Israel

Royal Jordanian flight makes emergency landing at Tel-Aviv

November 9, 2015 By bernard.montrel@gmail.com

Rescue forces at Ben Gurion airport had a tense few moments on Tuesday afternoon after a Royal Jordanian flight, which was making its way from Dubai to Amman, was forced to declare an emergency landing at the airport due to low fuel. The plane was granted permission and made a safe landing at 3.15pm.
The plane, an Airbus 320, arrived from the east and flew over Jordan. The plane apparently diverted due to difficult landing conditions at Amman’s airport.
According to the website of Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport, several flights were diverted away from the airport, likely due to weather conditions.
Royal Jordanian said in response, “The flight continued on to Tel Aviv and did not land in Amman due to poor weather conditions.”
Ynet News

The emergency landing by a Jordan-bound plane at Ben Gurion today is attributed to inclement conditions in Amman.
The Airbus 320 could not land in the Jordanian capital due to poor visibility and and weather.
The official website of Queen Alia International Airport in Amman shows that many of the flights scheduled to land there in the past few hours have not done so.
Ben Gurion Airport says: “The plane that took off from Dubai could not land in Amman and requested a Tel Aviv landing. Due to reports that it was running out of fuel, we declared a state of emergency. The plane landed safely, refueled, and will return to Amman as soon as possible.”
Ynet tweeted an image apparently showing Ben Gurion airport staff awaiting the plane from Dubai, holding boxes of the Israeli candy Krembo.
The Times of Israel

Anti-Semite attack on Ethiopian Airlines flight

November 5, 2015 By bernard.montrel@gmail.com

Muslim arrested for allegedly choking and beating man after finding out he’s Jewish on flight from N’Djamena to Addis Ababa
Ethiopian authorities arrested a Sudanese man Tuesday for allegedly attacking an Israeli on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from N’Djamena to Addis Ababa last week.
The suspect reportedly beat the Israeli man, identified by Ynet as a 54-year-old named Arik, with a metal tray and shouted “Allah is greatest” and “kill the Jews” in Arabic on the flight from Chad to Ethiopia’s capital on Thursday.
The Foreign Ministry said that there was an alleged assault on an Israeli citizen on a flight to Ethiopia, and that the suspected assailant was a Muslim from Sudan.
“On landing the Sudanese man was arrested by police, where he was questioned and has remained since the incident,” the ministry said in a statement. “The embassy was updated by local authorities.”
The Israeli man told Ynet that just before landing in the Ethiopian capital, the passenger behind him “identified me as Israeli and Jewish,” then started choking him, then beat him over the head.
“Only after a few seconds, just before I was about to lose consciousness, did I manage to call out and a flight attendant who saw what was happening summoned her colleagues,” he said.
After he was pulled free by airline employees, he said his attacker tried to rally passengers and crew to “finish me off.”
“During the moments when I thought I was going to die, I’d already begun to separate from my family in my thoughts.”
The Times of Israel

Israeli passengers deeply offended by Iberia pilot

October 29, 2015 By bernard.montrel@gmail.com

Israeli flying aboard an aircraft of the Spanish airline Iberia have accused the pilot of saying “Welcome to Palestine” as they approached Tel Aviv. The company, it ensures that they have not heard.
While they were comfortably settled in their seats on the flight that was to take them to Tel Aviv, Israeli passengers thought I heard the plane’s pilot pronounce the word ‘Palestine’ to approach the airport.
While many of went into a rage, downright deciding to do battle with the pilot who had shut themselves up in the cockpit, according to the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, others found themselves in prostration more total.
“My family and I were terribly offended,” has said a passenger who wrote a protest letter to Iberia, Israeli media reported.
The Israeli Embassy in Madrid complained to the Spanish company, do we said to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
‘Palestina’ or simply ‘Destino’?
Initially, Iberia apologized. But after checking the records, the company spoke of a “translation error” on the part of passengers including English and Spanish.
In fact, after saying the word “Tel Aviv” in its announcement in English, the pilot would have simply decided to slightly modify its announcement in Spanish by saying something like, “you got to,” creating confusion for passengers.
“The company and the crew regret malentenu that could be caused by the similarity of Spanish words like ‘destino’ and ‘Palestina’,” said Iberia in a statement.
“The word ‘Palestine’ was not used in the ad (driver),” said the company. “The captain followed the standard procedure, which provides that the names of the airports of departure and arrival are appointed and not those of the countries, regions and territories,” she added.
Israeli media, meanwhile said that, in his announcement in English the pilot had mentioned that Tel Aviv.
Israel does not recognize an independent state for the Palestinians. In 2012, Palestine was granted the status of “non-member observer state of the United Nations” and in September, the Palestinians were allowed to hoist their flag at the UN headquarters in New York.
Last April, the French company Air France had denied having voluntarily eliminated the State of Israel cards distributed in-flight to passengers, ensuring put “every effort to correct this situation as soon as possible.”
In 2009, a subsidiary of British Airways apologized because of a similar problem for Israel on its maps displayed in flight.
RT en Français (via Google Translate)