Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu issued a blunt warning Thursday following hours of turmoil at Ben Gurion Airport, declaring that Israel’s main international airport will remain operational and that workers who attempt to interfere with its functioning will face consequences.
“Ben Gurion Airport will remain open and continue operating as usual. Anyone who stands in the way will be sent home,” Netanyahu said.
His remarks followed widespread disruption at the airport, where check-in counters were shut down and serious delays developed in the processing of passengers and baggage.
Airport operations were halted at 2 p.m. By 3 p.m., incoming and outgoing flights began gradually resuming under a revised flight schedule as officials worked to restore normal operations.
Netanyahu’s warning came amid growing criticism on social media directed at Pinchas Idan, chairman of the Israel Airports Authority Workers’ Committee and a member of the Likud Central Committee. Critics blamed the labor action for the upheaval that affected thousands of travelers.
The crisis began when workers unexpectedly launched a work-to-rule action, with all four ground-service companies operating at Ben Gurion Airport stopping passenger-handling services. Among the most significant effects was the shutdown of check-in counters on what was already one of the airport’s busiest travel days of the year.
Ben Gurion is currently handling nearly 100,000 passengers each day aboard approximately 600 flights. The labor disruptions created extraordinary congestion throughout the terminals, with some arriving passengers waiting hours for their luggage.
Zohar Shnur, who arrived at Ben Gurion during the disruption, described an airport overwhelmed by stranded and exhausted travelers.
“There are thousands of people here, thousands of people around all the baggage carousels. Elderly people are sitting on the floor, on plastic sheets, and waiting. They’re talking here about waits of four hours for baggage on some flights.”
Shnur said multiple arriving flights were being assigned to individual baggage carousels even though passengers were still waiting for their suitcases to appear.
“Several flights are already listed on each carousel, but the bags still aren’t coming out. I fly a lot, and I have never seen anything like this,” she said, adding that both passengers and flight crews were receiving inadequate information about the unfolding situation.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who is currently on a private vacation in Morocco, directed Israel Airports Authority management to seek intervention from the Labor Court against the workers’ committee.
Regev denounced the action as a “bullying strike” and warned that those responsible would be held accountable.
“Whoever made the decision to take the citizens of Israel hostage will pay the price.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich similarly lashed out at organized labor over the airport disruptions, arguing that unions should not have the ability to bring critical national infrastructure to a standstill.
“It cannot be that forceful communist unions strand the citizens of Israel and take them hostage,” he said. “The days when a group of functionaries could paralyze an entire country are over. It is time to dismantle these organizations of anarchy.”
The Histadrut’s Transportation Workers Union pushed back against accusations that it had ordered employees to stop working, insisting that no such directive had been given.
“No instruction whatsoever was issued to stop work,” the union stated.
The union instead blamed the airport breakdown on longstanding staffing problems and inadequate preparations for the heavy summer travel period.
“The attempt to portray the chaos at Ben Gurion Airport as the result of a ‘surprise strike’ is contrary to the truth and diverts attention from the real failure: a severe and ongoing manpower shortage and inadequate preparation for the summer rush,” it added.
The Israel Airports Authority disputed that account, saying the operational disruptions had been carried out “at the instruction of the workers’ committee.”
{Matzav.com}
