Wed 3 Jan, noon: STOP PRESS: MyShtetl.co.za believes that El Al is till flying to SA - we are awaiting a response to questions we have asked the airline regarding the present status of dicussions, for how long they intend to continue, if their issues are not sorted out, etc? We will update users as and when we get information - we have stressed the urgency to El Al SA and are now in their hands. WATCH THIS SPACE.
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In a letter to Israeli PM and Jewish Agency chief, the Krengel brothers and Stanley Seeff said SA community leaders felt the need to take action after they saw no progress on the issue and urged Netanyahu to get involved.
"Both as Israel's Prime Minister and as a Jewish leader whose greater mandate encompasses promoting the well-being of all Jewry, we sincerely hope that you will be able to assist in this regard," the leaders wrote last week.
with Haaretz online - Sunday 31 Jan
Zev Krengel, chairman of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, was quoted on Friday as saying that Israeli officials have effectively abandoned the only direct air link between SA and Israel, after they failed to follow up on negotiations.
"We feel there is no sense of urgency, no one keeps trying," Krengel told Anglo File, referring to threats the El Al Johannesburg-Tel Aviv route might be discontinued if the two countries don't reach an agreement.
Earlier this month it was reported El Al might be forced to stop flying to Johannesburg by the end of January because South Africa refuses to provide the head of Israel's security team there with diplomatic passports.
Israeli regulations require such passports - or other arrangements providing similar privileges - for El Al operations in international airports.
Leaders of the South African Jewish community participated in two bilateral meetings about the issue, Krengel said, but stopped there.
"There are no follow-up discussions, and now we're hitting the deadline and the South African government thinks the Israelis have accepted [its demands while] the Israelis are ready to stop flying," Krengel said.
El Al spokesman Ran Rahav said in a statement the matter was the responsibility of the Israeli government and that his company hopes "the crisis with the South African government will be solved quickly."
A foreign ministry spokesman in Jerusalem said he could not comment on this issue.
Krengel said he and other leaders felt the need to take action after they saw no progress on the issue and urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get involved.
"Both as Israel's Prime Minister and as a Jewish leader whose greater mandate encompasses promoting the well-being of all Jewry, we sincerely hope that you will be able to assist in this regard," the leaders wrote last week.
Besides Krengel, the letter was signed by his brother Avrom Krengel (chairman of the SA Zionist Fed) and Stanley Seeff (chairman of the Israel United Appeal). A similar letter was sent to Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky.
At the end of the second bilateral meeting - which was attended by officials of both governments, El Al and the South African Jewish community - Pretoria's representatives told their Israeli counterparts they were not willing to grant the diplomatic immunity Israel seeks. Instead, they offered to let El Al open a new security company, whose staff could bear firearms, one of the reasons why Israel demands diplomatic passports. The Israeli side rejected the proposed compromise, according to Krengel.
After this meeting, in mid-December, Krengel asked South Africa's deputy foreign minister, Sue van der Merwe, about the progress of the talks with Israel. Since El Al was still flying - without diplomatic immunity - van der Merwe "said as far she understands, the whole issue has been resolved," according to Krengel. Her spokesman, Saul Molobi, confirmed this week that the matter "has been resolved" but refused to offer details.
Krengel said the South African government never heard any response from the Israeli government after the second meeting.
"We're now in a situation where the South African government thinks everything's fine," while the Israelis are apparently willing to sit back and discontinue the route, Krengel said. Although Pretoria and Jerusalem have normal diplomatic relations, Krengel continued, "the human relationship is almost minimal. I don't think there is much interaction between the two governments."
One senior leader of South African Jewry, who asked to remain unnamed, said he knows "for a fact that since the last meeting in December there has been no communication going on whatsoever between the two countries on this matter - not a word, not a letter, not a phone call, not a discussion." He heard this from an official in South Africa's foreign ministry, he implied. The official could not be reached for comment.
Last week, Anglo File reported President Shimon Peres was expected to meet his South African counterpart, Jacob Zuma, at the World Economic Forum in Davos to discuss the matter. According to a statement his office published Thursday, Peres' Davos trip includes several meetings with heads of state, but no one from South Africa is among those mentioned.
"The ramifications for South Africa are huge, the ramifications for Israel are massive, but the biggest loser is the local South African community," Krengel said. "What also concerns me is that the South African government will always think that the Israelis were playing a game with them, that they said we'd get back to you and then embarrassed the South African government by just stopping the flights, six months before the [soccer] World Cup."
As the meetings have shown, both sides are willing to make compromises, Krengel continued, urging the two governments to make efforts to figure out an alternative arrangement satisfying Israel's security needs without forcing Pretoria to grant diplomatic passports.
ZEV KRENGEL 3 National chair.jpg
