Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced that the Finance Ministry will have to pick up the tab for arming civilian aircraft with missile defense systems and not El Al. The decision of the prime minister was approved by the Political-Security Cabinet earlier in the week.
It appears that while the Ministry of Transportation never opposed such a move, it did not take an active role in advancing the installation of the missile defense systems. Since assuming the helm of the ministry, Minister Yisrael Katz has however been working towards installing the defense system on civilian aircraft, which has been stalled since El Al and the treasury have been at odds over who must flip the bill.
Despite the decision earlier this week, Katz insists that the decision is not sufficient, calling for a vote of the entire cabinet.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Thats a great idea. lets also put bomb racks and Hellfire missiles on them.
maskim!
#1: If they put weapons on the planes, no commercial airport in the world would let them land.
What they’re talking about is sensors and maybe an infrared countermeasure similar to what DHS tested on a few US commercial airliners a few years ago.