Knesset preparing to provide a $5b guarantee to keep El Al flying during war
State-backed guarantee will enable El Al, Arkia, and Israir to obtain wartime insurance policy and keep their fleets in the skies, amid broad service suspensions to Israel
Carrie Keller-Lynn is a former political and legal correspondent for The Times of Israel
The Knesset is preparing to extend $5 billion in wartime insurance guarantees to Israeli airlines, enabling carriers El Al, Arkia and Israir to continue repatriating Israelis from abroad, amid widespread international flight cancellations to Israel.
The Knesset Finance Committee is slated to discuss the wartime insurance guarantee on Thursday morning, according to a spokesperson for the committee.
Without the state-backed guarantee, Israeli carriers could lose their coverage within seven days of the October 7 outbreak of war, in line with the terms of their policy with Inbal Insurance Company Ltd. Shortly after Hamas’s coordinated attack clobbered Israel on Saturday, leading to over 900 deaths and more than 2,500 injuries, Inbal put the carriers on notice for potential policy cancellation.
Israel’s accountant general, in a letter requesting the Finance Committee appropriate the funds, said that “there is a real danger, in the absence of the ability to purchase another insurance plan within the necessary schedules, that within a few days, the airlines will not be able to maintain their current air operations,” given requirements by aircraft leasing companies and aviation authorities to maintain war risk insurance.
As it would require a formal budgetary allocation, the Finance Committee must approve the $5 billion state guarantee, which would cover Inbal’s obligations and costs tied to the provision of war risk insurance.
The Hamas terror organization has claimed to deliberately direct rocket barrages toward Ben Gurion International Airport, and most international carriers have suspended service to Israel.
Independent groups, as well as the Israel Air Force in coordination with the Foreign Ministry, have worked to organize charter flights to ferry back active duty soldiers and military reservists abroad when the fighting broke out.
Over 1,500 Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel on Saturday, by breaking through Israel’s border fence with the Gaza Strip and utilizing tunnels carved into the earth below Israel’s southern communities.
The same day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “at war” with Hamas. In line with Israeli law, the security cabinet approved the decision on Sunday.