By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation
The plane of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has an open warrant out for his arrest from the International Criminal Court, took an unusual extended route Wednesday to avoid European airspace on its way to the US.
The “Wings of Zion” government plane, used by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for official flights, changed its regular route to the U.S. for the first time, avoiding flying over European countries and thereby adding over 600 km (370 miles) to its regular flight route.
On its six previous flights to the U.S., the plane flew over Greece, Italy, and France.
However, on Netanyahu’s current trip to the U.S. to attend the UN General Assembly and visit the White House, the plane flew over the Mediterranean Sea, south of Spain and toward the Strait of Gibraltar.
Though Netanyahu avoided French airspace, “a French diplomatic source said France had accepted an Israeli request to fly over French airspace,” CNN reports.
“Eventually they decided to take another route and we don’t know the reason,” the diplomat told CNN.
Incidentally, Zohran Mamdani back in June said that if he becomes NYC mayor he would honor the ICC’s arrest warrant against Netanyahu.
Dan Senor flipped out about it on his podcast last month, worrying that the long arm of the law could also extend to IDF soldiers returning to NYC after taking part in the Gaza genocide.
Mamdani reiterated his pledge to arrest Netanyahu in an interview with the New York Times on September 11th:
[Mamdani] did not back down [from his pledge] and offered new specifics, affirming that he would order the police to make the arrest upon Mr. Netanyahu’s arrival in the city.“This is something that I intend to fulfill,” Mr. Mamdani said.
“Legal experts suggested that having Mr. Netanyahu arrested would be a practical impossibility, and some said it could violate federal law,” the NY Times noted. “Even so, Mr. Mamdani’s pledge will likely provoke strong reactions in New York, the second-largest home to Jews in the world.”