In the Book of Psalms (121:1-2) it is written: “I lift up my eyes to the mountains, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

Traditionally here in Israel when the government in power lifted up its eyes to the mountain, spiritual help came from God and faith, but operational help came from the US, as did the associated demands. Those demands, of course, follow the adage, “He Who Has the Gold Makes the Rules,” which first appeared in an American comic strip, “The Wizard of Id #4” by Brant Parker and John Hart in October, 1971.

We see this played out even today. During America’s current war with Iran, the US government asked to have multiple US Air Force refueling tanker aircraft parked at Ben Gurion Airport. It was no problem. First of all, “big brother” made the request and, secondly, there was almost no inbound tourism, and no commercial flights other than those primarily flown by ELAL. Specifically, we had the space to do this.

But now the tourist influx has begun and Israel needs the space to park incoming aircraft before they begin their return flights to their countries of origin. Israel has asked the US to move the refuelers and America initially agreed but now that it looks like the war may ramp up again, they are demanding that we continue to host those aircraft. Projections show that the number of cancelled flights that will be affected beginning July 23rd could result in 50,000 trips being cancelled. To be sure, that would cause chaos on a number of........

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