Airport labor chief Pinchas Idan says he won’t appeal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bid to kick him out of the Likud party, but continues to deny responsibility for a wildcat strike on Thursday that brought Ben-Gurion International Airport to a standstill and sparked widespread anger at him.
“Given that the prime minister has determined that it is actually me who is the evil cause of damage suffered by the party, I shall hereby refrain from appealing this determination,” Idan writes in a letter to Likud’s internal court.
Idan, who is also reportedly facing an ouster from his role as union boss, is a member of the Likud Central Committee who has reportedly signed up thousands of people as Likud members.
His term as union head was originally set to end in May 2026, but was extended, reportedly amid pressure on the Israel Airports Authority from senior Likud politicians.
In the letter, Idan says he did not give the order for workers to strike. “I even demanded an uncompromising investigation be launched to find who was responsible for giving this order,” he adds.
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