The battle over where to put Israel’s new airport

BIRD-WATCHERSF in northern Israel are spoiled for choice. Griffon vultures, imperial eagles and long-legged buzzards swoop over the Golan Heights. Cranes, cormorants and kingfishers congregate in the wetlands around the Sea of Galilee. And flying over them all are the biggest birds in the sky, Israel’s -16 fighter jets, which climb steeply from the runways of Ramat David airbase—in order to avoid sucking any feathered friends into their engines. But the skies in the north may soon look different, if the air force gets its way.Israel needs a new airport. About 90% of all travel to and from the country moves through Ben-Gurion International Airport, just outside Tel Aviv. It serves the entire population of 9.2m and most of the millions of tourists who visit each year. Before covid-19 the airport was close to full capacity. Nearly everyone agrees that another is essential. They just can’t agree on where to build it. And the fight is making for strange bedfellows.