Move sparked by rocket landing near Ben Gurion airport
US AIRLINES were yesterday prohibited from flying to Israel by the US Federal Aviation Authority after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed near Ben Gurion airport, damaging a house and wounding one Israeli civilian.
It followed two companies out of the three which fly to Israel cancelling their flights to the country.
The Israeli Transport Ministry said that it was trying to explain that the airport was “safe for landings and departures.”
“Ben-Gurion Airport is safe and completely guarded and there is no reason whatsoever that American companies would stop their flights and hand terror a prize.”
However, Tel Aviv may have difficulty convincing officials and the airlines in light of not only the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane over the Ukrainian warzone but also the unreliability of Israeli official statements.