken to Israel.

“There is a cargo plane that goes out every night,” he said, “So there it is possible, provided all the paperwork had been got.”

According to the United Synagogue booklet on Eretz Hachaim, a plot costs £6,000 to reserve there with transport £4,000 in normal times.

“The rabbis of the Talmud spoke of the greatness of living in Israel, adding that one who could not live in Israel should do their best to be buried there,” the booklet says.

All but two of the 146 US plots in Israel have been reserved.

Meanwhile,  Mr Hartog said that in the past week the overall number of US funerals had slowed down. “it’s been getting back to near enough normal numbers – but it could be the calm before the storm.”