Official Israeli aircraft landed in Riyadh: Israeli media

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al-Mayadeen
22 Aug 2022 21:39

An Israeli correspondent boasted about the landing, addressing the parties involved as "fans of normalization".

King Khalid Intl. Airport route

The military correspondent for the Israeli Kan channel, Itay Blumenthal, reported earlier today the landing of an Israeli official aircraft in Riyadh.

The Israeli correspondent wrote via his Twitter account, "For fans of normalization: An Israeli administrative plane (T7-WZZ), in service of Shino Aviation, landed a short while ago in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia."

On August 17, the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported that it had received "domestic assurances" to allow IOF soldiers to "fly over Saudi Arabia," noting that "this will provide shorter routes for destinations in the Far East and Seychelles."

On August 5, the Times of Israel reported that a commercial flight bound for "Israel" entered Saudi airspace, for the first time since Saudi Arabia opened its airspace to all flights, including Israeli flights last July.

Last July, the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority announced that it had "opened the kingdom's airspace to all air carriers," including Israeli carriers that meet the requirements for transiting the country's airspace.

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in July that relations with Saudi Arabia "are not Abrahamic agreements, but a process of normalization. It was important for us that the US administration bears responsibility for this matter as well."

He explained that normalization "is progressing in small steps," adding that Biden's visit "was important, not only to bring in oil but also to promote peace."