The strike planned for tomorrow and Saturday at Ben Gurion airport has been called off after a personal appeal by Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon and Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman Avi Nissenkorn to Israel Airport Authority workers committee chairman Pinchas Idan.
Kahlon promised to use his influence on the matter of municipal taxes that neighboring authorities are trying to impose on the airport.
The background to the threats by the Airports Authority workers' committee is a committee established by the Ministry of the Interior - one of six committees deliberating on various matters throughout Israel. In the case of Ben Gurion Airport, what is under consideration is whether the Airports Authority should set aside some of its revenue for municipalities in whose jurisdiction the airport allegedly operates. According to the state's definition, Ben Gurion Airport occupies a cylindrical area exempt from paying property tax to any specific local authority. The local authorities are now trying again to wrest some of this revenue from the Airports Authority.
The Airports Authority has petitioned the High Court of Justice against the minister of the interior; the committee charged with changing boundaries; the Attorney General; the Lod, Or Yehuda, Yehud-Monoson, and Shoham municipalities; and the Emek Lod and Hevel Modi'in Regional Councils. The Airports Authority is seeking an injunction ordering these parties "to refrain from any action changing the municipal status of the Ben Gurion Airport site."
In its petition, the Airports Authority states that division of the revenue obtained from operating Ben Gurion Airport other than to the state will have an immediate negative impact on civil aviation in Israel, and emphasizes that "This matter has been repeatedly raised again by the minister of the interior and taken off the agenda."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 30, 2017
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