Israel puts off open-skies agreement with EU due to elections

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the Ministry of Transportation on Wednesday to postpone signing an "open skies" agreement due to the January 22 elections. The agreement was initially signed by the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the European Commission, which will allow European airlines to increase the number of flights they operate to and from Israel over a five-year period as of 2013 and will lower ticket prices to Europe for Israeli travelers. The official signing of the agreement was scheduled to take place next week, on December 20, during a gathering of the EU's transportation ministers in Brussels. In a statement released on Wednesday, the ministry explained that the decision was made due to the upcoming January 22 elections. "In accordance with the Prime Minister's instructions, it has been decided not to sign on the final agreement with the European Union, stemming from the need to refrain from making far-reaching decisions at this time prior to the elections," the statement read. The European Union in response criticized the decision to better relations between it and Israel, amid the diplomatic crisis caused by Israel's construction in the settlements. "Specifically at this timeframe, when the European Union is exposed to criticism by Israel, Europe was willing to sign the agreement; but Israel has decided to postpone it at this time, both sides will miss a complete year in which the agreement could have been implemented," a source within the European Union told the financial The Marker newspaper. On Monday, the European Union harshly criticized Israel's decision to build in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the E1 territorial stretch connecting them, dubbing it an obstacle for peace. On Tuesday evening, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman slammed the EU's announcement, and compared the EU's attitude towards Israel as that of European nations during the holocaust era. He said that Europe is turning a "blind eye" to a speech by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal from the weekend in which he said the Palestinians won't "cede an inch" from the land of Israel. "Once again, Europe has ignored calls for Israel's destruction, as we've seen at the end of the 1930's and early 1940's, when Europe knew what was going on in the concentration camps," he said. Lieberman's comments were slammed by left-wing politicians, who called the comparison "inappropriate" and "disrespectful" as well as wild and extreme.