Orthodox Party in Israel Urging Closure of Airport on Saturdays

In a new attempt to enforce Sabbath observance on all walks of life in Israel, the Agudat Yisrael party is pushing for the closure of Ben-Gurion Airport on Saturdays.

The issue is likely to lead to another conflict between the secular state and its religious minority, which has considerable political clout.

The international air terminal, a major source of revenue, has always functioned seven days a week. Its closure over the Sabbath could mean disastrous economic losses, say opponents of the plan, including Transport Minister Moshe Katsav.

But the Agudah, which held out longer than any of the other Orthodox parties before its five Knesset members joined Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s coalition government last year, is in a position to impose its will.

The initiative was taken by veteran Agudah Knesset member Menahem Porush, who, as deputy minister of labor and social welfare, controls the issuance of Sabbath work permits.

His sub-Cabinet status is the result of the non-Zionist Agudah’s ideological reservations about holding Cabinet rank in a secular government. Although Shamir nominally holds the labor portfolio, he lets Porush run the ministry.

Porush has renewed the airport’s Sabbath work permit until June. At the same time, he set up a committee of officials from his own ministry and the Transport Ministry for a detailed examination of the airport’s functioning.

He has served notice that he proposes to severely limit, if he cannot altogether abrogate, the airport’s work permit.

Civil servants and politicians of the two major parties, Likud and Labor, say the move is a potential disaster.

But given the delicate state of the governing coalition, few pundits will predict an Agudah failure. Shamir’s Knesset majority depends mainly on the strictly Orthodox, or haredi, parties.

The defection of any one would shave that majority dangerously thin. Agudah made clear that it would not hesitate to jump ship the moment Likud reneged on the religious concessions it offered as inducements to join the government.

‘SERIOUS BLOW’ TO ECONOMY?

One of those concessions was the shutdown of public transportation on the Sabbath. But in Israel, that applies chiefly to buses. While the coalition agreement promised tighter enforcement of Sabbath laws, Israel’s only international airport was never specified.

Its shutdown would affect only the flights of foreign airlines, since the state-owned El Al is forbidden to fly on the Sabbath.

But closing the airport would close down Maman, the government-owned cargo handling and servicing company that provides ground service for foreign airlines.

Katsav called Porush’s plan inconceivable. “If need be, I will intervene to prevent closure of Ben-Gurion or stoppage of Maman on Shabbat,” said the minister, who is himself a Sabbath observer.

Not only passenger flights but Israel’s vital cargo flights to Europe would be affected.

According to Shoshana Arbeli-Almoslino, a Laborite who chairs the Knesset Economic Committee, “this would mean a serious blow to the economy, and particularly our agricultural exports. It would seriously disrupt our relations with foreign airlines, with grave repercussions for tourism and trade,” she said.

But Agudah politicians dismiss such warnings. They point with triumph to El Al, whose profitability actually increased after it stopped Sabbath flights in the mid-1980s, despite dire predictions of economic disaster.

El Al’s patronage has always been overwhelmingly Jewish, but many Orthodox Jews preferred to travel on foreign carriers that accommodated them with kosher meals than on a Jewish airline that flew on the Sabbath.

El Al’s improved load factor after turning Sabbath observant can be attributed in part to the Orthodox passengers who flocked to it after winning their point, though the airline also reduced the overall number of flights.

But the airport is a much more cosmopolitan utility. Arbeli-Almoslino is urging Shamir to attend her committee meetings in his formal capacity as minister of labor when it debates Porush’s plan.