Ramon Airport near Eilat has been forgotten by state agencies regarding security and having proper health support on-site, according to the State Comptroller’s Report, which was released on Tuesday.
On September 7, a Houthi drone attack struck Ilan and Asaf Ramon Airport’s passenger hall, wounding five people with shrapnel.
Following that attack, the State Comptroller’s Office said it had been warning behind the scenes at the Knesset Comptroller Committee about security and safety issues at the airport for some time, but that objections to certain aspects of its report had delayed publication.
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman’s implication was that if his report had not been held up by various Knesset, defense, and other state agency officials, maybe the attack could have been prevented, or the disaster response could have been at a higher level.
It appears that the Houthis’ September 7 attack used complex diversion and surprise to succeed.
Comptroller slams Ramon Airport security and health deficiencies
The IAF intercepted three drones during the day, mostly coming from the Egyptian border side. Two of them were destroyed before entering Israel, and air-raid sirens were activated according to policy, the IDF reported.
Sirens sounded shortly after 2 p.m. in several communities near the Egyptian border, including Nitzana, Kadesh Barnea, Khemin, and Be’er Milka. Home Front Command declared the incident over less than 10 minutes later.
But this declaration may have been the moment when Israel’s air defense let its guard down, and the Houthis slipped additional drones through. One of them hit Ramon Airport.
Some officials in the South said they had noticed a major drop in air-defense security infrastructure after the 12-day conflict with Iran in June. The strike on Ramon Airport could have come from a loss of resources and paying less attention to Yemen, given that the “head of the snake,” Iran, had been defeated, they said.
In general, Ramon Airport has not had as many defenses or resources as Ben-Gurion Airport – or even the resources that state agencies said it needs at a minimum – because it is a much smaller local airport and not a major or strategic international hub.
The Jerusalem Post has received indications that since the September attack by the Houthis, there has been some improvement in security at Ramon Airport, but it is said to be far from sufficient.
The full extent of the insufficiencies is classified for viewing only by relevant MKs.
In Tuesday’s State Comptroller’s Report, Englman criticized the Airports Authority, the Israel Police, the Health Ministry, and Magen David Adom for deficiencies in readiness to respond to a mass-casualty event.
The police have failed to establish a command-and-control mechanism and staff dedicated to Ramon Airport’s security and to handling any security and other mass-casualty event, the report said.
The IDF is formally handling such issues, the report said, insinuating that since the military does not feel it should be carrying out this role, it may not be contributing sufficient resources.
Furthermore, the Health Ministry, MDA, and the National Security Council (NSC) had declared in 2017 that Ramon Airport needed a certain minimum number of ambulances and other medical services on-site to be in compliance with international standards for an international airport.
Despite those standards not being met, the Airports Authority improperly declared in March that Ramon Airport meets international health-safety standards, the report said.
In addition, a 2019 letter from the Health Ministry to the NSC and to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ministry did not have the capabilities to be responsible for the health situation at Ramon. Englman said the NSC had ignored this letter and has not held any follow-up meetings on the issue.
Englman said the situation “could put all passengers who are spending time in the airport in danger.”
Separately, Englman said Ramon Airport loses about NIS 274 million per year and has lost an estimated NIS 1.4 billion in its operations since it was established, along with another NIS 2b. that was spent building it.
Ramon Airport was initially established to provide Israel with an alternative airport in the event of a war and if Ben-Gurion Airport came under fire.
Ramon Airport can facilitate up to 150 flights per day, while Ben-Gurion Airport can handle 400, of which around 280 are foreign airlines and 120 are Israeli airlines, the report said.
In response, the Airports Authority said it has appointed a central authority to address the issues that the comptroller attributed to it. Most of the problems identified in the report had been directed at the Health Ministry, MDA, and the police, it said.