No Closed Airport

From USA Today:

"Tel Aviv flight ban cuts off Israelis"

For the first time in more than two decades, major international flights were suspended to Israel's main airport Tuesday because of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, limiting Israel's access to allies around the world as the latest military confrontation with Hamas deepens. The move by international carriers and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration was a reflection of growing anxiety over the vulnerability of global air travel following Thursday's downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard. The FAA imposed a 24-hour ban on flights to Israel after several U.S. airlines acted. Germany's Lufthansa, Italian airline Alitalia and Air France made similar moves before the European Aviation Safety Agency issued an advisory. Israeli airline El Al maintained a regular flight schedule. Not since 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, has travel from the west been so disrupted to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport, the primary international gateway to the Jewish nation. The suspension of flights was at least a temporary victory for Hamas, which has threatened to shut down the airport in the past and, in the most recent fighting, has shown increasing range and prowess at firing rockets from positions in Gaza to disrupt life in Israel.  Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz called on airlines and the FAA to reconsider, saying the ban would "hand terror a prize.'' He said civilian flights were protected by Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system and the airport was safe. Billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was boarding an El Al flight from New York to Tel Aviv "to show solidarity with the Israeli people and to demonstrate that it is safe to fly in and out of Israel.'' The Palestinian militants have fired more than 2,000 rockets toward Israel. While many have been intercepted, including several headed for the airport area, officials said a rocket that struck Tuesday was the closest yet to the airport since the latest fighting began two weeks ago. The rocket heavily damaged a house and lightly injured one Israeli in Yehud, a Tel Aviv suburb near the airport, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. The abrupt cancellations forced thousands of travelers to alter their plans and left some stranded. For how long is unclear: The FAA's initial move was for 24 hours, with updated guidance to be provided by midday Wednesday. The FAA, following steps by some airlines themselves, prohibited U.S. carriers from flying to Tel Aviv for 24 hours "due to the potentially hazardous situation created by the armed conflict in Israel and Gaza." The European Aviation Safety Agency followed with its own advisory, saying it "strongly recommends" airlines avoid the airport.

Siim Kallas, the European Commissioner for transport, said he is "very concerned at situation near Ben Gurion Airport" and is "monitoring closely." At the airport early Wednesday, Miriam Roensen and boyfriend Kim Naess wandered around with their rolling luggage trying to figure how to return to Oslo, after a week's vacation in Israel. They headed to the airport believing they had been rebooked after their initial flight was canceled. "So now we are trying a third option, but we do not know what that we will be yet," Roensen said. They were among hundreds of tourists and Israelis who arrived the airport believing they could fly out, only to discover that they had no way to leave the country. The staff at the information desk had few options to suggest. "Whatever happens, if you let it get you down, than you will be down, but if you cannot do anything about it, stay happy," Naess said.  After a rocket-filled honeymoon, Tarzyna Dyna and Hubert Swietek were happy to learn they could leave as planned. They were booked home to Warsaw on El Al, one of the few airlines flying out of Israel on Wednesday morning. They planned to board, though Dyna acknowledged unease. "I am scared to fly, because I heard that a rocket fell near this airport, and I am scared that that kind of rocket may hit our airplane," Dyna said. Germany's Lufthansa, Air France, Air Canada, Alitalia, Dutch KLM, Britain's easyJet, Turkish Airlines and Greece's Aegean Airlines were among those carriers canceling flights to Tel Aviv over safety concerns. Jairyes Samal took a photograph of his wife and children by the departure board showing their flight home to Turkey was canceled. "We checked before we left the house. The flight was still scheduled to leave on time," Samal said. Historian Michael Oren, Israel's former ambassador to Washington, said the decisions to cancel flights stemmed from an abundance of caution after the Malaysian airliner was shot down "It's unfortunate, and I'm sure this wasn't the State Department's intention, that Hamas is celebrating this as a victory," Oren said. "I don't think it's in anybody's interest to give Jihadist terrorists a victory." Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said he was at the airport two weeks ago, waiting for a flight to Washington, when sirens wailed and he and other travelers had to take shelter.

"This is not the first time a rocket targeted Ben Gurion International Airport," he said. "They've already found ways to avoid the rocket risk. There's something different going here that I can't explain." During the 1991 Gulf war, every airline but El Al suspended service to Israel, according to the Jerusalem Post. Earlier in the current conflict, Hamas fired "a handful" of rockets toward the airport, resulting in a nine-minute suspension in traffic, the newspaper reported. More than 1,000 passengers fly each way on four flights daily between the United States and Israel by U.S. airlines.

Jack Ram, 50, of Tel Aviv, who was in New York visiting friends, said threats of violence and disruptions while traveling were nothing new for Israelis. He prayed Tuesday before entering the departure area at Newark, for an El Al flight to Israel. "We're used to it. That's how we live,'' he said.

^  This has nothing to do with Hamas and their rockets since they have been firing them for 2 weeks and nothing major has happened (due to the Iron Dome.) Like the article states it is clearly the US and Europe's nerves over what happened in eastern Ukraine. That is different as the pro-Russian terrorists are actually on the ground and within easy rocket range (as shown by them murdering nearly 300 innocent people) while Hamas is confined to Gaza and the Iron Dome shoots down their rockets 90% of the time. Since the US and EU cancelled the flights they should be forced to provide for those (both in Israel and around the world) affected by the cancellations. I'm sure they won't and the airlines will say they don't have to as they didn't cancel them and that will leave the stranded in limbo with only Israel taking care of them (at least those in Israel at the moment.) This dos show the difference between the Israelis and the rest of the Western World. Israel views this as a sign weakness and that life as to continue as normal as possible as an act of defiance to Hamas and their other enemies. It is like the stories from the Siege of Sarajevo where the Bosnian women (Serb, Bosniak and Croatian) were seen in the latest fashion including high heels and make-up as they collected firewood, food, water or were running from snipers. They couldn't control the overall war, but could do this little to show their defiance. This is Israel's act. ^

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/07/22/ben-gurion-airport/13015887/