Huh?
I'll let some of my experts try to explain this one.Prime Minister Netanyahu warned on Monday about the possibility of 'Palestinians' from Gaza shooting down aircraft approaching Ben Gurion Airport.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned Monday afternoon that terrorists could fire anti-aircraft missiles at airliners arriving in Israel, if their flight path came close to Gaza.I must be missing something here. The approach to Ben Gurion Airport comes very close to Samaria, but it's nowhere near Gaza. Typically, planes make landfall over Tel Aviv, head inland until about Modiin, turn around sharply and land at the airport. That's nowhere near Gaza.
Netanyahu told Likud party members at a special meeting that he was reluctant to agree to any final status deal with the Palestinian Authority that did not include firm security arrangements.
“Today we are experiencing difficulty flying close to Gaza, since [the terrorists] possess anti-aircraft missiles,” the prime minister explained during the meeting.
“Imagine if there were no security arrangements, and there would be missiles that could bring down an aircraft while it is en route to Ben Gurion International Airport. We need to find a long-term solution,” he said.
As far as I know (and maybe Netanyahu was hinting that Hamas has more than this), the Gaza terrorists have hand-held shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles that could not reach a plane near Ben Gurion. My understanding is that what Hamas has threatens military flights over Gaza, but not civilian aircraft landing at Ben Gurion (the takeoffs are all out over the Mediterranean off Tel Aviv).
Anyone have any ideas?
UPDATE 8:33 PM
I was right about this. This article makes it much clearer that the threat from Hamas missiles in Gaza is to Israeli military flights over Gaza and not to civilian flights over Ben Gurion Airport.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:35 AM
5 Comments:
There has been talk for years of opening a bigger international airport somewhere in the direction of Beer Sheva.
Personally, I appreciate the Hamasniks from preventing this ridiculous plan from ever actualizing. Who wants to arrive in the middle of nowhere?
I think INN mixed this one up. Nethanyahu was talking about security arrangements in the WB post-would-be-agreement, and using the Gaza example to illustrate the risks.
I agree with Yair here.
Shy Guy, this illustrates the stupidity of the Disengagement in 2005 that handed Israel a poisoned chalice. And yes, if Israel leaves Yesha, Ben-Gurion Airport will be within the Arabs' firing line from the Samarian-Judean mountain range.
And as Hamas in Gaza acquires longer range missiles, Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport will be within their range and Israel's elite will wonder why they abandoned Gaza in the first place.
The follies of mankind rarely result in a good outcome.
"Netanyahu told Likud party members at a special meeting that he was RELUCTANT to agree to any final status deal with the Palestinian Authority that did not include firm security arrangements."
Reluctant, not absolutely unwilling???
I sure don't like the sounds of that.
Contrast that with Abu Bluff's adamant refusal to recognize Israel as the Jewish State.
Israel has no real red lines. If there's an issue of principle over which Israel's government will say "no" and leave the talks, I have yet to see one.
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