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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bentway who wrote (210446)	12/12/2006 8:17:25 AM
From: Elroy	Respond to of 281500

Didn't someone earlier post that Israel was a secular nation? Published: 12/12/2006 12:00 AM (UAE) Rabbis' call to boycott Israeli airline stuns El Al officials By Khalil Assali, Correspondent gulfnews.com Occupied Jerusalem: Officials of Israeli carrier El Al were shocked to learn about the religious ruling issued by some prominent rabbis yesterday, asking orthodox Jews to boycott El Al due to the company's desecration of the Sabbath (Saturday), unless the company shows respect to the holiday. Last week, El Al decided to permit flights to leave Israel shortly before the Sabbath to make up for flights delayed during a nationwide strike last week. The flights took off on Friday afternoon and continued operating into the Sabbath, in defiance of the carrier's traditional Sabbath observance. The ruling, issued by some of the orthodox rabbis, including Rabbi Haim Kanievsky, marks an end to a 20-plus-year relation between El Al and orthodox Jews, who have forced the company through the years to abide by Jewish legislation on its flights, including serving kosher food, the quality of movies offered during flights, and not allowing female stewardesses to serve religious men. Kanievsky, an influential figure of the Lithuanian stream, broadcast on the community's Kol Hai radio station, that all orthodox Jews must stop dealing with El Al until the company respects Jewish culture. This means a yearly loss of more than 1 million tickets worth more than $300 million for El Al, which is already suffering from major losses due to international competition. The situation prompted David Maimon, Deputy Director of El Al to tell the media yesterday: "We had to run flights on Saturday to bring back home all the employees who were stuck in remote areas because of the strike. Unfortunately, our rabbis did not see it as a one-off humanitarian act, but decided to boycott the company, although we are trying to maintain the status quo and the sanctity of Sabbath."