‘Eilat airport may be closed down because of missile threat’

Amid escalating fears of missile attacks from the adjacent Sinai Peninsula, Israel’s security services are considering closing down Eilat airport, it was reported Thursday night.

In the interim, Israeli planes using the airport are to be equipped with a revolutionary defense system that safeguards planes from rocket attack on landing and takeoff, Channel 2 news said.

The airport serving Israel’s Red Sea tourist resort is predominantly used by Israeli airlines, flying passengers to and from Ben-Gurion International Airport and Tel Aviv’s Sde Dov.

Eilat was hit by two Grad rockets, apparently fired from the Sinai, on Wednesday — one fell in open ground, but the second landed in a residential area and caused light damage. The airport was closed briefly in the immediate aftermath of that attack.

Channel 2 news reported that the Shin Bet security service, for several months, has weighed closing down the airport, and is continuing to consider doing so. It was not clear from the report how long a period of closure is being considered.

In the interim, the report said, a decision was made to equip all Israeli planes using the airport with the revolutionary Rakia defense system, designed to protect passenger planes from attack by terrorists equipped with shoulder-fired missiles. This system “is now operational,” the TV report said.

The Rakia system, built by local Elbit Systems, was secretly tested to great success, the same TV station reported in March last year, and government approval was secured then for its installation. In testing, the system proved capable of deflecting single and multiple missiles away from the target plane.

The need for the system was deemed particularly acute because of ongoing tension between Israel and Iran, which funds and arms Hamas to Israel’s south in Gaza, and Hezbollah to Israel’s north in Lebanon. Hundreds of anti-aircraft missiles are reported to have been smuggled into the Egyptian Sinai, and Egypt has reported making several interceptions of missile shipments — including Russian surface-to-air missiles taken from Libyan arsenals — en route to terror groups in the Sinai and in Gaza.

Initially, the Rakia defense systems — which cost $1 million per plane — were to be installed on airlines, including the national carrier El Al, flying what are defined as “sensitive routes,” last year’s TV report said.

Approval for the installation capped a multiyear testing process. Design of the system — which is effective during a plane’s vulnerable takeoff and landing stages — was prioritized after a foiled effort to down an Israeli civilian airliner taking off from Mombasa 10 years ago.