Update: The flight has landed at Ben Gurion airport!
You can listen to a clip of the ATC audio below. The image is from the IAA of the Etihad plane on the ground in TLV, the first time a gulf carrier landed a plane in Israel with their livery. The Etihad pilot greets the Israeli traffic tower in TLV with “Shalom,” the tower responds welcoming the pilot to Israel and wishing him a pleasant stay along with clearance to land, and the pilot responds thanking the tower for all the greetings:
Etihad 9607 flew from the UAE to Israel via Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey, and Cyprus rather than over Saudi Arabia, Syria, or Lebanon:
Here’s hoping we can fly Etihad commercially to Israel in the near future!
https://twitter.com/Yuval_Rotem/status/1270426442535403520
Last month I wrote about the first flight between the UAE and Israel as Etihad brought COVID-19 aid for Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority rejected that aid, citing the Etihad flight to Israel. They didn’t want to help normalize Israeli relations with the Arab world and they weren’t given notification of the flight in advance.
But while the aid was rejected in the West Bank, apparently it did make its way to Gaza, which didn’t take that principled stand.
Now Etihad is pushing the envelope again.
It is currently flying a 787-9 Dreamliner (registration A6-BNA) from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv. But while last time the plane arrived white-washed without visible Etihad livery, this time Etihad is flying with their livery for all to see. It’s the first time a Persian Gulf airline will fly to Israel in its full colors.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that he was not made aware of today’s flight and only found out about it from the media, so we’ll likely see more PR in the media about the PA rejecting the aid.
Like last time, it appears that the plane will fly over Kuwait, Iraq, and Turkey in order to avoid flying over Saudi Arabian, Syrian, and Lebanese airspace.
You can track the flight here on FlightRadar24 or here on FlightAware.
It’s a sign of the warming relationships between Israel and their Arab neighbors in the region, as political alliances shift to fight back against Iran.
I wrote a trip report about my experience in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in 2017 here.
Etihad is no stranger to Israel. The IDF thwarted an ISIS attack on an Etihad A380 in 2017 from Sydney to Abu Dhabi.
The Jewish community and Chabad of the UAE is also starting to come out of the shadows as the country’s ties with Israel grow:
I’d love to see commercial flights between the UAE and Israel. Emirates and Etihad offer a level of service that’s offered by no airlines that fly to Israel.
Until then, there’s always the Avi Liberman method of flying to Israel on Etihad. Should we let him know you can also fly from Amman to Tel Aviv on Royal Jordanian? 😉
Do you think we’ll see commercial flights between the UAE and Israel anytime soon?
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57 Comments On "[Updated] Another Etihad Plane Is En-Route To Israel Without Palestinian Authorization, This Time In Full Etihad Livery"
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I don’t know, but this is a Bracha. Could be so beneficial for both Israel and the UAE to continue down this path
Have you ever thought about the fact that the Palestinians have no direct border that isn’t controlled by Israel? That they used to have an airport in Gaza that Israel destroyed? That Palestinians are under the complete mercy of Israel for any international relationship they have? Once you realize that the Palestinian people are completely controlled in every aspect by air, land, and sea, you start to realize why posts like this-that have a political component but couched in a story about airlines and air travel-are so vapid and out of context. And thanks for continuing to repeat the video of the comedian who makes a racist joke about Arabs being unclean. Pretty ironic since we all know what an El Al flight can smell like after a few hours. Maybe we can actually learn something from the Arabs who have top tier airlines that provide incredible luxury and service instead of making fun of them.
Woke!
Isnt wouldnt need to control ANY Palestinian borders if they just acted like human beings instead of their leaders supporting terror over their own citizen’s well being.
When Israel made “concessions” in Oslo they just went ahead and doubled the settler population. This is what Israel did after making “peace.” No wonder the Palestinians didn’t trust their leaders in Fatah after that deal. And then Israel went on to say that Arafat is a terrorist. Now we say Hamas is a terrorist. What Palestinians has Israel said is not a terrorist?
Ah, so Israel “says” that Arafat is a terrorist? And Israel “says” that Hamas are terrorists? Bombing busses and hotels and targeting civilians don’t make them terrorists in your book?
Do you have something against Jews living in their ancient homeland? Did the Palestinians keep to any of their agreements in Oslo? Let me know when you can find one agreement that they even pretended to keep.
please read a little more history to get a better understanding of what happened https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-they-fell-into-the-trap-1.6463105
Hey snowflake, you really think Israel would allow them to operate an airport from which to attack Israel?! Go back to your utopian fantasy sleep. Obviously thank goodness they control those borders, otherwise we’d still be fighting wars.
False. Gaza has a direct border with Egypt not controlled in any way by Israel.
Literally just use google. Gaza Blockade. You think Israel doesn’t work with Egyptian security to control the access point?
And why my friend, would the Egyptians comply with Israel? Or rather – collude with Israel?
There are many great arguments to be made but you are clearly just regurgitating talking points that you have no understanding of.
Good luck friend, go get informed
Somehow the deposed Egyptian President (Mohamed Morsi) was willing to give the people of Gaza some human rights and was mysteriously impeached, died and replaced by someone who’s against any help to Gaza.. oh by the way the current president “El-sisi” is half Jewish and part of a Zionist plot… #StayWoke
They do have a border that is not controlled by Israel, actually more than one. Egypt and Jordan are the ones I can list.
The better question is; Have you ever thought about the fact why no country in the middle east wants the Palestinians to control their own border
Sorry, which border with Jordan does Israel not control? Please share?
LOL. You are way too woke. Last I checked, Gaza shared a border with Egypt as well, and by the way, that border is closed as well. Ever wonder why?
And also, Israel doesn’t police PA relationships. Maybe borders, but not relationships. Those are two different things.
Lastly, funny how you go call out Elal after you were upset at the comedian for making fun of arabs. If you though it was so wrong just say so, no need for whataboutism. But I guess that’s what wokeness is all about.
The point was that everyone smells sometimes. But the stereotype of the smelly uncivilized Arabs is rampant and harmful. Note how Daniel above says that Palestinians wouldn’t be in their predicament if they just acted like human beings. This is just what the Germans did to the Jews. Said they were out of control and ruining Germany, basically justifying the abuses. Remember the caricatures of Jews at the time? There are thousands in the streets in Tel Aviv demanding change. The whole world is changing and we can’t be left behind with outdated notions of us vs. them
Right so basically “Germany is to the Jews what Israel is to Hamas.” Does that sound better to you?
I didn’t say that. But victims can often become an oppressor. It’s not unique to any one group. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-is-in-national-denial-regarding-its-oppression-of-palestinians-1.5420257
Berg22, although I hear you frustration and hope to a better and peaceful world, in order to make peace you must must acknowledge the facts. Yes, its not good to stereotype people, and yes there are Arabs who are very civilized and gracious. However, in no objective fairness and justification can we compare Israel to Nazi-Germany. Israeli-Arabs who live in Israel are happy to live in Israel. There is no better place for an Arab in that region to live than in Israel. The human and democratic rights that are given to law-abiding citizens are rights par-excellence! Even Israeli-Arabs agree to this. The tension begins when the leadership encourages regular civilians to take the law into their own hand and provoke acts of terror to other innocent civilians. If we look at the whole picture Israel condems such acts. On the other hand, the Palestinian Authority reward such acts. In Israel when a soldier kills and Arab terrorist who has been neutralized, he is prosecuted by the fullest extent of the law. On the Palestinian side if a terrorist kills an innocent civilian he is rewarded by the ones who make the law. This is a fact as well. Whether there is an occupation or not, no one make take the law into their own hands and deny the right of life to another person. Unfortunately, in the PA side we see this happen a lot.
Don’t get me wrong, I could understand where they are coming from. I myself being and Arabic Jew. My family was brought up living side by side in harmony with the arabs around us. we spoke the same language and treated each other with respect. Even my Arab neighbors condemned the terrorist actions perpetrated by the palestinians toward the Israelis. It goes with out saying that Israelis condemn any action of terrorism perpetrated by Israelis toward innocent Palestinian civilians. Nevertheless, when you look at the big picture, you see it overwhelmingly more from the side of the Palestinians towards the Israelis.
In Nazi-Germany, we saw how a government was runned by people who decided to deny those God given rights to innocent civilians and murder them in the most grotesque manner possible. There is now way to compare what Israel is doing to Nazi-Germany!
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/281608
You must be fun at comedy shows 🙂
I’m a pretty good time. Not the best. I like comedians that punch above their weight, not below.
Any more bargains you want to share? This is a shopping website, BTW
Kind of reminds me of the Black Knight who tells the Monty Python knights, after his arms and legs have been hacked off, “Come back here and fight! I’ll bite you to death!”
You just gotta know when you’ve lost.
Hmmmm maybe stop trying to kill the 6 million /Jews in Israel, things would get better.
I have a feeling you were marching recently
I was! It’s been great to see so many people coming out to say Black Lives Matter. Many great Jewish groups too!
Right, because our faith is only about climate change, open borders, and BLM
I see, in your view Judaism is just selfish and not to work for others. tikkun olam mean anything to you?
Time to talk facts not feelings!
1. The land of Israel is G-D’s gift to the Jewish people! (Source: the Bible)
2. The Jews are more Palestinian then the so called Palestinians! We have lived consecutively in our home land for thousand of years! (Something that the PA denies and tries to uproot)
3. The murder of Jews living in the land of Israel by local Arabs started long before the so called occupation! (Btw, the term occupation was made up after the six day war when the Arabs realized that they will not be able to win the Jews on the battlefield… Jordan was occupying the west bank till 67 but you never heard the word occupation said then…)
I can keep going if you’re interested in listening, but from your post it seems that is unfortunately not the case, you would prefer staying programmed…!!
P.S. this is dan’s website so he can write as he wishes regardless of whether you see it as biased or not…
Dan can do whatever he wants. I’m not here to say otherwise. Dan is a fair person who has a very open mind as I can tell from his posts. My opinions are very common among Jewish people and I think they can help Jews and non-Jews alike to create a more fair and peaceful situation.
Of all Countries on this planet Israel works the hardest to avoid human casualties, though it’s quite a difficult task especially since her Enemies don’t stop using human shields..
There’s something very special about a person that sees an article that salutes peace, has a resonance of a deep desire that old middle east fights be put to rest, and a real hope that we’re seeing a real warming of Arab-Israeli relations, and manages to just decry ‘Israeli brutality’
I like it! It is time to put an end to fight that started between Jacob and Esau…
You mean Issac and Ishmael. Jacob and Esau have a great relationship (Israel-Germany/U.S.).
How is USA Esau?
Why aren’t the Saudis allowing a flyover? Isn’t air India allowed?
wondering the same. i guess Jordan will?
Had same question. Why avoid Saudi?
It took a long time and extensive negotiations to allow that flight to use Saudi airspace.
These seem more like spur of the moment flights, so they didn’t get KSA permission.
If we ever do see commercial AUH-TLV flights, I’d have to imagine they would get Saudi airspace rights.
We are witnessing unprecedented miracles
With El Al canceling so many flights, maybe Etihad will pick up the slack.
This is nice to see to some extent….hopefully build relationships. Remember Arabs/Jews lived together for many years in Arab countries and we had no issues till it all went sideways
At best, the Jews were in dhimmi status (protected and tolerated, but restricted). At worst, they were subject to being killed (e.g. the Almohad Caliphate, from which the Rambam escaped).
It ALL went sideways after a certain tragic event in 1948.
Yes, the Arabs should have just accepted the Jewish State instead of trying to eradicate its Jews.
Or perhaps the Jews should’ve just accepted the fact that they were in Galut instead of trying to end the Galut on their own.
The arabs in Hebron in 1929 slaughtered their Jewish neighbors (with whom they had good relations btw) apparently because they were upset about 1948.
Nobody is suggesting that everything was perfect until 1948. Just that from 1948 it became unsafe for all Jews in all the Arab countries due to a certain incident of uncalled for incitement.
It stopped tracking in Turkey..hmmmmm
Landed 31min ago. Any pics yet?
Why does the flight path go from green to white back to green? What does the white line signify?
Lack of coverage in that area, so the white line is a guesstimate.
I don’t know why there is all this excitement. Very nice that aid was brought for the Palestinians. My question is, if Israel needed the same aid,would either one of those airlines brought it to Israel. I think not.
What is the “Avi Liberman method of flying to Israel on Etihad.” ?
The ‘arab’ pilot has british accent.
Took his class in UK;)