El Al CEO Shkedi
Photo: Yonatan Bloom
Yesha's Danny Dayan
Photo: Gil Yohanan
El Al. Privatized, but still national symbol
Photo: Tzvika Tishler
Settlers demand El Al CEO quit 'leftist group'
Habayit Hayehudi calls on Elyezer Shkedy to give up 'political activism', recognize his position as head of 'national symbol' even though company privatized
Settlers in the West Bank are calling on El Al CEO Elyezer Shkedy to resign from the company or to give up his membership in the organization Blue White Future. They say this group holds that the evacuation of settlements is in the national interest.
Young members of Habayit Hayehudi sent a letter to the CEO of El Al, Israel's largest airline, claiming that Blue White Future is an extreme leftist organization which holds that the evacuation of Jewish settlements is in the highest interests of Israel, recognizes the sacrifice required of those who will be required to leave their homes, and calls for cooperation in coping with this evacuation and in resettlement.
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The young party members claim there are a number of public figures among the movement's members, including Shkedy whose name does indeed appear on the movement's website.
"You are employed as CEO of a Zionist Israeli company whose planes carry the Israeli flag, a company with which we grew up as part of the national ethos, which brought Yemenite and Ethiopian olim (Jewish immigrants)" they wrote.
"Although the company is private today, in practice it still serves as the official airline of Israel and its citizens, especially for us, the settlers loyal to the Land of Israel, who always fly with El Al and are even willing to pay more in order to fly with one of the State's symbols instead of a foreign carrier."
The coordinator for the party's young members, Gilad Bar-Gil, who signed the letter, said Shkedy's "prominent political activism" and his "political aspirations in Kadima" undermines "one of the most prominent national brands and compels us to demand he shows public and business integrity and resigns from Blue White Future or from El Al, so we won't be forced to take active steps."
The letter was also sent to El Al Chairman of the Board, Amikam Cohen. A source familiar with the issue said the settlers will consider boycotting the airline.
'It's not his private airline'
"Even though El Al has been privatized, it is still perceived as the national carrier, and we expect the CEO not to be a political figure," said Habayit Hayehudi Chairman MK Zevulun Orlev.
"I want to feel comfortable when I fly El Al, I don't want to feel that I am flying with a company of leftists. The CEO was contacted and it was made clear to him that it's not his private airline. Just as there are rabbis who call on people not to travel on bus lines that operate on the Shabbat, I propose that El Al to avoid any act with political overtones. I won't want to fly with a company whose CEO... threatens me politically."
"If we leave the mountains of Samaria, god forbid, Mr. Shkedi will have to ask terror organizations for permission to take off and land for each flight," Yesha Council Chairman Danny Dayan said. "It is doubtful whether El Al will be able to continue to fly when any terrorist with a shoulder-launched missile can put Ben Gurion International Airport out of action."
Blue White Future is a public movement working to put an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of two states for two peoples. Members come from various population groups, and say the movement has no left or right orientation.
The movement's public council members include Prof. Ruth Gavison, Amnon Lipkin Shahak, Ami Ayalon, Dalia Rabin, Yael Dayan, Dov Lautman and A. B. Yehoshua.
El Al said Shkedy joined the movement before he was appointed CEO of the company, and that he was and is not active in the movement. "Shkedy is not a member of any political party and is not politically active," the company said.
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