Flights were canceled and delayed as operations slowly resumed; behind the scenes, officials traded blame over staffing shortages, ignored warnings and possible dismissalsMeanwhile, intense talks continued between the Israel Airports Authority and Pinchas Idan, chairman of the employees' committee, who claims the disruptions were caused by a severe staffing shortage. The authority has now effectively acknowledged that the shortage exists, although just Wednesday it denied in a response to ynet that its employment model, under which many workers are employed only temporarily and seasonally, was connected to the congestion that had been reported at the airport since last weekend.GalleryChaos at Ben Gurion Airport (Photo: Meir Turgeman)(Photo: Nir Shtiasny)In an afternoon statement announcing the gradual resumption of operations at Ben Gurion, the authority said: “It was agreed that a significant effort would be made to increase staffing levels and address operational needs.”It added: “With the employees returning to full activity, operations at Ben Gurion Airport are gradually resuming. However, given the accumulated congestion, it will take time to ease the pressure and return fully to routine. Passengers are asked to continue checking with their airlines for updates. We regret and apologize for the disruption to passengers.”The chaos at Ben Gurion began after the Israel Airports Authority employees' committee instructed workers to take action. Aircraft parking operations were frozen and the transfer of luggage to sorting was halted. The employees' committee has complained of a severe and ongoing staffing shortage and insufficient preparations by management for the heavy summer traffic.At around 2 p.m., air operations were reduced until they came to a complete halt and airlines were officially notified that landings had been suspended. Flights en route to Israel were forced to turn back. Exceptionally long lines formed at the airport, and beginning at around 3 p.m., landing and departure operations gradually resumed.(Photo: Meir Turgeman)The massive congestion at Ben Gurion Airport caused by the surprise strike (Photo: Meir Turgeman)Passengers stranded in the departures hall described hours of waiting.“I’m tired of being in this situation. It’s simply a horrible experience,” Hagi said as he waited, like tens of thousands of others, near the closed check-in counters.“We’re stuck here in this mess,” said Nissim, another passenger.Michal Rokach had planned to fly to the Netherlands with her family. “We’re stuck here because of the strike,” Rokach said before the announcement that airport operations were gradually resuming. “There are about 100,000 people packed together here. They sent us a message telling us to go to check-in, but it’s impossible to get there.”Michelle Levy was supposed to fly to Spain.“I don’t understand how people can stand for hours like this, like animals,” Levy said. “I can’t even stand myself, and I’m here. It’s really a terrible situation. I’m so sorry for Ben Gurion Airport and for Israel.”(Photo: Meir Turgeman)The brief strike also affected operations in the arrivals hall.Adi Dagani, who returned to Israel from Crete, said: “Our flight was supposed to take off at 11 a.m. and was delayed by half an hour. We arrived after 2 p.m. and waited about two hours for our luggage. No one explained to us what happened, but everything is fine. The main thing is that we’re OK.”Yarin and Yafit Katzil also landed from Crete, Greece.“We were at the airport there for 12 hours, without water or anything to drink. They wouldn’t let us go to the duty-free area. Then we sat on the plane for another two hours, and when we arrived in Israel, we waited another four hours for our luggage.”The suspension of check-in services at the airport caused chaos and congestion on one of the busiest days of the year, with nearly 100,000 passengers and 600 flights.Senior Transportation Ministry officials said that if it emerges that this was an “Italian strike”, a term used in Israel for a form of work-to-rule action, at the height of the travel season, “heads will roll and employees will go home.”Bennett at Ben Gurion Airport (Photo: Shaul Golan)“We are investigating the incident,” they said. “We are at the peak of the travel season, alongside the presence of American refueling aircraft. If the investigation finds that this was indeed an ‘Italian strike,’ we will take very strong action against those responsible.”Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who toured the airport just Wednesday, said: “Ben Gurion Airport will remain open and operate as usual. Anyone who gets in the way will be sent home.”(Photo: Shaul Golan)He appeared to be referring to Pinchas Idan, chairman of the Israel Airports Authority employees' committee, who has been accused of being behind an “Italian strike.” Transportation Minister Miri Regev also attacked the committee, despite having been photographed smiling alongside Idan just Wednesday during a visit to Ben Gurion with Netanyahu.The announcement about Wednesday's visit, which came after several days of heavy congestion and disruptions at the airport, struck a notably optimistic tone. It said that “during the visit, the prime minister was presented with the operational and logistical activity at Ben Gurion Airport, alongside the work of thousands of employees who operate every day to maintain operational continuity and provide optimal service to passengers during the summer season.”Idan rejected the allegations.“They can’t call it a strike and make up stories, because everyone wants to cover themselves,” he said. “In June, I sent a letter saying there was a staffing shortage. Then they said, ‘There’s no shortage, there are Americans, there is Greece’ — fairy tales. A baggage handler can’t work 13 hours a day in this heat. What do you want, for people to collapse?”Netanyahu and Regev at Ben Gurion Airport, yesterday“Everyone says there’s no staffing shortage. Come, I’ll take you on a tour and you tell me whether it’s normal for a baggage handler to start at 3 a.m. and finish at 3 p.m. We didn’t stop working. The morning shift started at 3 a.m. and finished at noon. At 1 p.m., the afternoon shift returned to normal work. All the baggage handlers are working. They finished nine hours and went home. They deserve that.”One Ben Gurion employee described a different picture.“It started when the committee decided there would be no more overtime,” the employee said. “In other words, it’s a snowball that will keep rolling for several more good hours, and there will be more busy days and they’ll collapse under their own weight.”“I don’t know if this is a strike. Everything is simply at a standstill because a crazy bottleneck has formed upstairs at check-in because they aren’t accepting luggage. In my department, I heard that 10 employees didn’t show up. Personally, I wasn’t instructed not to work, but everything is at a standstill. They aren’t accepting luggage because the systems are completely overloaded. I spoke to veteran employees who say they’ve never seen anything like this before.”Minister Regev hugs Pinchas Idan, yesterday (Photo: from the Israel Airports Authority's Instagram page)Senior aviation industry officials responded to Idan's remarks, saying: “If it turns out that a written warning was indeed issued in advance about an expected staffing shortage, that it was reported to Israel Airports Authority management in real time and that no preventive measures were taken in response to warnings based on the baggage handlers’ staffing crisis, immediate steps will be taken following an in-depth investigation.”According to the officials, the failure “could lead to the dismissal of the Israel Airports Authority CEO or the chairman of Ben Gurion Airport’s board of directors.”Senior Transportation Ministry officials also raised allegations concerning Israel Airports Authority CEO Sharon Kedmi, who was appointed by Regev in 2024.“We are examining whether there was already a discussion of the issue with Kedmi and Regev in June, in which she was told there was no staffing shortage and everything was under control, despite employees' committee chairman Pinhas Idan reporting that he was short at least 400 workers,” they said.“If the Israel Airports Authority CEO normalized the chairman’s warning and dragged his feet on it, that could lead to his dismissal. An investigation has also been opened into board chairman Yiftah Ron-Tal.”The officials added that there are ways to determine which employees abandoned their posts and that they will be summoned to disciplinary hearings. The hearing letters have already been drafted.