The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and nine foreign airlines filed a lawsuit in the High Court of Justice (High Court of Justice) against Transport Minister Miri Regev, Economy Minister Nir Barkat and the Knesset Finance Committee.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensation from the State of Israel for passengers who were stranded abroad during Operation People Like a Lion as a result of the Israeli government’s decision to close Israeli airspace indefinitely.
Let us recall that the Israeli Ministry of Finance refused to allocate funds to pay compensation to more than 100 thousand Israelis stuck abroad during the 12-day operation “A Nation Like a Lion,” citing a lack of funds in the budget for these purposes.
According to the decision of the Ministry of Finance, the issue of compensation should be decided by the Ministry of Transport on the basis of the recently amended law on compensation for passengers (the so-called “Tibi Law”). The Ministry of Transport emphasizes that the “Tibi Law” is intended for cases where the flight was canceled by the airline, and not when the state closed the skies to flights, and that one should not try to shift the payment of compensation to the airlines, as this could lead to their collapse.”