Israel – A number of airlines are demanding that the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) stop the “impurity of Kohanim” procedure. According to this procedure, if a plane landing at Ben-Gurion Airport is carrying in its cargo area a body flown in from abroad, its passengers can only get off the plane after the body is removed from the aircraft, even if it takes a long time.
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This procedure was adopted by Ben-Gurion Airport following pressure by haredi elements, in order to prevent the impurity of people waiting inside the terminal. “The torture of passengers must end,” a source in the aviation industry said.
About two weeks ago, passengers of a Swiss International Airlines plane were forced to wait on the hot aircraft with no air conditions for about half an hour for the removal of a body located far from the cargo area’s entrance.
After the plane landed, its doors did not open and the air conditioning systems did not work. Some 200 passengers and crew members were left on the closed plane, and their protest was unanswered. Only after the corpse was removed from the plane, 30 minutes after landing, a boarding bridge was connected to the aircraft and the angry passengers were allowed to get off.
“This country is doing everything possible to drive tourists away. All kinds of strange procedures are doing the job more than any security situation,” a source at Ben-Gurion Airport had said at the time.
Following the incident, airlines are demanding a permanent solution for the problem. “It’s unthinkable that passengers should be tortured because of an agreement between the IAA and rabbis,” said a source in the aviation industry. “They want a quiet front on the part of religious elements. That’s important, obviously – but the passengers are important too.”
I realy think that respect for the dead used to be an international understanding…. I assume leftist shmoks don’t even respect the dead anymore.
About driving away tousists I think TAXes in israel should be lowered. that is so far the biggest forced which prevent tourists from making aliya.
While I think that their claim is correct, they are full of hogwash in blaming the Chreidim for chasing away tourists.
As anyone who has ever gone through Ben Gurion knows, they make you stand for hours on line at customs in a crowded and noisy terminal.
And if you should happen to arrive during a labor strike or slowdown, I pity you.
Seems to me that the airlines are creating these situations unnecessarily solely to provoke, pressure, and coerce the Torah-observant Jews of Eretz Yisrael.
What else is new?
Stay strong, Yidden!
problem can be solved let the air conditioner stay on for an extra half an hour and let the mais have a special area in the front of the plane so the mais can get off one two three.
So they want to create a situation where tens of thousands of Kohanim will not be allowed to enter the airport .We will have to fy to Amman or Cairo and take a bus or fly to Cyprus and take a ferry . Im sure things can be done to speed up the removal of the meisim from the plane ,but it would be a disaster for Kohanim to abolish the procedure
All kohanim are considered tamai mais so why this procedure?
Wouldn’t it be a simpler solution that the airlines place the body in an accessible area, so that it can be removed right away. But no, go bash religion.
“for the removal of a body located far from the cargo area’s entrance”
The airline bringing the body should have put the coffin at the front (as ELAL does) . But anyway, this makes good stuff to write about , the Charedim are forcing the secular nebach nebach ….
The sanctity of The Kohanim our only living link to the avoidah is paramount “Chaim Koolchem Hayoim”!
fix the air conditioner.
driving away tourists ha ha, passport control and meches is more than enough to drive tourists away
Ask all the passengers what if it was one of their family members, and how it should be handled
to #8 & #10
you 217;re talking nonsense. I fly 30 times a year & Ben-Gurion airport is one of the best, most organized & beautiful airports in the world.
I guess that you must have been caught smuggling something & feel bitter. Never mind  230;.. next time stay in America!
This is really about lazy laborers not wanting to be rushed to empty the ‘cargo’ other than baggage.
Dose anyone know the real truth why they make the pasengers wait? I am thinking in the old airport when you had to go down the stairs in middle of the field and take a bud to the terminal they didn’t want people to see a coffin, maybe that might feel creepy to some people. Or maybe Kovod H’mais was once respected and today no respect for anything.
If this situation is indeed true, I am sure there must be some easy solution that can be devised to satisfy all parties.
I liked getting off the plane onto a bus much better. Now the terminal is so huge, you have to walk forever to get your baggage!
How can a cohen fly on a plane carrying a body and what difference does it make when the air bridge is in place?
I believe that in the US when the body of a serviceman or servicewoman KIA is being transported to their home town for burial,procedure and respect dictate that the body is removed before the passengers disembark.
Why can’t they just let the non-jews and those who are not kohanim disembark and those who are kohanim who want to wait on the plane can sit and wait?
The Meis has to be removed from the plane either before the bridge is attached, or after it is detached, to keep the bridge from serving as an Ohel Meis that will pass the Tumah to the entire airport. The airport itself B”H is set up so there will be no problem. However, we are worried about all of the Kohanim in the airport.
FYI according to most Rabbinic opinions a Kohen cannot be on a plane that is carrying a body. Thus it is vital to check with the airline at check in. Hopefully they are honest.
Let these folks complain about a delay in Ryad or Theran. 30 min is tourture!? I guess none of these folks have flown out of an American airport recently.
How about not allowing ANYONE who does not live in Eretz Yisroel not to be flown to be buried there… What ? Eretz Yisroel is a Beis Hakvores?? Chas V’sholem… Let’em get buried in Long Island.
Just came back from a trip to Israel. Going, on Swiss Air, Their was a Meis on our flight and we had to wait to disembarck. The A/C stayed on and we had to wait 25 minutes.
All I could think of, what if I was traveling with the Meis. How wonderful and respectful it is to have the Meis treated with such respect.
We can wait, so long as we are comfortable.
Why can’t they let the Kohanim wait on the plane and let the others off? Why do they have to be matriach the whole tzibbur?
“Why can’t they let the Kohanim wait on the plane and let the others off? Why do they have to be matriach the whole tzibbur?”
Because the airport authority is now politically captive to a few fringe rabbonim who have their own distorted view of halacha and will insist that their chumrahs be imposed on n the whole tzibbur.
When an airplane is stuck on the tarmac in the sun and the air conditioning and ventilation is off, it can be more than just an inconvenience. Those tin cans we fly around in heat up very quickly in the sun. I was once on a plane in the carribean that got stuck on the tarmac for over 1 and 1/2 hours without air or ventilation (nothing to do with a niftar on board). People started passing out and one woman with claustrophobia completely lost it and was screaming and pounding on the doors so hard that she hurt herself. I’m sure the heat and lack of ventilation can be quite dangerous for people with heart problems or other illnesses. There should be a rule that if the cabin temperature gets over a certain amount that you have to let everyone out. To do otherwise, is false imprisonment and potentially very dangerous. At a minimum, people should be warned in advance and at least one flight to Israel from each location each day should be niftar-free so people can choose that flight if they don’t want to risk being held prisoner on the plane.
Well isreal is a jewish state that needs to cater to jewish law.
I am confused why was this enacted so many years ago when there were no bridges just buses? The whole tuma to the air port is confusing. I got it that in Chlutz Haaretz we go by Rov, but how did the tuma get there before when there were no ramps?
why cant people just stop dying??? that will solve all problems
This has nothing to do with a Kohen on the Airplane. It is about every Kohen inside the Airport. If the bridge is attached, according to ALL halachik opinions the entire airport becomes Ohel Meis and every Kohen inside is over tumas meis.
Mitzvah meis is a major obligation. The Kavod that needs be given a body takes a very high priority. However, that really does not factor in here. Nor does the standards at the Airport. What does factor in, in all reality the laziness of the airline. The body can easily be placed so that it is quickly retrievable and there is a minimal wait for the passengers. If the airline(all of whom know what to expect when they arrive in Israel) choose not to do that. That is their decision.
The decision to build Ben Gurion the way that it is, and to postpone the bridge attachement until after the body has been removed, was not a solely Chareidi effort. Modern Orthodox, Daati Leumi all took part. R’ Riskin, by no means a Chareidi Rav, was one of those that signed the petition.
This is not about feelings, it is about pshat halakha m’doraita. If it was only a chumra or a m’d’rabbanan I could understand some of the angst. But truly this is a m’d’oraita, and thus a major concern to anyone of any religious feeling.
Wouldn’t it be easier to just announce that there was a body on the plane, and any Kohen with a concern would be permitted to remain until the body had been removed? It’s really not the airlines’ business to force people to observe the halakha on this.