ISRAEL:El Al, the Israeli airline, is locked in a dispute with the country's powerful ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, which has threatened a boycott over flights on the Sabbath.
The row broke out after a labour dispute prompted stoppages across the country last week. As the dispute wound down, El Al flew a number of planes on the Sabbath to transport passengers who had been stranded. Several senior rabbis immediately complained and threatened a potentially costly ultra-Orthodox boycott.
Private negotiations between the national carrier, which was privatised less than two years ago, and some senior rabbis are thought likely to lead to a compromise. But the incident reflects the growing influence of Israel's small but powerful religious community.
Normally El Al avoids flying from Friday evening to Saturday evening to respect the Sabbath, aware that around a fifth of the airline's customers are strictly observant Jews. The airline also provides accommodations for such customers, including seats away from movie screens, kosher meals and flights that land well before the Friday evening Sabbath begins. However, the airline said that the strike had forced it to make a change to its schedule.
El Al is the only airline not to operate on the Sabbath. The airline's chief executive, Haim Romano, had held private meetings with Rabbi Yitzhak Goldknoph, secretary of the Rabbinic Council for the Holiness of Shabbat, and made assurances that there would be no more Sabbath flights, the Jerusalem Post said yesterday.
The rabbi was pushing for a written commitment. "We need a written obligation, anchored in law and enforceable in a court of law, that El Al will never again desecrate Shabbat," the rabbi said.
The ultra-Orthodox community makes up only 7 per cent of Israel's population, but often has a powerful influence. Last month a gay pride march in Jerusalem had to be confined to a sports stadium after weeks of protests and riots from religious Jews.
The national bus carrier has been forced to run buses with segregated seating dividing men from women in ultra-Orthodox neighbourhoods. In some areas where the buses were not segregated they were stoned by rioting crowds.