In response to a petition filed against it in the High Court of Justice in January, the Government of Israel has finally decided to end the special VIP treatment top haredi rabbis get at Ben Gurion International Airport – special VIP treatment non-haredi rabbis and regular Israelis could not get.
Above: A group of top hasidic rebbes and their aides meeting in an emergency session of the Agudat Israel's Council of Torah Sages in September 2012 in Israel
No More Special Exclusive VIP Treatment For Haredi Rabbis At Airport, Government Is Forced To Say
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
In response to a petition filed against it in the High Court of Justice in January, the Government of Israel has finally decided to end the special VIP treatment top haredi rabbis get at Ben Gurion International Airport.
The government made the announcement Tuesday, Ha’aretz reported.
Forty-five haredi rabbis – most hasidic rebbes and Sefardi kabbalists – with “significant” followings were allowed to have their personal drivers drive their private cars onto the tarmac right up to awaiting flights. Border control and customs agents would meet them at the plane.
Regular passengers cannot drive cars onto the airport tarmac, let alone drive up to a plane there.
The haredi rabbis – which included some virulently anti-Zionist haredi rabbis like the leaders of of the extreme anti-Zionist Edah Haredit haredi umbrella organization – were also provided with a special VIP waiting room only for them, and were not required to stand in line for security, customs or border control on arrival or departure.
But the Sha’arei Mishpat Academic Center’s legal clinics petitioned the High Court to stop this practice, which not only favored haredi rabbis over other Israelis, it also excluded Zionist Orthodox and Modern Orthodox rabbis and all non-Orthodox clergy, no matter how famous. None of them were on the airport’s special VIP list, and they all had to stand in line like every other Israeli.
The legal clinics argued that the Israel Airports Authority did not have the authority to permit this discriminatory practice.
It also claimed the list of eligible rabbis appeared to have been compiled without any objective criteria.
“There are no objective criteria. It all boils down to relations between the authority and the United Torah Judaism [UTJ] and Shas religious [haredi political] parties. The duty-free shops [in the airport] are open on the Sabbath and hametz [leavened goods] is sold there over Passover. There are additional reasons why the authority wants to remain in good standing with haredi politicians,” a former senior IAA official told Ha’aretz in January.
Because of the government decision, the haredi rabbis will still be able to get lesser VIP service available to any traveler willing to pay for it – but they will have to pay. This standard VIP service enables travelers who pay for the luxury to go through security, border control and customs in a special VIP lounge rather than waiting in line with hundreds of other people. These VIPs – often famous Israeli musicians and actors, and sometimes politicians – are then taken to their flight in a special private VIP shuttle. But their aides don't get to come with them, unless they are on the smae fight and have paid for VIP service, and they can't have their drivers pick them up and drop them off on the tarmac directly at the plane.
But the airport authority also said that at times when large crowds of haredim are expected arrive to greet or see off a VIP haredi rabbi, the airport may have to make special arrangements.
Only time will tell if the government and the airport authority honestly follow these guidelines, or if they instead do what successive Likud Party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu governments have done with other High Court cases involving haredim, and skirt and evade whatever ruling or agreement is reached after first promising to uphold it.
Related Posts:
“X-Ray Rabbi” Dodges Customs, Causes Special Status For VIP Haredi Rabbis To Come Into Question.
Arguably Illegal VIP Treatment For Haredi Rabbis At Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport Exceeds That Of Rock Stars And The Rich And Famous.