these clowns will now leave El Al and make Lufthansa their national airline and I for one will be able once again to fly my national airline, which I have not done for many years, because of them. Such a small minority, such big problems.

Please. They should decide to start their own airline and stop bothering us with this nonsense. Or perhaps giant oarred boats of ancient times, which will give them some exercise.

Notwithstanding the way YNet framed this picture, including an authoritarian-looking photo of one of the gentlest people in the world, Rabbi Elyashiv, religious Jews have the right not only to protest but also to boycott El Al for this flagrant violation of their agreement to keep the Sabbath. El Al workers should not be compelled to work on the Sabbath. It's a JEWISH state. If El Al forces its employees to work, then the religious sector has the right to have its own 'strike'--for its cherished beliefs.

that all the so-called leaders of Israel have be they orthoquack or Secudreck. Israel is in deep doo doo and what riles the orthoquack is El Al. The Secudreck are no better. Israel is a laughing stock...slip sliding itself to hell.

your quote "Such a small minority, such big problems" is excatly waht the enemy of us jews say. i can only say that you are a self hating jew, who cant face himself... in adtion it is El Al that markets itself to the religus comunity by saying they will NOT fly o Sabath. and when it suits them they back down from that commitment. obviously the orthodox comunity is not the minorty that you will like to think that they are. times has changed since 1967, today a MAJORTY of the comabat units in the IDF are the so called "MINORTY" that you refer to.

there are all problems in Israel because of you BIGOTS!!!!

EL AL has made major efforts to accomodate the Haredi Sector, and for a rare error their reaction is as always exageriated.They have a choice not to fly ,form their own airline, or even better stay in Israel, as certain people beleive its not allowed to leave Israel according to the ''Halacha''

Gefiltte Fish Air Inc. Chairman Eli Yishai, Ceo Ovadia Yosef. Male only flight attendants. Cabin crew must have beard and sidelocks. Uniform, standard Belz or Satmar garb. On board mikve and Bet Knesset. In flight Bet Din in case of emergencies.

The citizens of this country should have a choice on how to live their lives, whether to shop on Shabbat or to fly. Enough of these religious zealots trying to force their doctrine on us.

It's called "protecting passengers on another carrier" in the airline industry. Are other carriers permitted to fly in and out of Israel on Shabbat? If so, El Al can place those passengers who wish it on another airline, as they would in cases of overbooking, canceled flights, etc. They could meet their obligations both to their passengers and to honoring Shabbat in this manner.

El Al flew on the Sabbath for many years until the Likud came to power, and the earth didn't fall off its axis. Not only that, but even after they discontinued their flights on the Sabbath, some of the ultra-Orthodox still refused to fly on El Al because it was owned by the State. So just how far are they supposed to go to please a small minority of Israel's citizens?

I suggest this rabbi go stand in the middle of the runway and try to stop the planes.

All of you with your phony democracy and 'right to choose.' Everything about Israel is different from other nations. Even non-Jews recognize this. EL AL should not fly on Sabbath. You either keep the promise or you don't. If you want Israel to be 'like all other countries' then go to Miami or Stockholm, you don't need an Israel.

I am not a religiuos person, but I have tramendous respect and love for the Jews who pray and care for the survival of the Jewish people. All the angry talk would not get you anywhere. Some of you made an aliah or were born in Israel but you want to live like other nations, and hate your fellow Jews, shame on you. Because of the "religious zealots' you are still around and call yourself a Jew. Respect each other, its enough that everybody else hates us.

No one is forced to fly with EL AL if they don't want to...I for one appreciate the great service and ambiance on the flights. So which airline will the religious community fly: Air France, Lufthansa, Austrian, LOT Polish Airlines, Swiss...all have great historical connection to the Jewish people don't they. Jews should go out of their ways to support Jews and Jewish business and if I not mistaken EL AL employs a few thousand JEWISH people in Israel and abroad. EL AL...keep up the great work!

Your answer is symptomatic of the current mainstream spiritual situation in Israel. "Let us break every yoke and just follow our own inclinations!" "Let us be like others!" People apparently fail to recognize the bondage of selfwill, when contradicting Divine decree given for their own benefit.

Yep, ground those flights on Shabbat while we seek better relations with homosexual "rabbis," sign partitions to allow gay parades so we don't get sued, throw rocks on Shabbat at people who drive on Shabbat, beat up young men if their tiztizot are not as long as yours putting them in the hospital then setting tires on fire in the street...on Shabbat. Talk about being full of dead men bones.

I'm beginning to think that Torah study corrodes the mind far more than, say, sniffing glue. Lee says, "Notwithstanding the way YNet framed this picture, including an authoritarian-looking photo of one of the gentlest people in the world, Rabbi Elyashiv ..." Yeah, "Rabbi" Elyahsiv is about as gentle as Islam is peaceable. E.g.: "Continuing the three-centuries-old standoff between hassidim and mitnagim, Sephardi and Lithuanian haredi leaders Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv joined in the Eda's "holy war." In effect they legitimized groups previously considered "untouchables" in the eyes of the rabbis: shababnikim (alienated young people on the fringe of haredi society), and mizrahistim National Religious Party-affiliated hilltop youth living in the West Bank. As well, they joined with Christian and Muslim religious leaders in a rare display of ecumenicalism in a multi-faith coalition against the same-sex parade." http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378413756&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter "El Al workers should not be compelled to work on the Sabbath. It's a JEWISH state." This is called an is/ought confusion, although it may be more manipulation than real confusion. Lee is redefining "Jewish state" to mean the kind of Jewish state that he happens to want, then having made it into a frum Jewish state, he declares that El Al should not fly based on that redefinition. What a joke. Finally, Lee is surely right that a boycott is a perfectly democratic thing. However, it is unscrupulous to champion democracy in connection with the ultra-Orthodox, whose internal structure is theocratic, not democratic, and who have no respect whatsover for the majority.

"obviously the orthodox comunity is not the minorty that you will like to think that they are. times has changed since 1967, today a MAJORTY of the comabat units in the IDF are the so called "MINORTY" that you refer to." Actually, non-orthodox are the majority, but self-styled "secular" are no longer the majority. Doesn't matter, though, because the Haredim are certainly a minority, and mostly do not serve in the IDF at all. Not only that, they are no friends of the religious Zionists, who are the ones who do participate in the IDF disproportionately. This is another power play by the Haredim, who want to make other Jews into dhimmis.

YOU say "Everything about Israel is different from other nations. Even non-Jews recognize this." Well, everything about Israel is NOT different. It's just that you WANT it to be different. Annoyingly, Jews should know that a non-orthodox Jew has as much need for Israel as an orthodox one has, unless you think that Jews can count on being secure in Europe.

Objecting to the violence, narrow-mindness, and parasitism of the Haredim is not self-hatred. These guys have made up a religion in the Polish shtetl which they call "Judaism." This "Judaism" has little to do either with the Pentatuch or with solving modern problems. It also keeps Jews weak and poor. Just because some Jew's religion recommends that he throw stones at you, it does not follow that objecting to this practice makes one a self-loather.

Wow, is this serious? After reading this and that sidewalk story the other day, living here in the US is a lot better than making aliyah

they might have an important message for you people.

its ridiculous that our national airline is grounded for more than 15% of the week. ELAL is now a private company and as such should be able to decide when and how it flies its planes. If the religeous public does not like it, they can boycott ELAL and fly another airline.

A six month counterboycott of refusing to sell anything to haredim might teach them not to blackmail in future

the stranglehold of power by the religious community must be broken. they have no right to impose their rules and regulations on an entire society. if certain EL AL pilots and workers who are observant don't want to work on shabbat. no problem, that is their own personal decision. but if there are others who want to work, than they should be able to excercise that freedom.