Thanks for providing that first hand account. Being Jewish, and attending an Orthodox synogogue (even though I am very far from being fully Orthodox), I understood all of the unique vocabulary there. Regrettably, I don’t think that a lot of people reading it do.
What is clear, though, is that El Al has obviously returned to its original roots of being a largely anti-religious (and quite obnoxiously so) airline...which is rather sad since it is the ONLY so-called “Jewish” airline. You’d think that if any airline, anywhere, would be accommodating to Orthodox Jews, it would be El Al. Would it have been so hard for the pilot to not take off after saying that they were going to pull back to the gate and let people off who didn’t want to fly? Or, if it was beyond his control (and it probably was, to be fair to him), would it have been so hard to make an announcement about it, and to reassure passengers that there wouldn’t be any trouble making it to Tel Aviv before the Sabbath? That, plus a very little bit of effort (like having an El Al executive call some religious organization in Tel Aviv) could have given those people the assurance that there would be no problem WRT the Sabbath. This was ALL avoidable, and after reading this account, it is now pretty obvious that it was El Al’s fault for being a bunch of arrogant, lying jackholes.
I will reveal the real super duper Rrrrrest of the Story. That Chabad House in Athens had been trying for years to raise funds to build a mikva (ritual bath...for the inquisitive) and with an appeal to the travellers who enjoyed their hospitality, had the pledges in minutes (I heard $40K plus...) to serve the Jewish community of Athens.
So in Chabad circles anyway, it’s clear why the delay and Who runs the world.