El Al CEO warns workers: No renewal of flights without rescue agreement
Israeli flag carrier El Al will be unable to renew flying operations unless it agrees to a critical $250 million bailout loan with the government, the airline’s chief executive informed employees on Monday.
“Regardless of the state of the aviation industry, government decisions regarding opening the skies and the start of flights to and from Ben-Gurion Airport by other airlines, we will not be able to renew operations without reaching an agreement for the arrival of the loan,” Gonen Usishkin wrote in a letter distributed to employees after the Finance Ministry proposed a revised plan to rescue the struggling carrier.
The government-secured loan is a “basic condition and prerequisite” for the resumption of flights in order to allow the payment of debts to both customers and suppliers, said Usishkin, announcing that the unpaid leave of 5,800 members of staff would now be extended by a further month – until July 31.
Late on Sunday, the airline said it would extend its halt on all scheduled flights to and from Israel until June 30, with the exception of cargo flights and one-off services.
El Al executives are expected to discuss the Finance Ministry’s
revised plan to bail out the airline later this week, which will also require the agreement of an Israeli bank, the El Al workers union, government and the Knesset’s Finance Committee.
According to the revised proposal received by El Al management on Sunday, the government is willing to offer a $250m. loan to the flag carrier.
In addition, El Al will issue shares worth $150m., backed by a government guarantee to purchase shares that are left unsold, an agreement that could ultimately turn the state into the majority shareholder of the company.
The plan, which is conditional upon severe cost-cutting measures and layoffs expected to affect one-third of the airline’s 6,500-strong workforce, represents a significant shift in strategy following months of unsuccessful negotiations between El Al and the Finance Ministry for a $400m. government-backed loan to bail out the battered company.
Commenting on the new proposal, former El Al CEO Amos Shapira expressed his view that airline management may have no choice but to accept the new offer, even if it means that the “next crisis is only a matter of time.”
“If you take this company and make it even smaller, you reduce its ability to compete even more,” Shapira told Army Radio, emphasizing that El Al’s precrisis woes were
Netanyahu and Ashkenazi.
Maas is expected to express Germany’s concerns over Netanyahu’s intention to extend Israel’s laws to the West Bank in July as part of Trump’s peace plan. This would coincide with Germany becoming president of the Council of the European Union for six months, starting in July, as well as of the UN Security Council for a month.
A Foreign Ministry source said that while ties with Israel are important to Germany, the relations between the countries will likely suffer as a consequence of Israel moving forward with annexation.
Berlin is unlikely to support EU sanctions on Israel or to recognize a Palestinian state outside the framework of an agreement with Israel, but may be more reticent to help Israel in various international matters and downgrade ties in other ways, the source posited.
Maas is also expected to discuss Horizon Europe, a seven-year multi-billion euro European initiative for scientific research cooperation. Israel received a billion euros in the previous seven years and is negotiating its role in the cycle beginning in 2021.
One possible punitive action in response to annexation that EU critics of Israel have mentioned is keeping Israel out of the next Horizon project. However, the Foreign Ministry source says there has not been any change in the negotiating process.
Another matter on the agenda for Maas’s visit is an agreement for Germany to support Yad Vashem for another 10 years, to the tune of a million euros each year.
Maas does not plan to visit the Palestinian Authority, opting for a video meeting with PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, because the Israeli government did not make an exemption of the mandatory two-week coronavirus quarantine for him, which would require him to be in isolation two weeks upon his return to Israel from the Palestinian territories, before departing for Berlin.
Jordanian Ambassador to the US Dina Kawar addressed the situation during a Zoom webinar organized by the American Jewish Committee.
“I worry right now [with] all this talk about annexation of the Jordan Valley,” she said.
“People need to realize is that annexation – not only it’s against international law, not only will it kill any idea of peace, not only that any Palestinian state that comes after should this annexation take place, would be a Palestinian state that becomes an enclave of Israel with no borders with Jordan, with no access to Jordan, no access to anything,” she continued.
“Is that what we want?” Kawar asked. “Are we moving far away from the two-state solution to become one state
de facto eventually? Is that what everybody wants?”
Speaking about the Palestinian economy, she said annexing the Jordan Valley “is taking away 60% of our agricultural produce from the Palestinians; it’s taking away Palestinian tourism on the Dead Sea. There are 70,000 Palestinians who are in the Jordan Valley. What do we do with them?”
According to the Trump plan, Israel would not annex areas where Palestinians live; they would remain in enclaves that are part of the Palestinian Authority or an eventual Palestinian state. Netanyahu has said he will not give Palestinians citizenship, and the plan does not require him to do so.
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If Gantz and his ministers oppose annexation, that is how it will potentially be perceived and Trump might have second thoughts. If Gantz votes in favor of the move though, that gives an appearance that Israel is united and that the entire country supports annexation.
That appearance of unity is important, especially if Joe Biden wins the election in November. If Gantz opposes annexation it will be seemingly easier for Biden to rescind US recognition of Israeli sovereignty. He will be able to say that half the cabinet opposed it as did the man (Gantz) who a year from the US election is supposed to become Israel’s prime minister.
If, on the other hand, Gantz supports it, Biden might have a harder time walking it back and might prefer to accept the reality in the West Bank as a fait accompli.
As a result, the most important question is not what does this settler leader or that settler leader want, but rather what is Gantz willing to accept.
Gantz’s official position on annexation is currently unclear. Nevertheless, there is a lot that can be done between annexation of 30% – which Netanyahu originally said he wanted – and annexing nothing. This could mean the annexation of just the Jordan Valley or just Ma’ale Adumim and Gush Etzion. A few years ago, settler leaders would have jumped at either of these opportunities.
Besides for setting the tone of the annexation, Gantz could also be the excuse Netanyahu needs to walk back from the 30% he set as his original goal. If Gantz lets him, Netanyahu will tell Israel that he preferred unity – and Gantz voting in favor of the move in the cabinet – over a narrow majority and, as a result, had no choice but to agree to annex less land.
There are still three-and-ahalf weeks left until July 1 – the date Netanyahu originally set as his deadline. Keep your eyes on Gantz. He currently holds the keys. •
plans to do so in the coming weeks, though not necessarily on the first day the agreement allows.
July 1 is also the day that Germany takes the presidency of two key institutions, the Council of the European Union for six months, as well as the UN Security Council for a month. This means that they will stand at the head of two major international forums just as they will need to respond to Israeli actions, should Jerusalem move forward with sovereignty.
Germany has made it amply clear, through statements, formal protests to Israel’s Foreign Ministry and speeches in the UNSC, that it opposes annexation and argues that it goes against international law, which means they will likely use those forums to condemn Israel.
The question is how far Germany will go. Israeli diplomatic sources have characterized Israel’s ties with Germany as unique in Europe, a special and genuine alliance between the countries. As such, a Foreign Ministry source briefing reporters on Monday said it’s unlikely Germany would support sanctions, something that other EU member states have indicated they might push in the event of Israel extending its laws to the West Bank. Nor would they be likely to recognize a Palestinian state outside of the framework of an agreement between Ramallah and Jerusalem, contrary to some others in the EU.
But at the same time, Germany is not in one of the small group of EU member states that blocked High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell’s statements condemning annexation that has not yet happened.
And there are other, more subtle ways for Germany to show its dissatisfaction. For example, when countries around the world closed down their borders due to the coronavirus pandemic and people struggled to find their way back to Israel, Germany treated Israelis like German citizens and put them on their specially chartered rescue flights. Would they be so unhesitatingly willing to do Israel a favor like that if Israel makes a move that they view as beyond the pale?
This is the dilemma that will be at the top of Maas’s agenda when he arrives in Jerusalem.
The absurd thing is that, in the meantime, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi doesn’t actually have any answers for Maas. Unlike Netanyahu, who is all in on sovereignty, Ashkenazi has yet to announce a position in favor or against. He says he’s for the Trump plan, which includes sovereignty, but he also doesn’t want to upset Egypt and Jordan, which sovereignty would do.
Diplomats, who are meant to represent the government’s position, have come up with their own response to leaders in lieu of having an actual decision to defend. It’s okay for allies to have disagreements. Israel-EU ties shouldn’t only be dependent on the situation in the West Bank.
But those lines are a weak replacement for an actual policy, which means that Ashkenazi needs to make a decision before Wednesday, or miss an opportunity to, at the very least, bring a friend in a position of great power into the loop and try to make him understand Israel’s stance. •
Levine, chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians, charged that “health officials do not even have the basic epidemiologic data on patients to make decisions.”
Rossella Tercatin contributed to this report. •