Earlier on Saturday, opposition heads Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman wrote to Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit, arguing that the airport closure must be stopped because it will help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to win the March 23 election.
Lapid and Liberman reacted to a Channel 12 report on Friday night that found that 90% of the people who are being allowed into the country despite the closure, are Charedim, who support parties that are in the pro-Netanyahu bloc.
Lapid argued in a letter to Mandelblit that the Exceptions Committee, led by Regev, is being used by the prime minister to control the flow of those coming into the country with the intention to help determine the outcome of the election.
“What is happening at Ben-Gurion Airport is not an Exceptions Committee, but an Elections Committee,” Lapid said. “Only supporters of Netanyahu, [United Torah Judaism MK Ya’acov] Litzman, and [Otzma Yehudit head Itamar] Ben-Gvir receive permission to come in.”
Liberman drafted the 25 signatures of MKs needed for an emergency session of the Knesset to discuss the controversy.
Prime ministerial candidate Gideon Saar called for all Israeli citizens abroad to be allowed to return to Israel safely, with inspections and isolation as required. MK Zvi Hauser of his New Hope Party called on the government to adopt a bill he submitted in the previous Knesset that would allow each Israeli “stuck” outside the country to vote.
“There is no logic in continuing the violation of civil rights and the return of Israelis should not be conditioned on a politicized “who you know” committee,” Sa’ar said.
Regev responded by accusing Channel 12 of “fake news and lies.” She insisted that the airport closure exceptions were being handled professionally and that plenty of secular Israelis were also arriving. Shas leader Arye Deri accused the channel of “an ugly campaign against Charedim.”
United Torah Judaism faction chairman Yitzhak Pindrus went further, saying that he opposed closing the airport to begin with, but Yesh Atid and Yisrael Beytenu prevented him from keeping the airport open. He accused Lapid and Liberman of “hypocrisy and incitement.”
