Only El Al was granted an exception to continue flying into Israel despite the border closure.
If American planes are not allowed to operate emergency flights to Israel, Israeli planes will not be allowed to land in the US, N12 reported Saturday.
The Biden administration accused Israel of violating the freedoms of the air and creating a crisis with the new administration following the Israeli border closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, N12 reported. The administration then demanded that planes from the US be allowed to land in Israel.
A source in the Foreign Ministry denied the report and told The Jerusalem Post that they were not aware of any threats. Last week, the US Department of Transportation officially complained to its Israeli counterpart after only El Al was granted an exception to continue flying into Israel despite the border closure, Israeli government sources confirmed. El Al won a bid by Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority to operate the emergency flights, as well as flights to Dubai. Israir has been operating rescue flights to and from Frankfurt. US-based airlines Delta and United – along with every carrier other than El Al – have not been permitted to operate flights between America and Israel. The US Department of Transportation complained to the Foreign Ministry and Transportation Ministry that this situation violates the aviation agreement between the countries, which was meant to guarantee equal treatment of Israeli and American airlines.
Lahav Harkov and Eve Young contributed to this report.