Airport Workers Originally Planned to Disrupt Transportation Minister's Flight Amid Ben-Gurion Chaos

Senior officials at Israel Airports Authority revealed that the labor strike causing chaos at Ben-Gurion Airport was initially scheduled to disrupt Transportation Minister Miri Regev's flight to Morocco. The strike was originally planned for the day before the disruptions but was postponed by union chairman Pinchas Idan to avoid embarrassing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who accompanied Regev on a joint visit to the airport. Despite the delay, instructions were reportedly given to interfere with the handling of Regev's luggage, though only minor delays occurred and the flight departed as planned.

The airport turmoil prompted members of the board of directors to call for a renewed discussion of decisions made in the past three months, including an unusual one-year extension of the union chairman Pinchas Idan's and his brother Mordechai's terms, despite both having reached retirement age. In response to the allegations, Idan dismissed the claims, stating that senior officials should focus on resolving staff shortages rather than making assumptions, adding, "There was nothing of the sort."