Israeli and American officials boarded the first-ever direct flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates by an Israeli commercial airline on Monday morning.
Check-in for flight LY 971 opened shortly after 7 a.m. The flight number and the destination were displayed on the screens above each of the desks open for the flight.
The flight did not appear to be listed on the main departure board in the airport.
Check-out desk at Ben-Gurion Airport ahead of historic flight from Israel to Abu Dhabi, August 31, 2020 (photo credit: Lahav Harkov)The excitement was palpable in the airport lounge, where Israeli government officials and journalists mingled and discussed plans for the visit.
Health Ministry director-general Chezy Levy arrived in a face mask festooned with an Israeli flag and UAE flag, and a box of similar masks his office made specially for the occasion.
Levy was ready to start work with his Emirati counterparts immediately: “I think we can immediately start cooperation on coronavirus in the short term, and also other medical research.”
Journalists wondered whether normally camera-shy National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat would be giving interviews to UAE media in his fluent Arabic, but Prime Minister’s Office officials remained noncommittal.
The delegation is headed by Ben-Shabbat. Other travelers include the interim director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office Ronen Peretz, Cabinet Secretary Tzahi Braverman, Foreign Ministry director-general Alon Ushpiz, Levy, Science and Technology Ministry director-general Shai-Li Shpigelman, Economy Ministry director-general David Lefler, and the director-general of the Israel National Cyber Directorate Yigal Unna, among others.
The American delegation includes White House Special Adviser Jared Kushner, US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, US Special Representative for International Negotiations Avi Berkowitz and US Iran envoy Brian Hook.
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It will be the first-ever El Al flight from Israel to the UAE and the first Israeli airline to fly over Saudi airspace, a person familiar with the matter said.
The flight will take three hours and 13 minutes, the Israeli Airline Pilots Association said Sunday.
The airline likely received a green light to fly over Saudi Arabia due to the American officials on board, but El Al will not admit it openly for security reasons, an El Al pilot who will not be aboard the flight told The Jerusalem Post.
The plane designated for the flight was adorned with the word “peace” in Arabic, Hebrew and English in honor of the historic moment.
Defense officials will not take part in Monday’s delegation. They will go to Abu Dhabi separately in the coming weeks after the UAE sought to have the first public meetings with Israelis be about civilian matters.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) denied a report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had removed Defense Ministry representatives from the planned special flight to the UAE without consulting with Defense Minister Benny Gantz. The matter was fully coordinated with Gantz, the PMO and Defense Ministry said.
Israel agreed to suspend its planned extension of sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria to facilitate relations with the UAE and potentially other Arab and Muslim countries.
