‘We’re approaching Palestine,’ Ryanair announces on Tel Aviv-bound flight

A passenger was threatened with arrest for trying to photograph flight attendant who repeatedly announced that the plane was going to land in Palestine. 

By World Israel News Staff

Passengers on a Ryanair flight from Italy to Tel Aviv were shocked after a flight attendant repeatedly described their final destination as Palestine.

Israelis present on the flight told Channel 14 News that a flight attendant had said they were bound for Palestine multiple times, in both Italian and English.

About half an hour before the plane was slated to touch down at Ben Gurion Airport in central Israel, the flight attendant announced over the intercom that the plane was “approaching Palestine.”

Some of the passengers on the flight spoke up about the announcement, they told Channel 14, and asked the attendant to either correct herself or apologize.

“We didn’t [buy tickets] on the airline to deal with anti-Zionist opinions [from flight staff],” a passenger said. “All we wanted was [an announcement] that Tel Aviv is in Israel.”

Their requests were refused, and instead the cabin crew accused the passengers of creating a disturbance that endangered the safety of the flight, they recounted to the outlet.

An Italian-speaking passenger was surprised that the flight attendant doubled-down on their views during a conversation, insisting that Tel Aviv is located not in the State of Israel, but in Palestine.

The flight attendant who made the announcement was not wearing a name tag, making it impossible to identify anyone by name in order to file a complaint at a later time.

One passenger, who tried to take a picture of the attendant, was told that she would be arrested upon landing if she left her seat in order to get a clear image of the speaker, according to the Channel 14 report.

Ryanair, which is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, refused to respond to multiple requests for comment from Channel 14 regarding the incident.

“It is wholly unacceptable that on a flight from Italy to Tel Aviv, a member of Ryanair staff would repeatedly broadcast their own political ideology over the facts by stating that the flight in question was landing in Palestine, rather than in Israel,” Jackie Goodall, executive director of the Ireland Israel Alliance, told World Israel News.

“The Ireland Israel Alliance believes that such a view is not Ryanair policy, and we will request that they make an unreserved apology statement to this effect and to address the employee in question,” Goodall said.

Channel 14 commentator Danny Newman called on Israelis to avoid using the airline in the future, should Ryanair refuse to apologize for the episode.