MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
US and EU ban airline flights to Israel after Hamas rocket lands near Tel Aviv airport
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the ban and said it would continue to monitor the situation. The United States Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, is prohibiting US airlines from flying to Israel's international airport in Tel Aviv for 24 hours, after a rocket fired by Hamas militants in Gaza landed nearby, damaging a house and slightly injuring one Israeli. European airlines quickly canceled their flights as well.
Delta, US Airways and United Airlines had already called off their flights Tuesday after hearing about the rocket that landed about 1.6 kilometers from Ben Gurion Airport. The United States at first said it had not issued any restrictions, but then the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the ban and said it would continue to monitor the situation.
Delta said in a statement that it has suspended operations “until further notice'' to and from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv and its hub at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. The Atlanta-based carrier said it was doing so in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration ”to ensure the safety of our customers and employees.”
Delta diverted one of its New York-to-Tel Aviv flights to Paris after hearing of the attack.
US Airways, which flies from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Tel Aviv, called off its Tuesday flight, while United Airlines indefinitely canceled its flights from Newark, New Jersey to Tel Aviv.
Dutch national carrier KLM canceled its flight from Amsterdam, while Air France and Germany's Lufthansa also called off their flights to Tel Aviv.
The announcement comes as officials meeting at the International Air Transport Association in Berlin said governments should take the lead on reviewing how risk assessments for airspace are made.
The issue of flying over conflict zones is in focus after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine on Thursday.
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Read all commentsThe answer is simple: Israel should obliterate the areas used and other areas that could be used to fire these rockets against Israel.
Jul 23rd, 2014 - 12:15 pm 0Time to take the gloves off once and for all.
Considering some of the people involved, you might well be getting your wish.
Jul 23rd, 2014 - 04:11 pm 0Here’s Naftali Bennett, Minister of the Economy: “I have killed lots of Arabs in my life – and there is no problem with that.”
Then there’s this rather surprising accolade from Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Moshe Feigin :
“Hitler was an unparalleled military genius. Nazism promoted Germany from a low to a fantastic physical and ideological status. The ragged, trashy youth body turned into a neat and orderly part of society and Germany received an exemplary regime, a proper justice system and public order. Hitler savored good music. He would paint. This was no bunch of thugs. They merely used thugs and homosexuals.”
Moshe, incidentally, has been banned from entering the UK on the grounds that his activities might “foment or justify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs; seek to provoke others to terrorist acts; foment other serious criminal activity or seek to provoke others to serious criminal acts and foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the UK.”
And last but by no means least, there's Ayelet Shaked MK, forrner Director of Netanyahu's office: The mothers of the Palestinian dead ”should follow their sons, nothing would be more just. They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.“
Some with long memories might note the resemblance of Ayelet’s remarks to the considered opinion of Connie Lynch of the Ku Klux Klan following the 1963 bombing of the 16 Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama, in which four young black girls were killed: ”They're just little niggers ..... it wasn't no shame they was killed. Why? Because when I go out to kill rattlesnakes, I don't make no difference between little rattlesnakes and big rattlesnakes, because I know it is the nature of all rattlesnakes to be my enemies and to poison me if they can.”
Since Sept 2000, when Sharon made his ill-considered visit to the Temple Mount, there have been 8600 deaths caused by Palestinian-Israeli violence. 95% of those are Palestinian. In the last three weeks 155 children have died ( 900 wounded ).
Jul 23rd, 2014 - 05:28 pm 0I'd say the gloves came off a long time ago.
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