Opuscula Moses’ aliyah* easier Than our return To Israel via El Al

MY SPOUSE AND I ARE ISRAELIS. We also are U.S. citizens; me by birth, she by naturalization. We have been in the States 40-plus years.

Our daughter and grandchildren are in Israel. We have two sons, but no grands, remaining in the U.S.

UNFORTUNATELY, the Chinese virus has “snafu’ed” our return.

 

Airplane in a medical mask against the sky, character. Travel Safely

We have tickets on El Al LY18, a direct flight MIA-TLV.

The flight is — was — supposed to leave Sunday evening.

The flight was canceled and rescheduled for the following week.

That flight was canceled and rescheduled for the following week.

That flight also was canceled and rescheduled for the following week.

Is it El Al or politicians?

We are pretty certain the problem originates in Jerusalem.

The politicians are allowing only “n” number of returnees per day, and only from one departure site per country. For the the entire United States JFK is the ONLY port of exit.

That might be OK IF El Al flights could originate elsewhere — e.g. MIA, LAX, ORD — and add passengers at JFK for, as far as Israel is concerned, a single point of origin from the U.S.

U.S. law — indeed most countries with multiple international airports (Spain is another good example) prohibits foreign carriers (e.g., El Al, Delta) from transporting passengers in-country UNLESS the flight either originates or terminates in another country.

Only U.S. carriers can fly passengers from one U.S. airport to another U.S. airport.

El Al COULD pick up passengers at MIA, LAX, ORD, etc., fly them to JFK, add passengers at JFK but cannot discharge passengers at JFK. The same applies on El Al flights TO the U.S.

Been there; done that.

Testing, testing

Because of the Chinese virus — don’t tell me that’s not “pc; remember the (misnamed) “Spanish” flu? — the world was turned upside down. Between common sense and paranoia, borders, schools, places of worship, public places, and a host of other things were shut down.

During World War I, Spain was a neutral country with a free media that covered the outbreak from the start, first reporting on it in Madrid in late May of 1918. Meanwhile, Allied countries and the Central Powers had wartime censors who covered the flu, many believed it originated there (the Spanish, meanwhile, believed the virus came from France news of the flu to keep morale high. Because Spanish news sources were the only ones reporting on and called it the “French Flu.”) (https://historiography/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic)

As this is written, passengers heading to Israel must have a special test within 72 hours of departure and submit a form within 24 hours of departure to a government clerk who will decide if the passenger is allowed to board.

On arrival in Israel, the passenger may be tested again and may be sent to a quarantine hotel for 14 days.

Appropriate timing

If Moses left Egypt today, we STILL would be wondering in the wilderness.

HaShem promises to gather us together and being us back to Israel, but with Israelis who refuse to follow guidelines (masks, social distancing, hand washing, refusing vaccination) and an indecisive government, going home nearly is impossible.

With Pesach at hand, I am surprised the government still has not opened the airports — Pesach is, after all, the merchants' (and tax collector) money-making holday equivalent to other counties' Christmas and yet another election in the offing, the incumbents may fear for their seats in Knesset.

Meanwhile, we survive with the kindness of others who tolerate our infringement on their good natures while El Al ignores our plight and the plight of other Israelis stuck — fortunately not in Lodi (CA) — in limbo while El Al or Bibi & Company cannot get it right.

Color me an unhappy camper.

When I made aliyah in 1975, everything went smoothly. All my dealings with Israeli government offices, banks, etc. were fine.

Forty years later … a different story.

Blame it on the Chinese.

Why not fly to JFK?

1. My wife and I are seniors with mobility issues. Shlepping luggage, a rollator (walker), and mobility scooter borders on the impossible. El Al will not arange transfer from the domestic flight to its flight.

2. Each time the mobility scooter is loaded/unloaded from a plane, there is a chance it will be dropped and made useless.

3. Any delay with either flight could put our pre-boarding test in jeopardy; we would be "stuck" at JFK for an undetermined duration.

American Airlines is to inaugurate 3 flights a week MIA-TLV BEGINNING IN JUNE. A long time to impose on people.

* Then again, Moses never made it into the Promised Land, so perhaps I should have re-thought the headline.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Moses’ Aliyah

Opuscula Airplane Roulette

MY SPOUSE USUALLY makes all the long-distance travel arrangements. I get to make the arrangements to go to my barber.

She likes Spain’s Iberia Airlines.¹

Iberia consistently has the second lowest fares between MIA and TLV. (Turkish Air has lower prices, but with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan running Turkey — and following the attack on a U.S. ship docked at a Turkish port — flying via Turkey is not an option.)

We were booked on an Iberian (IB) flight that was not an IB flight.

The flight was operated by American Airlines (AA).

IB has code sharing with a number of other airlines, including El Al (LY).²

 

MIA > BCN > TLV

AA flew us in a 777-something from MIA to BCN. I like BCN better than MAD, but this time it would not make a difference.

A fellow minyan maker kindly drove us to MIA and dropped us at the AA Departure doors.

Our baggage was checked and wheel chairs requested. We were wheeled to a waiting area (wheel chair transfer point) where we waited until time to clear TSA.

TSA is a farce that depends solely on technology. I was forced out of the wheel chair to be scanned; lacking balance, this is a difficult task. Credit where it is due, the TSA guy did his job quickly.

Once past TSA we were wheeled to the AA waiting area for our IB flight “operated by” AA.

MIA wheel chair pushers accept tips. (I don’t know what they are paid. Most service workers in the U.S. depend on tips.)

AA provided pushers to the plane’s door and we found our seats.

The flight was uneventful; the kosher meal was OK.

We arrived at BCN and were instructed to wait onboard until a special lift arrived. The lift was a scissor bus that, once all of us were on board, lowered itself to “normal” mode. We were driven to a secure transfer point where airport personnel took control.

From the secure transfer point we were wheeled to the Spanish equivalent of TSA where we were again inspected for contraband.

 

Keep in mind we cleared inspection in the U.S. and never were out of sight of security personnel.

 

We were wheeled to the waiting area for our flight to TLV.

All flights from anywhere direct to an Israeli destination have a pre-boarding check by Israeli security.

The Israelis wisely determine risks based on profiling, a practice banned in the U.S.

No need to take off shoes or belt, no need to empty pockets. The answers to a few innocuous questions determine Go or No Go.

When the LY flight was ready to board we were pushed to the door of another 777-something and found our seats.

Like the AA flight, the LY leg was OK; nothing to write home about.

As before, anyone needing assistance was told to remain seated until wheel chairs were at the door.

At TLV we were transferred from a chair to a cart and then back to a chair. We quickly cleared passport control — there is a special booth for handicapped passengers — collected our baggage and met our son-in-law and our favorite grand-daughter. It’s OK to play favorites; she’s our ONLY grand-daughter.

 

What did I do until time to board the return flight? It’s all at
http://yohanon.blogspot.com/2019/07/

 

TLV > MAD > MIA

Unlike the U.S., I never have been able to download boarding passes for flights from TLV, Security? Probably.

Security at TLV begins before the passenger gets to the airline’s counter.

People queue up for the “20 questions” review.

Where did you go in Israel?

Did you pack your own bags?

And so on.

This may be the passenger’s first encounter with profiling. It won’t be the last.

Leftists will be disappointed when they see Arabs pass the checkpoint faster than some Jews. This lack of discrimination prevails throughout all inspections.

Once past the initial Q&A session, baggage usually is electronically scanned. I may be ordered to prove my two bottles of arak really ARE two bottles of arak; that won’t be a first … and I’m a Jew traveling on an Israeli passport !

Being handicapped — I am pushed from point to point in a wheelchair — has its advantages.

The main advantages is going to the front of the line.

Some in line may take umbrage with this, but during the trip to and from Israel, no one grumbled. At least no one in my hearing.

I was pushed from the initial Q&A to the airline’s counter to collect my boarding passes and to drop off my single suitcase. (It contained everything, including a computer — no carry on to burden me.)

Good thinking In most airports I have to pass through a metal detector frame and often stand still for a moment. My metal cane goes through another process.

In Israel, my metal cane was taken and I was given a wooden cane to use as I passed throuogh the frame.

Good thinking on someone's part.

I’m a diplomat

Not really, but that’s where wheelchairs are bound for outgoing passengers. I doubt the inspection is any less severe than the regular check, but because there are no lines it is much faster.

My pusher, a delightful young woman, had me transfer to an electric cart for the long jaunt to the designated flight departure area. Wisely — she has done this before — she checked the assigned gate and adjacent gates. The assigned was B8; the real gate was B6. She suggested I should wait midway between the two gates.

I was pushed to the Airbus A330-something’s door and walked to my assigned seat. Getting through the door can be tricky, but there are hand-holds so I managed sans further assistance.

The flight TO Israel was via American (MIA-MAD) and El Al (MAD-TLV) Going back, the flights were Iberia all the way.

I’ve flown Iberia before, but I’ve never — until now — felt my lack of Spanish was a handicap. This time, it seemed that the Flight Attendants (FAs) resented anyone not speaking Spanish. Did they learn to be FA’s in France? We all “survived.”

When we arrived at MAD those needing assistance to a connecting flight debarked through another door onto an elevated platform. As at BCN (ibid.), the platform was lowered and we took seats on a special bus to a sequestered area where we were transferred to MAD chairs. Again, passengers never were out of sight of security personnel.

I dislike MAD — it is a large airport and I always have to go what seems to be miles to get to my connecting flight. The wheelchair pusher knew how to get me from Point A to Point B by the shortest route.

As at TLV, my gate was at the far end of the terminal.

My passport was checked (second time by Iberia; first time at TLV).

My pusher, a young fellow who spoke more English than I speak Spanish, parked me near the departure gate where I waited more than an hour for my next flight. He said someone would collect me and get me to the plane’s door. Someone did.

Gratis — free, too

Unlike MIA (and perhaps other U.S. airports), tips are prohibited. At BCN the pushers pointed out security cameras and explained the “No tipping” rule. At MAD, my pusher briefly stopped at his company’s spot to report on my progress. There I read, in English and Spanish, that the service is “gratis.” I did not see similar signs at TLV, but tips are refused.

My MAD-MIA flight was about 15 minutes late pushing back (and about 30 minutes late landing at MIA,) Why? No idea. All other flights were on time or a bit early.

The MAD-MIA leg in another Airbus A330-something was uneventful.

Whoever assigned my seats always managed to put me on the aisle, best for me.

Airline food never is anything “to write home about,” and that’s my last word on that subject.

I lied. A few more words. If you need a kosher meal on any airline (other than El Al) you must order it EVEN FROM TLV. Not all meals are kosher, a surprise for some Israelis who wanted kosher but, failing to order it, settled for “regular” meals. (The kosher meals from MAD were “glatt” and cooked according to Bet Yosef (beshul Israel). I have the certificates.)

 

BACK IN THE USA

The MAD-MIA flight arrived about 30 minutes late. This time, a wheelchair was waiting at the plane's door — this being my final destination.

My pusher, apparently a recent legal immigrate, spoke little English, “but I am learning.” Bravo! And Kol HaKavod!

He was partnered with a more senior pusher and we rapidly went up a level, rode an internal tram, then down a level (the ups and downs to international travel?) and then first to baggage claim — my carry-on size bag came quickly; amazing — and the to passport control where I was welcomed back, asked a couple of questions (anything to declare?) and cleared.

The pusher then pushed me to the tram that runs between the terminals and the Rental Car Center and other local transportation. He said he couldn’t escort me on the train; beyond area.

I managed on my own the short distance between tram and TriRail’s elevator down to the tracks. I bought my ticket ($3.75) and boarded the waiting train. The TriRail ride was normal.

At the depot I called a neighbor for a ride and discovered that my neighbor had a serious problem getting to the station. There was a fatal accident and the sheriff’s deputies had blocked roads in all directions.

I eventually arrived at the manse at about 6:30.

From 1:30 a.m. Israel time to 6:30 p.m. Eastern time (Israel is 7 hours ahead of Miami) makes a   l-o-n-g   day.

It was a nice visit, but next time, let the grandkids come here to visit. (They want to anyway.)

It’s good to be home.

Sources

1. https://www.iberia.com/il/

2. http://tinyurl.com/y7wt998p

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

Comments on Visiting Israel

Opuscula Musical chairs At 30,000 feet

 

ISRAEL'S EL AL airline is being sued because a flight attendant, nee' stewardess, asked an 81 year old woman to change seats,

She was offered another seat in the same business section of the plane when an extremist, and ignorant, black hat objected sitting next to a woman.

IN TRUTH, I empathize with the woman. If the black hat objected to sitting near a woman, HE should have been moved even if that necessitated moving him to the "cheap" seats although on El Al, even the "cheap" seats are expensive.

The woman suggested that El Al, and perhaps all other airlines flying to Israel, have a haredi (extremist black hat) section.

During the seat selection process, passengers would be asked:

I'm a man [ ] woman [ ] who

  (a) only will sit next to another man [ ] woman [ ]

   (b) will NOT sit within 2 rows of children

   (c) must sit close to the lavatories/betai shemush

   (d) doesn't care where I sit as long as I sit by the window [ ] on the aisle [ ].

  (e) does [ ] does not [ ] want to sit next to my family

Not all black hats are ignorant extremists; some are downright delightful and reasonable people. No, they won't shake hands with a person of the other sex nor will they willingly listen to a woman's voice in song - they are nice people who simply never learned to control their sexual proclivities (or perhaps even to acknowledge them).

The suit against El Al is not the first complaint against the company regarding seating, nor is El Al the only company to suffer the extremists' folly. It seems that Delta also is being victimized by the black hats.

Perhaps the airlines should offer "haredi only" flights and treat them as charter flights meaning that the plane stays on the ground until all seats are sold. The flight could offer three seating options:

  (1) All men and boys

  (2) All women, girls, and pre-bar mitzvah age boys

  (3) Family

Sub-divisions might be needed in the mens' section accommodating different minyan start times: HaNetz, Chabad, etc.

The charter airline would need "regional" feeder flights from major black hat concentrations - Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami - to New York where they would board a jumbo for the flight to Israel where they could board segregated buses to Mea Sharim or Bnai Brak.

Recently there have been several stories that "made the Web" concerning black hats on flights to places other than Israel (London, as case in point). Perhaps the flights to Israel could be routed via one or another European center, e.g. London, Madrid, Rome, Warsaw.

Israeli passport control, instead of being divided into citizens and non-citizens would be divided for these charter flights into either Men and Women with children or by black hat sect, there seem to be one for each European shetel.

At least the charter company would not have to worry about meals; each black hat community seems to have its own level of kashrut that, of course, is "higher" than any other black hat group's kashrut. (Even El Al's kashrut is too casual for many.)

---

ALSO SEE

Woman, 81, sues El Al for moving her at haredi man's request

When a Plane Seat Next to a Woman Is Against Orthodox Faith

Delta Flight Delayed After Ultra Orthodox Jews Refuse To Take Off Until Women Are Removed From Their Rows

Opuscula Airline ranker Partner with BDS?

 

ISRAEL HAS 15 air carriers. Most are domestic, in-country air carriers, and a few others are cargo carriers or specialized - e.g., crop dusting or helicopter tour companies.

There are at least 3 scheduled international airlines, alphabetically

* Arkia Israel Airlines

* El Al

* Israir

NONE of the Israeli international carriers is listed on the UK-based Skytrax list of "Top 100 Airlines."

North Korea's Air Koryo is ranked last (#150) in the rating company's survey - it, like Arkia, El Al, and Israir, failed to make even the "Top 100" list.

ON THE OTHER HAND, many Arab airlines made the list. There probably will be no argument that at least two of the list leaders

* Qatar Airways (1)
* Turkish Airlines (4)
* Emirates (5)
* Etihad Airways (6)

treat their passengers as passengers once expected to be treated.

Still, there ARE some Arab airlines that, like their Israeli counterparts failed to make the "Top 100" list. Missing are EgyptAir, Royal Air Maroc, and Royal Jordanian Airlines.

According to the The Star article about North Korea's airline, the "SkyTrax ratings are focused on service and not safety."

I have flown on several of the "Top 100" airlines as well as El Al. While I might not rank El Al as my favorite carrier - it's over priced and it no longer offers convenient flights from South Florida - it most assuredly would make my personal Top 20 list. (British Midland, thankfully no longer a scheduled carrier, would compete with North Korea's Air Koryo for the "World's Worst" carrier. I'm ready to explain why my Midland's flights were so bad.)

My #2 son who frequently travels to the far corners of the world, likes Lufthansa (#12 on Skytrax' list) and the Spouse favors Iberia (#56). Iberia is OK for me, but the jaunt from the arrival gate to the departure gate in Madrid always is impossibly long. (My best U.S.-Israel flight was on KLM (#28) via Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.) Because of France's De Gaulle airport I try to avoid Air France (#15) and any flights that require a change of planes at that airport. Air France service is, in my opinion, nothing to write home about.

I'm hardly a frequent flyer, but I have been flying commercial for a number of years; from tail draggers (e.g., DC-3) with real "box" lunches to Lockheed Super Constellations and L-1011s, now Boeing and Airbus jumbos. I'm not sure "bigger is better."

I have flown on the no-longer-in-the-air Eastern, National, Pan American, and TWA, as well as several others that were "absorbed" by still-flying airlines (Northwest (Orient) merged with Delta and US Airways merged with American). I've had bad experiences with several of Skytrax' "Top 100": Alitalia (74), American (79), Delta (45), and United (60). El Al compares favorably with all of the "Top 100" on which I have hours in the air - and waiting on the ground. I have flown multiple times on each of the currently flying airlines.

Although I realize some major mid-east carriers, particularly those of Israel's neighbors Egypt and Jordan, are absent from Skytrax' "Top 100", I still find it hard to accept that El Al and Arkia failed to make the list. No one ever has spilled coffee on me on El Al (it happened to another passenger on a KLM flight), no one gave my meal - with my name clearly marked on the box - to another passenger (British Midland). El Al never lost my luggage, unlike Delta and US Air regularly did when I was a consultant. El Al never left me stranded short of my destination and sent me on my way in an over-crowded jitney as United did.

Lod, El Al's home base - much improved since my first El Al flight in 1975 - is an easy to navigate airport - with free WiFi; I think better than Madrid, Rome, London, and far, far better than Paris .

From this passenger's limited in-flight experience, I think El Al should have made the "Top 100" list; that it didn't suggests something is rotten - not in Denmark but at Skytrax' UK headquarters.

Opuscula דו''ח

 

Israel & back

In the air Tickets were for Iberia (Spanish airline) flight. From Miami (MIA) to Barcelona (BCN) the flight was in an American Airlines (AA) ice box. Aside from being super-cool - blankets and sweaters to the rescue - the flight was uneventful. Left on time, arrived on time. Flight attendants (FAs) attended.

Arrived at BCN for a short layover. Nice airport, relatively small, meaning that passengers don't have to run a mile between gates. Once again the security check.

I fail to understand why passengers who got off one flight at an international terminal and are boarding another flight in the same terminal - that is, no mingling with the possibly uninspected masses in the main terminal - need to be body searched again.

From BCN to Lod (TLV) the flight was with El Al, another Iberia code share. Like the flight from MIA to BCN, this segment was uneventful.

Lod used to be a nice compact airport, back before "jet ways" kept passengers out of the elements. Now it's a long hike to passport control (went smoothly), baggage collection (not bad since the BCN>TLV plane was relatively small - at least compared to a Boeing jumbo), then a breeze through the customs green line. The customs guy in the red line (for inspections) was a lonely as the Maytag repairman (when Maytag still was Maytag).

For all that, the chauffer (son-in-law) didn't spend a lot of time in wait mode.

On the return trip is was Iberia all the way.

Iberia buys and flies Airbus jets. I am not a fan of Airbus, an airplane built by a committee of Brits, French, Germans, and Spaniards (which probably is why Spain's national airline uses Airbus aircraft).

From TLV to Madrid (MAD) passengers were treated to the narrow, and hard, seats of an A (for Airbus) 319. I was more comfortable in a USAF C-119 "Flying Boxcar" than the A319. But we left on time and arrived on time.

The TLV flight docked at the "R" side of Terminal 4S. This terminal has gateways for R, S, and U docks. My flight to MIA was at gate S67 - the far end of the terminal.

While MAD has some moving walkways, there still is some hiking to be done, so I was ready to rest when I encountered - surprise - another security check.

Mind, Israeli security already allowed me on a plane (profiling seems to have been replaced - unfortunately with electronics; it may be faster, but is it as good? - and I had neither time nor inclination to exit the international terminal, but once again, removed computer, empty pockets, remove belt, etc. and et al. Meanwhile the clock is ticking.

I got to the MAD departure gate as the first passengers for the A-330/300 jumbo were heading down the jet way.

My turn came and I found my seat.

And waited.

And waited.

Seems an Iberia inbound flight with passengers slated for the MAD>MIA trip was delayed. To its credit, Iberia delayed the U.S.-bound flight until the late arrivals were aboard. Iberia joins KLM and United in accommodating connecting-flight passengers; all deserve a tip of the hat for patience. In the end, most of the delay was made up as we crossed the Atlantic - to be held up by a typical south Florida afternoon deluge.

MIA is not the airport where I hung out as a teen (Civil Air Patrol Miami Composite Squadron 2) back in the day when Pan Am, Eastern, and National had a major presence there.

MIA is huge and even with moving walkways, there is a lot of hiking to be done.

MIA has introduced a self-check-in for arriving U.S. citizens. Stick your passport onto a reader, follow the directions on the monitor, have your picture taken and you're on your way to baggage claim in only a matter of minutes. Passengers till need to fill out the immigration form on board the airplane so a pen is a must for all travels to the U.S. - the airlines don't seem to have pens for passengers. (I might add that handing out cheap ball points with the airline's logo or name would be good advertising for future flights. Me? I carry several inexpensive ball point pens when I fly.)

Iberia is a "code chare" with El Al and a number of other airlines. Basically, that means is you buy a ticket on Iberia, which often has the lowest price tickets to Israel, you could end up flying in any of a number of different carriers.

Funny thing about the Iberia-El Al code share. It's a secret known only to El Al.

The Iberia code share page in its in-flight magazine lists almost all of its code share partners except El Al.

From Iberia in-flight magazine (click to enlarge)

In the air in Israel

 

El Al & the Histadrut

El Al, IsrAir, and Arkia – Israel-flagged airlines, are on strike.

Israel’s all-powerful union, the Histadrut, is striking at Lod but not Israeli’s other domestic and international airports.

The reason for the work stoppages is a Knesset decision to make flights to and from Israel more price competitive.

The airlines, led by El Al, complain that Israeli airlines have high security costs and, according to an Israel HaYom op-ed piece by Dan Margalit, are prevented from making code share partnerships with any carrier that flies into Arab countries.

El Al has code share agreements with American Airlines, which in turn has agreements with Royal Jordanian and Etihad Airways (flights to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), with connecting flights to Kuwait and Pakistan) and Gulf Air (flights to Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.; Bahrain; Doha, Qatar; Kuwait, and Muscat, Oman). Note: According to the American Airlines Web site, “Due to a regulatory change by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, American Airlines has suspended its code share on flights operated by Gulf Air until further notice.
“This regulatory change does not affect Gulf Air's code share on flights operated by American Airlines, which continues uninterrupted.”

If I read that correctly. It still is possible to board an AA flight to an Arab country.

El Al also has code share agreements with Iberia (flights to Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, and Egypt); SwissAir (flights to Bahrain, Iran *, Kuwait*, Lebanon*, Oman, Saudi Arabia*, Qatar, Doha*, United Arab Emirates; * indicates code share with Swiss Air); and Czech Airlines (flights to Kuwait, Bahrain*, Dubai*, Abu Dabi, Oman*; ; * indicates code share with Czech Airlines), so the restriction obviously is a false one.

El Al also has – or had – a code share agreement with Delta that, like AA, flies into a Arab state (Saudia).

According to HaAretz, “A set number of weekly flights to certain destinations will be added every year. At the end of the five-year period there will be full competition on all routes between Israel and the EU, and every airline from the EU or Israel will be allowed to fly to any destination within the region as many times as it wants. The agreement differentiate between flights that terminate in Israel or the EU and that continue on to a final destination.”

The HaArtez article notes that “There are now direct flights from Israel to 16 EU nations; 57% of all Israeli international passenger flights going to the EU. ( http://tinyurl.com/c4cfh8b )

A Jewish Journal article dated April 26, 2010, briefly described the U.S.-Israel Open Skies agreement that Ray LaHood, then U.S. secretary of transportation, said in a statement last Friday, after the agreement was signed. “Consumers, airlines and economies of both the United States and Israel will enjoy the benefits of competitive pricing and more convenient service.” ( http://tinyurl.com/cwcv45f )
 

V-22 Osprey – Gift (??) from USA

According to Shlomo Cohen's Daily Cartoon 22.04.2013 in Israel HaYom, US SecDef Chuck Hagel is “gifting” Israel with a so far unannounced number of the V-22 Osprey hybrid aircraft. ( http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_car.php?id=625)

The per unit cost of the V-22 is somewhat above US$100k.

Digging around the internet turns up too many entries of V-22 failures, from design on. The bird, at least in one point in its development, lacked weaponry for any ground support function, specifically a front-mounted machine gun.

Pod-mounted weapons on the aircraft’s wings are of questionable use when the plane is in VTOL (helicopter) more. The size of the propellers may preclude any standard wing-mounted weaponry.

American taxpayers probably will pay for Hagel’s “gift,” but as with most weapons “gifts” from the U.S., Israelis are expected to combat test them for the Americans.

The Osprey has developed, over the years, a nasty reputation for failing to meet its mission.

But perhaps, as Israel has done on other U.S. “gifted” weapons, it will “tweak” the bird to male it into a mission-capable weapon even if not a particularly safe flying machine.