El Al planes can't refuel in Europe Avi Krawitz and jpost staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 4, 2006
Israel's security is at risk due to the decision by several European nations not to allow El Al cargo planes carrying arms shipments to land - and therefore refuel - on their way to Israel. According to El Al pilots' spokesman Itai Regev, the decision by England, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy - whose national carrier Alitalia recently won a bid to be the preferred carrier for Israeli public servants flying abroad on official business - not to allow arms-laden El Al flights to refuel necessitates the transport of significantly smaller quantities of weapons and ammunition per flight. At a time when the IDF's stocks have been depleted by the 34-day campaign in Lebanon, Regev asserted Sunday in a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the restrictions placed on El Al weapons cargos place the nation at risk. Last week, El Al bashed the decision to award the government bid to Alitalia, calling the move puzzling in light of recent events in the country. 'Even in these days when the Israeli aviation industry is absorbing so much damage from the war in the North, the government found it appropriate to publish another tender and with it strengthen the foreign airlines,' said Haim Romano, El Al chief executive officer. 'In the past few weeks our pilots have divided their time between reserve duty and flying passengers to and from Israel, and this is the reward the government presents to them.' Accountant General Yoram Zalika signed an agreement with Alitalia to give government workers discounts on work- related travel, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday, adding that the move was aimed at gaining cheaper fares for government bodies. 'This is part of the government policy, which started with the privatization of El Al, to purchase tickets based on the cheapest price and not on the basis that it was obligated to buy from EL Al as it had been accustomed to doing,' a Finance Ministry statement read. Despite the problems faced by El Al, the company's arms shipments are not the only ones to encounter problems in Europe. In July, British Foreign Minister Margaret Becket criticized the United States for failing to follow procedures for international arms shipments after a US plane carrying a shipment of "smart bombs" for Israel stopped for refueling at Scotland's Prestwick Airport. The foreign secretary said that it appeared that safety regulations had not been observed. Becket said that she had "already let the US know that this is an issue that appears to be seriously at fault," and that she intended to lodge a formal protest after she met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. http://www.jpost. com/servlet/ Satellite? cid=115452600169 8&pagename= JPost%2FJPArticl e%2FShowFull [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
