El Al workers petitioned the High Court to reverse the
government's decision forbidding the airline from flying on
Shabbos and Jewish holidays.
Attorney Dror Hoter-Yishai filed the petition against the
government and the Transportation Ministry on behalf of the
El Al unions. The petition asks to eliminate Shabbos
restrictions on the firm to allow fair competition with other
airlines.
El Al union chairman Michael Kochavi said that after the
National Religious Party's primaries, Transportation Minister
Shaul Yahalom (NRP) intends to adopt the recommendations of a
ministry committee to grant CAL Cargo Airlines a license to
operate on Shabbos.
Kochavi said granting such a license would give competitors
an unfair advantage, since they are allowed to fly on
Shabbos, while El Al, until now Israel's sole scheduled
carrier abroad, had been prohibited from flying on Shabbos
At the end of the eight hour hearing this week, Justice
Beinish decided that the request for a decree nisi (a kind of
temporary injunction) to operate El Al on weekends and
holidays should be heard before an expanded panel of three
justices. El Al workers demonstrated outside the Tel Aviv
Fairgrounds, where the NRP primaries took place, accusing
Yahalom of ending the status quo.
Yahalom's spokesman said that, no matter what decision the
minister makes, it will not be a change of the status quo.
"Even if the minister grants CAL the license, that is not
changing the status quo -- there will be no more violation of
Shabbat than there already is," he said.
CAL, which operates a number of cargo flights on Shabbos, has
promised not to increase flights even if it receives the
license.
El Al employs some 3,200 workers, who say the company owes
them up to NIS 500 million in compensation and vacation
days.
Despite the claim that El Al's fortunes are faltering as a
result of the Shabbos ban, it has not stopped the airline
from spending vast sums of money on luxuries and sundry
silliness.
For instance, El Al's management recently invited a
delegation of 30 Israeli business people to fly, on its
account together with Boeing, to the United States to
participate in the gala acceptance of its first new Boeing
jet.
The ceremony was scheduled to take place in Seattle.
The lucky people flying gratis include former Koor CEO Benny
Gaon, Chamber of Commerce president Danny Gillerman, and Udi
Recanati of the IDB group, as well as advertising industry
leaders from the Reuveni-Friedan company, which promotes El
Al, and Avner Raz of Israel Aircraft Industries.
Some 1,500 to 2,000 people attended an El Al party last
Friday at Ben-Gurion International Airport; the guests will
be able to see the airline's new plane when it reaches
Israel.
El Al's public relations spokesperson, Ravit Ben David-
Shochat, told Ha'aretz that the flight brimming with
business people was a gesture of honor to the company's
clients. She added that the partying was considered typical
for airlines launching a new plane.
