CNNFormer New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg flew to Israel Tuesday night to protest a ban by the Federal Aviation Administration that is preventing U.S. airlines from flying into or out of Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport.
Bloomberg is flying on the Israeli airline El Al.
“This evening I will be flying on El Al to Tel Aviv to show solidarity with the Israeli people and to demonstrate that it is safe to fly in and out of Israel. Ben Gurion is the best protected airport in the world and El Al flights have been regularly flying in and out of it safely,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
“The flight restrictions are a mistake that hand Hamas an undeserved victory and should be lifted immediately. I strongly urge the FAA to reverse course and permit US airlines to fly to Israel,” Bloomberg added.
A number of the world’s leading airlines on Tuesday suspended flights to Israel’s main airport after a rocket fired from Gaza struck about a mile from the airport’s runways.
The FAA ordered U.S. airlines to stop flying to or from Ben Gurion for at least 24 hours, and the European Aviation Safety Agency issued a warning to its airlines to stop its flights.
The action came just days after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot out of the sky over eastern Ukraine, where government troops have been battling Russian-backed separatists.
The flight suspensions to Israel were the latest development in the 15-day-old conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, with neither side showing any sign of backing down. At least 41 rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel on Tuesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The FAA ordered Delta Air Lines, US Airways and United Airlines to suspend their flights to Tel Aviv. “The notice was issued in response to a rocket strike which landed approximately one mile” from the airport Tuesday morning, the FAA said.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu raised the FAA’s action in a phone call Tuesday evening with Secretary of State John Kerry, according to the State Department.
Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that the Obama administration is “not going to overrule” the FAA ban on U.S. flights to Israel.
CNN Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper contributed to this report.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/07/22/bloomberg-flying-to-israel-to-protest-faa-ban/
He’s flying to Israel to pry his nose a little further up Netanyahu’s sewage hole, and we can only hope his plane gets blown out of the sky.
how about we send a few “Ukrainian Rebels” to Israel prior to the flight and set em up with a BUK system
That would be nice.
Maybe he’ll land in Gaza by mistake and get pounded with phosphorus bombs.
That would also be nice.
Hope the bastard veers off course into Ukraine or Hamas territory and gets shot down by mistake. Pee-Wee is such a dumbass. Make sure you kiss the ring of Zion after you land, you little shit.
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Maybe they will keep him !
Maybe we’ll get lucky and Gaza will put a rocket right on his squash.
Let that Jew stay in Israel where he belongs. They all belong there defending their little “promised land”. The question………How do we persuade all of them to go there.
Eat pork bloomie!