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| Ben Gurion Airport |
The Orthodox Jewish community is facing a huge dilemma ahead of the Orthodox Jewish Lag B’omer holiday, after Ben Gurion Airport announced that it will shut down, just two days after Israel’s 3 major airlines went on strike, according to press reports in Israel.
In a solidarity strike, the Histadrut, or the General Federation of Labor in Israel, decided in an emergency meeting today to close the Ben Gurion airport for several hours from 5 am Tuesday. There will be no arrivals or departures of any company, including foreign airlines. The strike will be in solidarity with the strike of the employees of the Israeli airlines, El Al Israel Airlines Ltd., Arkia Airlines Ltd., and Israir Airlines and Tourism Ltd., against the open skies agreement with the European Union approved by the government today.
The Histadrut also announced it was considering other measures to protest the government's decision. El Al said in response that it was canceling all flights until further notice. Passengers were asked to check on the airline websites about the canceled flights.
"The timing of the strike is unfortunate as it comes in a week in which thousands of Orthodox Jews from around the world are heading to the Israeli town of Miron, to celebrate the Lag B'omer holiday," Nachman Wachtfogel, 46, of Tiberius, Israel told YourJewishNews.com.
As we reported earlier, all Israeli airlines began a strike just ahead of the Orthodox Jewish holiday of Lag B’omer, according to press reports in Israel.
The three Israeli airlines are striking over the open skies agreement that the government signed with the E.U., that workers say threaten their jobs.
Avi Edri, head of Israel's transport union, said that all Israeli outbound flights was suspended at 5:00 am Sunday.
The government on Sunday will discuss the proposed agreement, which would open Israeli airspace to European carriers and increase competition.
The union said Saturday that it would favor an open skies policy, but only if local airlines can compete fairly and jobs are not in danger.
Supporters said it would boost tourism, increase the number of flights and lower ticket prices.
Critics said it is unfair for Israeli airlines because with smaller fleets and additional costs, such as security fees, they will not be able to compete with cheap international airlines.
“The strike comes just a few days before the Orthodox Jewish holiday of Lag B’omer, which brings hundreds of thousands of Jews from around the world to Miron, Israel, in order to celebrate the anniversary of death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai,” Moshe Rosenblum, 54, of Netanya, Israel told YourJewishNews.com after learning about the strike.