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The head of Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority, Shmuel Zakay, has warned that Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport has practically turned into a “US military base,” obstructing civilian flights and threatening Israeli airlines, reports Anadolu.<\/p>\n
As the daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported, Zakay told Transport Minister Miri Regev and the ministry’s director general, Moshe Ben Zaken, that military activity at Israel’s main international airport is delaying the return of foreign airlines and driving up ticket prices ahead of the summer tourist season.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, Israeli media released images showing dozens of US military aircraft, including refueling planes, stationed at the airport amid continued US military support for Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurning Ben Gurion International Airport into a military base harms the return of foreign airlines and threatens the financial stability of Israeli airlines,” Zakay said.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that regional tensions since the start of the war with Iranub on February 28 have significantly affected civilian air traffic, with Israeli airlines moving many planes abroad, some of which have not yet returned.<\/p>\n
Zakay said the Israeli military establishment does not fully understand the damage caused to civil aviation or the impact on ticket prices. and the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cBen Gurion Airport has become a military base with limited civilian activity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Zakay also warned that the situation poses \u201ca real threat\u201d to smaller Israeli airlines, including Israir, Arkia and Air Haifa, due to rising operating and fuel costs, as well as increased demand for flights.<\/p>\n
He called for the relocation of American aircraft from Ben Gurion Airport to military bases, noting that the current situation hurts not only the airlines, but also “all citizens of the country”.<\/p>\n
The Israeli newspaper also quoted Israir airline CEO Uri Sirkis, who told a meeting of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee that the company, which normally parks 17 planes at Ben Gurion Airport, is now only able to keep four at night.<\/p>\n
He said the restrictions are driving up airline ticket prices and limiting the number of allowed flights that Israeli airlines can operate.<\/p>\n
These developments come amid a growing US military presence in Israel and ongoing regional tensions linked to the war with Iran and the possibility of a new confrontation.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, broadcaster Channel 24 reported that hundreds of Israelis received notices to cancel hotel reservations in the southern resort town of Eilat to accommodate US troops.<\/p>\n
The broadcaster said hotels informed guests that bookings from this month to November, including the summer holiday season, were cancelled.<\/p>\n
Recently, Israeli media also reported that Israel has raised the level of military readiness in preparation for a possible resumption of war with Iran if negotiations between Tehran and Washington fail.<\/p>\n
Regional tensions have escalated since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, causing retaliation by Tehran against Israel and US allies in the Persian Gulf, as well as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
A ceasefire came into effect on April 8 through Pakistani mediation, but talks in Islamabad failed to produce a lasting agreement. US President Donald Trump later extended the ceasefire, without a specific deadline.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Iran sent Pakistan its response to a US proposal to end the war, but Trump rejected it as “totally unacceptable”.<\/p>\n
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Source: prizrenpost<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The head of Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority, Shmuel Zakay, has warned that Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport has practically turned into a “US military base,” obstructing civilian flights and threatening Israeli airlines, reports Anadolu. As the daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported, Zakay told Transport Minister Miri Regev and the ministry’s director general, Moshe Ben Zaken, that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[666],"class_list":["post-35552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-brief"],"views":12,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35554,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35552\/revisions\/35554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}