Business in Brief

The Bank of Israel bought $200 million worth of dollars on Israel's forex market yesterday, after the greenback began the day with a retreat against the shekel, falling to NIS 3.695 in the morning. After the central bank began its purchases, the dollar recovered somewhat and the representative rate was set at NIS 3.718, an increase of 0.2% against its closing rate the day before. However, yesterday's weakness for the dollar was just part of the overall global trend as the greenback fell against most major currencies. Since the Bank of Israel stopped its steady purchases of $100 million each business day on August 10, the dollar has weakened by 4% against the shekel. (Vadim Sviderski and Yael Halak)

How can an airline get its customers to use the Internet for various services instead of the telephone? El Al thinks it's found an answer. The airline's creative - and profitable - solution is to charge members of its frequent flier programs for using services conducted over the telephone. For every call to El Al over a matter that can be handled online, the company will charge customers 10 or 20 frequent flier points - a kind of "fine." The charges will apply to such requests as issuing bonus tickets. El Al said the new system will allow it to provide quick responses and high availability at its frequent flier customer service center for those who require information or services from staff. (TheMarker)

Most large unions have decided to reinstate their boycott of Turkish vacations in the wake of recent events, and in particular the broadcast of a TV show presenting Israeli soldiers as murdering innocent children. The development was revealed through a survey of unions by the Vaadim company, in preparation for a tourism fair for such organized groups. Earlier this year, in response to statements by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, large unions declared a boycott of Turkish tourism. This wore off after a few months as relations seemed to improve - and the Turks offered extremely attractive deals to lure Israelis back. Travel agents are reporting drops of one-third to one-half in sales of vacation packages to Turkey. (Irit Rosenblum)

Africa Israel is negotiating the sale of Anglo-Saxon Real Estate, the country's largest real estate agency. The firm is negotiating with its franchisee, Ronen Sheetrit, who owns five of Anglo-Saxon's branches and heads a group of investors. The price being discussed is in the NIS 18-22 million range. Sheetrit is also a developer of new housing projects. Anglo-Saxon has 60 branches and 400 agents around the country. In 1992, Africa Israel bought 51% of the agency from its founder David Bloomberg, with the rest going to Migdal Insurance. In 2006, Africa Israel bought out Migdal at a company value of NIS 15 million. (Raz Smolsky)

What can be done when you have to cancel a hotel room you've already paid for? Former defense minister Amir Peretz found a solution: When he was forced to cancel his trip to the Paris Air Show two years ago, he offered the unused rooms to families from Sderot whose homes had been destroyed by Qassam rockets. This case was a small detail in the State Comptroller's report on the excesses of Defense Minister Ehud Barak's extravagant trip to Paris this summer, in which the state spent tens of thousands of shekels on empty, unused - but paid for - luxury hotel rooms. Peretz also offered rooms to an officer who distinguished himself in the Second Lebanon War. (Ido Solomon)