[ad_1]
Doha’s Diplomatic Dance: Qatar Jet Stops In Cyprus To Avoid Flying Non-Stop To Israel
Pollster Frank Luntz took to social media on Friday to decry a Qatar Airways for not recognizing Israel. For someone so politically savvy, that struck me as naive. The obvious answer here was that Qatar doesn’t recognize Israel. It would be more of a scandal for Israel to appear on the moving map of its state-sponsored airline than for it not to.
This is the in-flight map on @QatarAirways.
It’s accessible on every screen on every plane… But notice what doesn’t exist. pic.twitter.com/0ZQLo1Mcxd
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) November 24, 2023
The U.S. played a major role in the end of the blockade of Qatar by the U.A.E., Saudia Arabia, and others. Qatar has ties to Iran and to Hamas, but also leans heavily towards the West. They’re now a go-between for Israel, the United States, and terror.
It’s a tightrope for them to walk. Qatari leaders flew a Gulfstream G650 from Doha to Tel Aviv, but made an enroute stop in Larnaca, Cyprus to avoid flying non-stop to Israel on Saturday.
The aircraft was a small Gulfstream G650ER owned by Qatar Executive, the luxury private jet charter subsidiary of the Qatar Airways Group. The aircraft has the capacity to carry 13 passengers, along with two pilots and one member of cabin crew.
…the aircraft departed Doha at around 7 am for the three-and-a-half-hour flight to Cyrpus, where it remained on the ground for just over an hour before making the short 40-minute hop to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport.
The Qataris were in Tel Aviv for less than an hour before the aircraft flew back – again, via Cyprus – to Doha.
Unfortunately, Hamas in Gaza won’t be the end of terror attacks on Israelis or on the Palestinian people.
The #Hamas flags in the West Bank aren’t anecdotal.
It’s one of the group’s main objectives: To entrench itself in the West Bank, where the battle to lead the Palestinian cause will take place, in the post-Abbas era.
The group has never been more popular there. pic.twitter.com/NiLEJfyYls
— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) November 24, 2023
Two Palestinians have been Executed by Crowds of Hamas Supporters tonight within the City of Tulkarem in the West Bank after it was claimed that they provided Information to Israeli Intelligence Services. pic.twitter.com/auMVwIo2y1
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 24, 2023
However, Etihad has said they’ll resume flights to Israel after the cessation of hostilities. That’s not a commercial decision but a foreign policy statement, that despite the best efforts of Hamas, broader regional conciliation is inexorable. While I never considered myself a fan, in retrospect I wonder if Jared Kushner is one of the most underrated figures in recent times, given his role in Operation Warp Speed, criminal justice reform, and the Abraham Accords?
More From View from the Wing
[ad_2]
Source link