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Israir Plans New York Flights By October
Israeli airline Israir announced Tuesday that it will launch flights to New York by October.
The much-anticipated move comes as service on the highly lucrative transatlantic route remains limited, with only Israeli carriers currently flying nonstop to and from the United States after all three U.S. legacy carriers froze their flights due to the war with Iran.
While American carriers, led by Delta and United, are scheduled to resume service to Tel Aviv next month, airfares remain stubbornly high throughout the fall due to heavy postwar demand.
Israel’s second-largest carrier said it plans to start its New York flights by Oct. 19 pending final FAA approval, with tickets set to go on sale from next week. It will bring forward the launch date if the final authorization comes in sooner.
Israir did not cite a starting price for the route on Tuesday, but plans on offering economy, premium and business fares.
It is expected to run a daily flight to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport this fall, joining competing service by El Al, Arkia United and Delta.
Travel consultants said that the entry of an additional Israeli carrier on the top international route out of Tel Aviv was “significant news” for consumers and is expected to bring down airfares.
“We anticipate that as the supply of direct flights to New York grows, we will see a positive impact on pricing and availability, particularly during periods of high demand,” Yoni Waxman, deputy chairman of Israel’s Ophir Tours, told JNS. “The fact that it is an Israeli carrier offers an additional advantage, especially given how much importance Israeli travelers place on flight continuity and certainty.”
“We have been waiting for quite some time for an additional Israeli airline to compete directly with El Al in flying nonstop to New York,” said Mark Feldman, CEO of Jerusalem’s Ziontours. “If Israir wants to gain market share, they will need to aggressively market – and not match – El Al prices, and then the Israeli public will jump at this option.”
Israir operated transatlantic flights to New York from 2004 to 2008, when rising fuel prices forced it to suspend the route. JNS
IDF Strikes Hamas Commanders Meeting at Gaza Port Café; Palestinians Report Six Killed
The IDF carried out an airstrike Tuesday evening targeting several Hamas commanders gathered at a café in the Gaza City port area, saying the operatives were planning imminent attacks against Israeli troops operating in the Strip.
The strike took place in the Shati area of northern Gaza. According to reports from Gaza, the target was the “Bitter and Sweet” café located inside the port complex. Palestinian channels reported that at least six people were killed and another 10 wounded in the attack.
An Israeli security official said the operation targeted four Hamas terrorists who had gathered at the café, all of whom held command positions within the terror organization. The official said the group included one company commander and three platoon commanders.
The strike was carried out after the threat posed by the Hamas commanders was assessed by the IDF as immediate. The military said the operatives had been preparing attacks against Israeli forces currently deployed inside Gaza.
“The terrorists planned to carry out terror attacks against IDF forces operating in the Gaza Strip. The terrorists were struck from the air in order to remove the threat to the forces,” the IDF said.
Palestinian reports claimed the impact of the strike at the café was particularly powerful and that some of those killed were thrown into the sea by the blast. Israeli authorities have not confirmed those claims.
The IDF stressed that Southern Command forces remain deployed throughout Gaza in accordance with the existing agreement and will continue taking action against immediate threats to Israeli soldiers.
Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said the operation reflected Israel’s standing policy in Gaza, as established by Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu and himself.
“Israel’s policy in Gaza, as clarified to the IDF by Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu and by me, is clear: We remove threats, eliminate terrorists, and settle accounts with anyone who took part in the October 7 massacre,” Katz said.
“That is how the IDF acted today in eliminating the Hamas terrorists, and that is how it will continue to act with force to protect our soldiers and ensure quiet for the communities of the south — from within the security zone.”
{Matzav.com}
Matzav Inbox: Pay Your Workers. On Time.
Dear Matzav Inbox,
A Choshen Mishpat PSA: The Torah prohibition against delaying a person’s wages is far more serious—and far more common—than many people realize.
I work in the Choshen Mishpat world in the tristate area. I’m not formally a dayan, but as a Rabbi with Yadin Yadin, people do come to me with their shailos. Of course, I don’t pasken as a yachid, but I do help clarify the issues, present relevant views from the poskim, and guide people toward a clearer understanding of the situation.
I’ve been involved in this for a while, and I hate to say that there is one issue that is extremely serious and consistently keeps coming up. I feel the need to bring it to public attention as a PSA:
PAY YOUR WORKERS ON TIME.
This, more or less, includes anyone you hire to do work for you in any capacity—babysitters, doctors, dentists, architects, gardeners, tutors, cleaners, contractors, freelancers, and anyone else providing a service. If someone did a job for you, the halachic obligation to pay them properly and on time applies fully, regardless of the type of work or how “informal” the arrangement may feel.
There is an explicit prohibition in the Torah against delaying a worker’s wages. In fact, the Gemara counts five lavin and one asei that can be involved in this area, underscoring its seriousness. While not all of them apply in every single case, ביומו תתן שכרו is an asei, and לא תלין פעולת שכיר is a lav gamur, and these apply with almost every worker.
This is not a joke. The Torah itself explains the seriousness of the mitzvah with the words ואליו הוא נושא את נפשו—he is “carrying his life.” Chazal explain that when you withhold a worker’s wages, you are, in a sense, taking his life from him. Although the lav applies regardless of the worker’s bank account, this is especially real when a poor person is struggling to put food on the table—and you would be surprised how often that is unfortunately the case. I promise you, you have no idea how bad it can get. People who seem like regular workers are often really struggling because they are not being paid.
Of course, this is not an easy mitzvah. Bills are annoying. Life is expensive. Everyone is stretched, everyone is juggling, and most people are genuinely trying their best. It is not easy to keep up with everything, and financial pressure is real. But at the end of the day, none of that changes the basic responsibility: You hired a worker, he did the job, and you are obligated to pay him. Period.
Your worker never asked to be your lender to help you with your cash-flow issues.
To be mekayem the mitzvah, you need to pay right away. The exact details of “right away” vary depending on the type of worker and the terms of employment, but in ordinary contemporary arrangements, the practical rule is: Don’t wait.
There are other important details regarding the timing. For example, halacha takes customary billing and accounting arrangements into account, and בל תלין is triggered when the worker demands payment. But once the bill comes in and payment is due, it becomes an actual aveira. Things get very serious, very quickly.
Pay the worker on time. I can’t say it enough. Before you spend money on a beautiful, upgraded esrog, make sure the person who worked for you has been paid.
This is a very serious matter, and although it should be obvious anyway, I’m afraid it simply isn’t known well enough.
Hence this PSA.
The number of stories I hear is insane. People are literally struggling to put food on their tables, unable to pay their credit card bills, or unable to pay their own workers because they are waiting for money that they honestly earned from people they worked for. These are people who did a good job and helped their clients—their clients are thrilled with the work—but are now being left hanging for weeks or months.
Recently, someone came to me in an absolute mess. More than 50 people had failed to pay him. Some owed him close to $50,000, others closer to “just” $7,000, and altogether he was owed hundreds of thousands of dollars. They were all frum clients.
And now this person was taking tzedakah to pay for a chasunah, for Shabbos, and for Yom Tov—because he had to fight to collect money that was already rightfully his. If two or three more people had followed halacha, he wouldn’t have had to take out a loan to pay for the chasunah!
Of course, he has since become much more careful about things like retainers and payment arrangements. He could have protected himself better. But that does not excuse the people who simply did not pay him. If you hire someone, PAY HIM.
And I don’t mean eventually. I mean pay him on time—on the day his work is completed, when halacha requires it.
If there is a genuine dispute about part of the bill, don’t use the disputed amount as an excuse to hold up money that you clearly owe. Pay the undisputed amount and resolve the remaining issue promptly. Don’t use a dispute over $500 to hold up $5,000 that you know you owe.
I also must add that even if someone already missed the halachic deadline, that does not mean the money is now “okay to owe.” He is still obligated to pay immediately, and continued delay is itself prohibited. Missing the deadline is not a free pass to let the bill sit for another week or month.
None of this is some minor technical halacha buried in Choshen Mishpat. It is a pasuk in the Torah. (Which happens to be in this week’s parsha…)
The Yom HaDin is coming quickly. Having an unpaid worker’s money sitting on your head is not something anyone should want to take with them into Din.
If someone works for you, pay him. Pay him on time. It’s the halacha.
(Sources for those who want: Bava Metzia 110b–112a; Shulchan Aruch CM 339)
M.
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Trump Warns Alaska: Vote for ‘Real Dan Sullivan’
President Trump issued an urgent warning to Alaska voters Tuesday morning, urging them to make certain they cast their ballots for incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan amid an unusual primary featuring another candidate with nearly the identical name.
“ALASKA: Be careful, VOTE FOR THE REAL DAN SULLIVAN TODAY,” Trump posted on Truth Social, once again throwing his support behind Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, who is campaigning for a third term in Washington.
Trump alleged that Democrats were attempting to mislead voters by having another Dan Sullivan appear on the ballot. The second candidate, Dan J. Sullivan, is a retired fifth-grade teacher who describes himself as a pragmatic Republican.
“The Dumocrats know how good he is and have put up an imposter of the same name,” Trump wrote. “Vote for the ‘INCUMBENT SENATOR.’ Don’t let these Fraudsters get away with this HOAX.”
The president also praised Sen. Sullivan’s record representing Alaska, crediting him with helping bring “HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS” to the state.
Trump had delivered a similar message Friday, accusing Democrats of engaging in “trickery” and instructing his supporters to vote for “SULLIVAN, DAN S. — REGISTERED REPUBLICAN/INCUMBENT.”
The Alaska Democratic Party and the campaign of ex-Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, who is viewed as Sen. Sullivan’s leading opponent in the race, have both denied having any involvement in Dan J. Sullivan’s decision to run.
Despite those denials, Republicans have continued raising questions about the circumstances surrounding Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has cited people associated with his campaign, including adviser Amber Lee and representative Alan Harris, in arguing that the candidacy has connections to Democrats.
Harris previously appeared in an advertisement produced by Majority Forward, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC, that attacked Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.
Senate Majority PAC has denied having any communication with Dan J. Sullivan or encouraging him to enter the contest. Dan J. Sullivan has likewise denied coordinating his campaign with Peltola.
Alaska election authorities initially removed Dan J. Sullivan from the ballot after determining that he had not filed his candidacy in good faith and that his campaign was intended to cause confusion among voters.
Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews subsequently overturned that determination. Matthews ruled that state election officials did not have the authority to create an additional “good-faith” requirement for candidates and concluded that the state had failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that Dan J. Sullivan entered the race with the intention of confusing voters.
The Alaska Supreme Court upheld Matthews’ decision, clearing the way for Dan J. Sullivan’s name to appear on Tuesday’s primary ballot.
Alaska uses a nonpartisan primary system in which the four candidates receiving the most votes advance to the ranked-choice general election in November.
With 16 candidates competing for Alaska’s U.S. Senate seat in Tuesday’s primary, it remains possible for both candidates named Dan Sullivan to finish among the top four and advance to the November election.
{Matzav.com}
Chaos at Ben Gurion Airport: Just 9.8% of Flights Departed On Time as Delays Soared
Summer travel congestion at Ben Gurion Airport has reached extraordinary levels, with fewer than one in 10 flights departing on time or within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure during the past week.
According to a report by Hofit Cohen Olai in Calcalist, Ben Gurion Airport recorded 31% more departures last week than the weekly average over the previous three months. At the same time, delays surged by 24%.
A total of 1,847 flights departed from Ben Gurion Airport during the week, but just 9.8% took off on schedule or no more than 15 minutes late. The average delay at Terminal 3 reached 69 minutes, while passengers departing from Terminal 1 faced an average delay of 66 minutes.
The congestion extended well beyond the runways. Travelers reported lengthy lines at check-in counters and security checkpoints, while some passengers on Friday said they waited as long as two and a half hours for their luggage.
Red Wings posted the worst average performance among the airlines examined. Although the carrier operated only 17 flights, its average delay was a staggering 207 minutes.
Blue Bird Airways followed with an average delay of 128 minutes across 189 departures, while TUS recorded an average delay of 114 minutes on its 69 flights.
At the other end of the rankings, Flydubai posted the shortest average delay at 22 minutes. Azerbaijan Airlines averaged 28 minutes, while Emirates recorded an average delay of 29 minutes.
Significant differences were also seen among Israel’s airlines. El Al operated 598 flights and recorded an average delay of 42 minutes. Israir’s 282 flights were delayed by an average of 59 minutes, while Arkia posted an average delay of 100 minutes across 284 departures.
Certain destinations proved particularly vulnerable to disruptions. Flights to Heraklion were delayed by an average of 104 minutes, while Mykonos-bound flights averaged 103 minutes late and Barcelona flights were delayed by an average of 101 minutes.
The Israel Airports Authority attributed some of the problems to heavy congestion in European airspace, particularly over Greece, as well as disruptions involving assigned takeoff and landing windows. Calcalist also reported that the activity of American refueling aircraft in the region has affected available flight slots.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the current congestion is that Ben Gurion Airport is operating with dramatically fewer airlines than during a typical summer. Only 47 carriers are currently serving the airport, compared with approximately 100 during a normal summer season.
Despite that reduced number, the airport has struggled to handle the summer traffic. Infrastructure limitations, insufficient security-screening positions, shortages of aircraft parking spaces and staffing constraints have all contributed to the difficulties.
Israel’s Transportation Ministry told Calcalist that the delays reflect a combination of normal summer travel congestion, the complicated security situation and substantial pressure on European airspace.
The ministry said efforts are being made to maintain continuous operations at Ben Gurion Airport while minimizing flight cancellations as much as possible.
{Matzav.com}
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