Pages

▼

Monday, April 10, 2023

04/10 Links Pt2: The Real ‘Palestinian Territory’? New York Times-Land; 60 groups urge UN to avoid IHRA antisemitism definition; Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport records busiest-ever month

From Ian:

Invention of the Christian Jesus by Renaissance Art, Hollywood, and Historians Proved Lethal for Jews
In the film “Resistance,” the character who plays the French mime and Jewish resistance fighter Marcel Marceau gives his answer to the question of why people hate Jews: “Because for centuries, they were told we killed Jesus.”

But to make the Christ killers charge justify violence and genocide, another falsification of Biblical history had to be added: Jesus had to be Christian.

Consider that the Sanhedrin, the ruling body over Jewish affairs, charged Jesus for committing blasphemies against Judaism. Christians later altered the fabricated indictment to “the Jews killed the Christian Jesus.” That “crime” then became the launching pad for rage, hatred, and unrestrained violence against Jews.

The invention of the Christian Jesus thus emerged as one of the most deadly lies in history. It weaponized the Christ killers charge.

While a consensus of Christian and Jewish Biblical scholars affirm that Jesus lived and died as a dedicated practicing Jew, Renaissance artworks invented a different narrative. In countless artworks spanning centuries, Jesus displays a cross, thus sending the false message that he is a Christian, despite the fact that Christianity did not exist even as a word or concept in Jesus’ lifetime.

Worse, the image of Jesus proudly displaying a cross is bizarre. If Jesus were to see these artworks, he would likely consider them mockery or extremely bad jokes. Particularly for Jews, the cross represented Roman torture, murder, and genocide.
The Real ‘Palestinian Territory’? New York Times-Land
Most egregious of all, though, is the phrase “siding with Israel on its claims over Palestinian territory in the West Bank.” That makes it sound like the Times itself is taking sides in the territorial dispute, asserting that the land actually is “Palestinian territory.”

The Israeli view was that it is Israeli territory. This is especially so because the land Israel was considering annexing wasn’t the entire West Bank, but only selected portions of it that were either strategically crucial or that were already heavily populated by Jewish residents. For the Times to describe those lands as “Palestinian territory” rather than as disputed territory is to adopt the Palestine Liberation Organization negotiating position as New York Times news department editorial policy. These are lands to which the Jewish people has extensive religious and historical connections, lands that were controlled most recently by the Ottoman and British empires, then by the Kingdom of Jordan, and then, after the Six Day War of 1967, by Israel.

A newspaper editor I knew once banned the term “news analysis,” mockingly suggesting that instead the rest of the newspaper’s columns be uniformly labeled as “analysis free.” At the Times, even the “news analysis” columns seem, sadly, to be bereft of the genuinely analytical and independent thinking necessary to distinguish reality from Palestinian propaganda. For turf more genuinely described as “Palestinian territory,” look not to the Jerusalem suburbs, but rather, to the columns and newsrooms of the New York Times itself.
60 groups urge UN to avoid IHRA antisemitism definition
Sixty groups that often oppose Israel urged the United Nations to reject the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

The definition—adopted by 39 countries, including the United States and Israel—“has often been used to wrongly label criticism of Israel as antisemitic,” the groups stated.

Signatories include the U.S. Presbyterian Church, which has some 1.19 million members, and the global ministry arm of the United Methodist Church, which has a membership of more than 12 million, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

Three Israeli-designated terror organizations—Al-Haq, Addameer Prisoner Support, and Human Rights Association and Defense for Children International-Palestine—also signed the letter.

“Antisemitism is a pernicious ideology that poses real harm to Jewish communities around the world and requires meaningful action to combat it,” the groups wrote. But, they added, many scholars and other experts “have challenged the definition, arguing that it restricts legitimate criticism of Israel and harms the fight against antisemitism.”

The signatories claim that by the IHRA definition’s logic, “a person dedicated to defending the rights of Tibetans could be accused of anti-Chinese racism, or a group dedicated to promoting democracy and minority rights in Saudi Arabia could be accused of Islamophobia.”

“If the U.N. endorses the IHRA definition in any shape or form, U.N. officials working on issues related to Israel and Palestine may find themselves unjustly accused of antisemitism based on the IHRA definition,” added the groups.


Jonathan Tobin: Intelligence leaks and the consequences of Israel’s resistance coup
Israel’s government was doing damage control this past weekend and, for a change, it wasn’t about its losing battle to pass judicial reform, dissension over the surge in Palestinian terrorism or the threat from Iran. Or at least, not directly. Instead, it was put in the unenviable position of having to deny a report published in The New York Times and widely reported elsewhere about leaks from secret Pentagon documents detailing the U.S. intelligence activity.

Yet as controversial as the contents of the report may be, the main concern shouldn’t be about the Biden administration’s involvement in Israel’s internal affairs. Rather, the focus should be on the consequences of the debate going on inside Israel that Washington wants to influence. Even the Israeli government’s fiercest and most unfair critics now believe that the Jewish state’s enemies regard the current atmosphere of political chaos as evidence of weakness. That means the price for the upheaval inside Israel will continue to be paid not in losing media cycles for the ruling coalition but in the blood of its citizens.

Most of the attention from the shocking exposure of U.S. internal reports centers on the revelations about American espionage that targeted Russia and its impact on the war in Ukraine. But the dump of classified documents that have been spread around the Internet also discussed U.S. spying on friendly countries, including Ukraine, and allies like South Korea and Israel. That included reports about American pressure on Israel to supply lethal aid to Ukraine despite it being in the interests of the Jewish state to stay out of direct involvement in that conflict.

What happened inside the Mossad?
But as concerning as all that might be, the documents that speak about the Mossad—Israel’s foreign intelligence agency—are especially troubling.

According to an internal report produced by the CIA, the Mossad’s leadership had encouraged its personnel, as well as other Israeli citizens, to participate in the anti-government protests that have shaken Israel over the past three months. If true, it would be an inexcusable violation of the agency’s responsibility to remain above politics and to follow the orders of the country’s democratically elected government. More than that, it would give some credence to claims by some of the government’s supporters, including Netanyahu’s son Yair, that hostile elements inside Israel’s intelligence community had colluded with the Biden administration to help fuel the protests with the ultimate goal of toppling the government.

The response from Jerusalem was immediate and emphatic.

It stated that the report “is mendacious and without any foundations whatsoever. The Mossad and its senior officials did not—and do not—encourage agency personnel to join the demonstrations against the government, political demonstrations or any political activity. The Mossad and its serving personnel have not engaged in the issue of the demonstrations at all and are dedicated to the value of service to the state that has guided the Mossad since its founding.”
Ruthie Blum: No deterrence for Israeli demonstrations
In a social-media post on Friday night, Israel Defense Forces Maj. Gen. (res.) Tal Russo urged fellow anti-government activists to skip the demonstrations scheduled for the following evening.

“In light of the difficult events throughout the country, security and police forces are on high alert and deployed in central locations from the Gaza Strip to the northern border,” he tweeted. “I therefore call on my comrades-in-protest against the coup to cancel tomorrow’s countrywide rallies. The situation demands it!”

Russo, who served in various high positions in the IDF and had a brief stint as a Labor Party Knesset member, wrote this plea in the immediate aftermath of the car-ramming in Tel Aviv, which took the life of 35-year-old Italian tourist Alessandro Parini and left a number of others injured. This assault, committed by Yousef Abu Jaber, an Arab Israeli from Kfar Qassem, came mere hours after a separate attack in the Jordan Valley.

In the latter, Palestinian terrorists out for Jewish blood ran a vehicle off the road, riddled its occupants with bullets and fled. British-Israeli sisters Maia and Rina Dee, aged 20 and 15 respectively, were killed instantly. Their mother, Lucy, on the way with her daughters from their home in Efrat to a Passover holiday outing in the north, was critically wounded. Their devastated father, Leo, in a second car, witnessed paramedics’ resuscitation efforts.

The above travesties followed barrages of rockets and mortars from Gaza and Lebanon, amid violent Ramadan riots in the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Russo’s request for a pause in the protests was thus both understandable and appropriate.

As he attempted to point out, security forces have enough on their hands without the extra burden of protecting crowds of flag-wavers descending on city squares. Furthermore, though he didn’t say so, it behooves the public to take a timeout from political strife to respect the grieving families of the victims.

But even such a reasonable entreaty on the part of someone with impeccable left-wing credentials was perceived by some purists as an affront.

“This tweet is a disgrace,” commented proud combatant Costa Black. “You’re a disgrace. Shame on you! Who are you? Who gave you the authority? Idiot! The protest is the only hope to save Israel!”
Ruthie Blum: Noa Tishby’s deserved dismissal
The Bill Maher interview
STRIKING AN ostensibly positive note during her interview with Maher, she called the street demonstrations “extraordinarily creative.” The Israeli people “are rebelling,” she declared proudly, ignoring the rest of the public – you know, the masses who voted for the government and still ardently support judicial reform.

As misguided as her portrayal of the situation may be, Tishby is free to share it. But she shouldn’t have expected the government she’s been bashing to want to keep her on as a representative.

Nevertheless, she told her Twitter followers of the “disappointment and sadness” she experienced at being dismissed. She also said that it’s impossible for her to know whether the government’s decision was “driven by [her] publicly stated concerns about [its] judicial reform policy. But given the reality that antisemitism continues its dangerous rise globally, and the threat to Israel’s existence through delegitimization policies has not slowed, it is difficult to come to any other reasonable conclusion.”

Perhaps, Noa. The trouble is that, according to the letter you received from Foreign Ministry Deputy Director General for Public Diplomacy Emmanual Nahshon, your contract ended on December 31. That’s well before your recent displays of political partisanship.

“When I accepted the Special Envoy position from… Lapid, I did so because the threat to Jews around the world is as significant today as any other point since the Holocaust, and the risks to Israel are as great today as they have been since our nation’s birth,” she recounted. “As an advocate for justice and equality, I felt an obligation to stand with the many others united in the fight against hate.”

However, she insisted, “that does not mean I must suppress my views... I voiced concerns because I believe absolutely in the importance of an independent judiciary in safeguarding the democratic system.”

INDEED, SHE pontificated, “open and honest debate with those in government is at the core of Israel’s long-term well-being and our status as the region’s single consistent democracy. True patriotism involves standing up for the values and principles that form the foundation of our nation, even when it means questioning or opposing policies implemented by this or any government.”

Interesting. She must have forgotten emphasizing that this is the first time she’s ever openly aired such grievances.

It seems to have escaped her, as well, that nobody’s stopping her from doing so now either. All she’s being denied is a renewal of her lengthy title and stamp of officialdom.
State Senators Join the “New York Times” in Legally Incoherent Accusations against Yeshiva University
At present, Yeshiva University is locked in a legal battle over its decision to deny official status and funding to an LGBTQ student group. The Manhattan-based Orthodox Jewish institution claims that a New York state court’s ruling against it violates its religious freedom. Last week, a group of state senators—apparently goaded by two articles in the New York Times—asked the New York inspector-general to investigate whether YU, which claims in the litigation to be a “religious corporation,” inappropriately received public monies. Michael A. Helfand finds the complaint “a bit bizarre.”

Yeshiva University has undoubtedly argued repeatedly that it is a religious institution. But religious institutions are not precluded from seeking private financing through the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY). In fact, any number of religious universities—the Jewish Theological Seminary, St. John’s University, and, as noted by the Times in its initial report, Fordham University and Siena College—have financed projects with DASNY backing. It seems strange, therefore, to pit Yeshiva University’s claim to being a religious institution as somehow in tension with participating in this sort of government-backed financing.

To be sure, as the senators’ letter makes clear, DASNY-financed projects cannot be used for “sectarian religious instruction,” “a place of religious worship,” or “in connection with any part of a program of a school or department of divinity for any religious denomination.” But nothing in the state senators’ letter explains why they think Yeshiva University violated these terms. Yeshiva University’s statements in the course of litigation regarding DASNY financing have simply affirmed that it complied with the restrictions on prohibited religious uses.

[O]ne certainly hopes that what government officials would not do is initiate an investigation into the purported misappropriation of funds because they separately disagree with an institution’s policy as it relates to the LGBTQ community. Investigations such as these are supposed to be about maintaining integrity. The exercise of power to intimidate would serve to do the exact opposite.
After backlash for exposing UK Labour antisemitism, how John Ware won back his name
On the evening of July 10, 2019, the BBC’s flagship current affairs program, “Panorama,” aired a devastating expose of the scale of antisemitism in Britain’s Labour party.

Nearly four years on, its fallout continues to reverberate around the program’s presenter, veteran journalist John Ware, even as former Labour head Jeremy Corbyn was formally banned last week from running as a candidate of the party in the next elections.

“It’s dominated my life,” Ware tells The Times of Israel in an interview.

The antisemitism scandal which rocked the UK’s principal opposition party began to draw to a close three years ago on April 4, 2020, when Keir Starmer was elected to succeed the hard-left former leader, Corbyn.

But, for Ware, that moment came at the outset of a series of legal battles — including an unprecedented libel case by Ware against the Labour party itself — to clear his name following a deluge of attacks on his journalistic ethics and motivations.

Those battles — which culminated late last year — saw the journalist accused of deliberately attempting to blacken Corbyn’s name and having far-right associations, as well as suggestions that Ware’s Jewish wife and family affected his objectivity.

Undermining “Panorama,” believes Ware, has rested at the heart of a continuing attempt by some of the former Labour leader’s supporters to rewrite the history of the Corbyn years and pin the blame for the party’s catastrophic defeat in December 2019 at the door of the public service broadcaster.


Meshwar Editor Nazih Khatatba Claims “There Are No Civilians In Israeli Society” – All Israelis Are Therefore Legitimate Targets For Terror
Nazih Khatatba and the Mississauga-based Arabic-language newspaper Meshwar, of which he is the Editor, have been long accused of engaging in antisemitic hate, Holocaust denial and of glorifying Palestinian terrorism.

For many years, HonestReporting Canada has worked tirelessly to expose Nazih Khatatba and Meshwar’s hateful conduct.

Recently, on March 7, Khatatba authored a post on his Facebook page that appeared to be inspired by the antisemitic blood libel that Jews murdered non-Jews to use their blood for ritual purposes. At the time, we called on Facebook to ban Khatatba from its platform for his spreading antisemitic hate. Disturbingly, Facebook has not taken any action to limit, suspend, or ban Khatatba.

Importantly, one month later on April 7, Khatatba used his Facebook page to comment on a recent Palestinian terror attack that saw two British-Israeli sisters brutally murdered in a shooting attack in Judea & Samaria (the “West Bank”).

Khatatba wrote:


HonestReporting Canada has independently verified the translation of Meshwar’s words from the original Arabic.

These comments are eerily similar to remarks made in 2004 by former Canadian Islamic Congress President Mohammed Elmasry, who at the time said that all Israelis above the age of 18 are legitimate targets for Palestinian suicide bombers, because they’ve all served in the Israeli army. Elmasry had told the Globe and Mail the targets would also include out-of-uniform military personnel at bus stops.
‘Polish propaganda’: Critics assail deal to resume Israeli youth trips to Poland
A draft agreement between Poland and Israel on the resumption of school trips to Nazi former death camps is drawing fire for its inclusion of recommended sites that critics say provide a distorted view of the Holocaust.

Critics of the draft agreement, which was drawn up and signed by the foreign ministers of both countries last month but whose details were published only Monday by Haaretz, say it ignores Polish complicity in the Holocaust and aggrandizes efforts by Poles to save Jews.

Some of the criticism about the draft, which still needs to be ratified by the Israeli and Polish parliaments, is about a list of 32 recommended sites in Poland, one of which must be visited by each Israeli delegation. The list includes sites that commemorate victims of Soviet repression, including, ostensibly, Poles who killed Jews. It also includes two major Jewish museums, a host of general Polish history museums unrelated to World War II and a synagogue.

Yad Vashem, Israel’s main Holocaust memorial and museum, said in a statement to Haaretz that the list contained “problematic sites inappropriate for visiting on educational trips.”

Advocates of the draft, or parts of it, said it contains pedagogical progress and ample choice to avoid controversial sites, and asserted that it represents an acceptable compromise.

The draft agreement is a step toward normalizing ties with Poland, which until several years ago had been one of the most pro-Israel countries in the European Union. Relations deteriorated in 2018, after Poland passed legislation that outlawed blaming the Polish nation for Nazi crimes. Then-foreign minister Yair Lapid called the law antisemitic, touching off a diplomatic row.

As part of that conflict, Israel last year suspended youth trips, which had brought about 25,000 Israeli youths annually to Poland. The official reason for the suspension was disagreements on security arrangements but controversies concerning content also played a part in the abrupt suspension.

The new agreement gives the Polish state sole security responsibility over Israeli trips in the absence of information on imminent risks to Israelis in Poland. If such information arises, Israel may ask to assign its own security agents to trips.
Jewish students protest Lithuania’s glorification of Nazi collaborator
More than 100 students and teachers from the Rambam Mesivta High School in Lawrence, N.Y., protested outside New York City’s Lithuanian Consulate in mid-March. Their signs proclaimed “No Honor for Noreika” and “Noreika—Is He Your Hero?”

The day school timed the protest to the week of Lithuanian Independence Day on March 11.

Jonas Noreika was a Nazi collaborator responsible for the executions of thousands of Lithuanian Jews. Last year, Rambam students studied the book The Nazi’s Granddaughter: How I Learned My Grandfather Was a War Criminal by Noreika’s granddaughter, Silvia Foti.

“The man I had believed was a savior, who did all he could to rescue Jews during World War II had, in reality, ordered all Jews in his region of Lithuania to be rounded up and sent to a ghetto where they were beaten, starved, tortured, raped and then murdered,” Foti wrote in 2021 in The New York Times.

When Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, dean of Rambam, contacted the consulate before the school decided to protest, consulate officials told him that Noreika did not kill anyone. “They are denying that history. We can’t bring back the people that died, but at the very least, Lithuania should not honor a guy that killed Lithuanians,” he told a reporter. (The school didn’t respond to JNS queries.) Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top stories At first, the consulate told JNS about the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. “The background is important because Lithuania has a very unfortunate past of 50 years of Soviet occupation and experience of Soviet Russia propaganda and, consequently, blank spots and pieces of distortions of history which were substituted by Soviets,” counselor Jurgita Bilvaisienė told JNS.
Adolf Hitler’s country of birth salutes Karl Lueger, a mayor with a checkered past
My mother was born in Vienna. The only reason I am alive is because she escaped on a Kindertransport to England, together with her two sisters. Her parents and younger brother and sister were all murdered in Auschwitz.

Over the years I visited Vienna many times, trying to (re)connect with the place where my mother spent the first seven years of her life, trying to fathom my ambivalence and to reconcile myself with a city that became both a familiar second home and a place where my Holocaust trauma began.

It has been a constant struggle, as my emotions oscillated between a sense of gemütlichkeit – coziness – and abhorrence at the not-so-distant past. After all, it happened during my 91-year-old mother’s lifetime, so it is not exactly a matter of dredging the mists of time.

Naturally, the current younger generation of Austrians, and my own contemporaries, were not around when their compatriot, Adolf Hitler, was stirring up antisemitism and racist fervor of every ilk. But how does Austria of 2023 relate to all that? Is it, at long last, ready and able to face up to its murderous past, deal with it, and fully admit its more than willing contribution to the “Final Solution”?

Judging from conversations I had in Austria a few months ago, and eyeing the Karl Lueger monument from close quarters, I believe the answer, sadly and terrifyingly, is in the negative.

Who was Karl Lueger?
LUEGER WAS mayor of Vienna between 1897 and 1910. By all accounts, he did a good job, modernizing the imperial capital’s utility infrastructures, caring for some of the city’s downtrodden, and developing green lungs. But, besides being a highly capable and popular mayor, Lueger was also a rabid antisemite.

His professional achievements were marked, for all to see and marvel at, in the form of a monument erected in the center of Vienna in 1926. The spot was named after him – Karl Lueger Platz – as was a section of the famous circular boulevard route that runs around the city center, aka the Ring. But this is not just any old salute to a yesteryear A-lister. The brass statue and stone plinth is an enormous structure. The base features high relief scenes which are more reminiscent of Stalinist USSR and other totalitarian regimes that deify their omnipotent rulers.

“It is not a regular monument. It is a tribute,” notes Benjamin Kaufmann.
Teens wanted in connection with antisemitic attacks in Queens, New York
A group of teens in Queens are wanted for a series of antisemitic attacks during Passover, The New York Post reported on Sunday.

In one incident, two boys and girl allegedly approached a 49-year-old man at Caffrey Avenue and Mott Avenue around 2:45 p.m. Friday and began throwing rocks at him while shouting hateful comments, police said.

The girl then brandished a razor towards the victim before a Good Samaritan intervened and the suspects fled, according to cops.

The suspects’ spree of hate continued about seven hours later at Brookhaven Avenue and Beach 17 Street, when they began taunting a 48-year-old male with antisemitic remarks, the NYPD said.

One of the boys in the group pushed the victim before they fled on foot.

Police released security footage of the young suspects. The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incidents.


In first, Eco Wave to supply electricity generated from waves to Israeli households
Israel’s Eco Wave Power, which has developed technology to harness clean energy from the motion of waves, has inked a first agreement with the Israeli National Electric Company to connect its wave-energy power plant and sell electricity to Israel’s power grid.

Eco Wave said it entered into a power purchase agreement with the IEC for the supply of electricity generated from ocean and sea waves. Once connected to the company’s wave-powered energy station located in Tel Aviv’s Jaffa port, it will mark the first time that wave-powered energy will be transmitted to the national grid to provide electricity to Israeli households. Wave energy alone can produce twice the amount of electricity that the world produces now, according to Eco Wave.

The wave energy project, also known as EWP-EDF One Project, is conducted in partnership with and co-funding from EDF (Electricite De France) Renewables in Israel and Israel’s Energy Ministry. The ministry has previously recognized Eco Wave’s technology as a “pioneering technology.”

Founded in Tel Aviv in 2011 by Inna Braverman at the age of 24, Eco Wave has developed an onshore mechanism using floaters that are attached to existing man-made marine structures such as piers, breakwaters and jetties to draw energy from incoming waves by converting the rising and falling motion of the waves into green electricity. As such, the technology is more cost-efficient compared with offshore solutions as it doesn’t require the use of ships, divers, underwater cabling and mooring for connection to the system.

“The official start of grid connection for our EWP-EDF One Project is a moment that we have been waiting for, as it represents an important milestone for our company and our country,” said Eco Wave founder and CEO Braverman. “Eco Wave Power is committed to making a positive change in the world, and we can’t wait to turn the switch on at the EWP-EDF One Project at the Port of Jaffa.”
Israel signs $400m. deal to sell Greece anti-tank Spike missiles
Israel signed a NIS 1.44 billion ($400 million) deal to sell Spike anti-tank missiles to Greece, Israel's Defense Ministry said on Monday, just days after reaching a similar-sized deal to provide air defenses to newly-inducted NATO member Finland.

The Spike is a guided anti-tank missile used by many EU and NATO countries produced by Israeli state-owned defense contractor Rafael.

"The Spike missiles will strengthen the Greek army's portfolio of operational tools and we expect further expansion through strategic collaborations in the near future," said Rafael CEO Yoav Har-Even.

Israel's defense minister said the agreement reinforces ties between the countries.

Israel's Rafael provides David's Sling air defense to Finland
Last week Israel and Rafael said they would provide the advanced air-defense system David's Sling to Finland, after it officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on April 4.

Finland will receive the defense system designed to intercept ballistic and cruise missiles in a 316 million euro ($345 million) deal. It still requires approval from the United States, which is involved in the system's development.

Finland's accession, ending seven decades of military non-alignment, roughly doubles the length of the border NATO shares with Russia and bolsters its eastern flank as the war in Ukraine grinds on with no resolution in sight. It also drew a threat from Moscow of countermeasures.

Finland said the deal with Israel will significantly boost its capabilities, and Israel called it a "quantum leap" in defense collaboration between the countries.
Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport records busiest-ever month
Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport saw its busiest month in history, the Israel Airports Authority revealed on Sunday, with more passengers passing through it in March 2023 than any other month ever.

During this month, a total of 1,983,428 passengers passed through Ben-Gurion Aiport on 13,490 international and domestic flights.

This is a 57% increase in passenger numbers compared to March 2022.

Israel's El Al soars to new records
It was also found that El Al flew its highest number of passengers yet, a total of 432,365 passengers in March 2023. This is an almost 50% increase compared to March 2022.

El Al also had the highest percentage (22.9%) of the total traffic at the airport. They were followed by the Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air, which flew 11.5% of all the passengers – a total of 221,798 people.

This was followed by Irish budget airline Ryanair, which flew 134,993 passengers, or 7.05% of the total figure, followed by Turkish Airlines with 109,978 passengers and EasyJet with 83,246.

What was the most popular travel destination?
The most popular travel destination in March 2023 was Dubai, with 117,239 passengers heading for the Emirati city. This is an increase of almost 60% compared to last March.

However, the most popular travel destination by country was the US, where 190,249 passengers were headed – nearly 10% of all passenger traffic.




Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!
 

 

at