Flight controllers in Israel went on strike for several hours on Thursday causing takeoffs from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport to cease, local media reported, according to dpa. Flights resumed around midday local time, after affecting a number of travellers. The controllers were protesting an investigative report that laid responsibility for a near accident in September. In the incident, an Israeli aircraft on the runway nearly crashed with an Italian aeroplane. The pilot of a third aircraft warned the controllers and the accident was avoided at the last minute. The strikers criticized the report as tendentious and called for an investigation by international experts. Tel Aviv flight controllers have for some time been calling for improvements and modernization of flight control at the airport.
