The Guardian reports: Israel has forced low-cost airline Jet2.com to cancel the tickets of three women from Manchester intending to travel to Bethlehem via Tel Aviv this weekend for a gathering of pro-Palestinian activists.
Jet2.com informed the women by email that the airline would refuse to carry them and no refund would be paid. The move follows pressure on airlines from Israel to ban known activists.
One of the women, retired nurse Norma Turner, said Jet2.com had caved in to pressure. “It never crossed my mind that Israel could stop people with British passports leaving British airports,” she told the Guardian.
Israel has promised to deny entry to hundreds of activists due to arrive at Tel Aviv airport on Sunday en route to the West Bank for a week of educational and cultural activities.
Up to 2,000 mainly European sympathisers plan to board planes in what has been dubbed a “flytilla” in reference to previous attempts to breach the blockade of Gaza by flotillas of boats.
Jet2.com’s decision followed a similar move by the German carrier Lufthansa, which cancelled the tickets of dozens of activists on Thursday, saying it was complying with Israel’s demand not to fly certain passengers to Tel Aviv. Other airlines are expected to follow suit.
In an email sent to the three women, Jet2.com said it had been obliged to provide the Israeli authorities passengers’ names, dates of birth, passport numbers and nationalities.
“As a result of providing that information, Jet2.com has been informed by the Israeli authorities that you will not be not permitted to enter Israel. Consequently, if Jet2.com carries you to Israel, you will be refused entry and Jet2.com will be liable for both a fine and your return to Manchester,” the email said.
“We regret that, in light of the decision taken by the Israeli authorities, we are unable to accept you for carriage to Israel on this occasion and your booking with Jet2.com has been cancelled.”
The airline apologised and said the cancellation was “totally beyond our control” but said the passengers would not be reimbursed.
The Israeli authorities have warned they will not permit entry to “hostile elements” and “provocateurs”. It distributed “no-fly” lists of known activists to airlines, which were warned that they would be expected to bear the costs of flying activists back to their point of departure.
“The provocateurs will be dealt with in a determined and quick way,” Israel’s public security minister, Yitzhak Aharonovitch, said this week. “If they arrive in Israel they will be identified, removed from the plane, their entry into Israel will be prevented and they will be moved to a detention facility until they are flown out of Israel.”
Hundreds of police will be deployed to Ben Gurion airport from Saturday night and flights carrying activists will be diverted to a smaller terminal, where security forces and immigration officials will check and question passengers.
In view of this and the fact that Mossad agents fly from Israel on false documentation for assassination missions the activists in countries should demand from their governments equal treatment of all Israelis attempting to enter their countries. The affected passengers, innocent of illicit activities, should be taken to special terminals where they are minutely inspected and questioned at length —and made to understand that this treatment is tied to the Israeli government abuses of the rights of others. Suspected Mossad agents should be returned to prevent them leaving Israel.
BTW is there not an international air transport ruling that prohibits this kind of Israeli interference with air travel? These agreements usually require complementary treatment and rights, even if governments (eg UAE) institute strong-arm tactics to benefit airlines they own. I would be all for restoring free movement of Israelis if the same is done for international activists.
We all know that it’s an impressive Wall. But now we learn that it extends all the way to Manchester, and up into the stratosphere. A marvelous feat of engineering.