Israeli Delegation Plane to Use Saudi Airspace to Fly to UAE, Source Says
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An airliner carrying Israeli and US delegations to the UAE on Monday will fly over Saudi Arabia, according to a source familiar with the itinerary, in what would be the first publicly acknowledged entry of an Israeli plane into Saudi airspace.
Israel’s flag carrier El Al will take aides to US President Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu - along with travelling journalists - to Abu Dhabi for talks meant to put final touches on a pact establishing open relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, Reuters reported.
Asked if the plane would fly over Saudi Arabia in order to manage its planned three hour and 20 minute flight time, the source, who declined to be identified by name or nationality pending an official announcement of the route, said: “Yes.”
Trump announced on August 13 that the UAE and Israel had agreed to normalize ties.
The agreement was met with uniform condemnation on the Arab street.
It came in the middle of near-daily mass rallies by Israelis demanding Netanyahu’s resignation over corruption and incompetence. It also coincided with widespread unrest in the United States over racial discrimination and brutality by police.
When the deal was announced, Israel was openly speaking of plans to annex the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley. Emirati officials claimed Tel Aviv had agreed to suspend those plans in return for the normalization of ties.
But shortly after the deal was made public, Netanyahu denied that those plans had been frozen.