El Al Airlines said on Sunday that the Israeli company’s pilots left Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife in an embarrassing situation, after refusing to fly them to Italy, for an official visit scheduled for later next week.
Our correspondent said that El Al It failed to find a pilot among its crews to fly the plane, while a representative of the pilots said that they would continue to serve “Jewish and democratic” Israel.
According to the Israeli newspaper “Jerusalem Post”, the Prime Minister’s Office found itself compelled to open the offer to fly Netanyahu and his wife to Rome, next Thursday, to all Israeli airlines.
She added that Netanyahu’s offer to fly was met with “indifference” by the El Al pilots.
On Sunday evening, Israel’s national airline finally managed to find a crew to take the couple to Italy.
For its part, the newspaper “Haaretz” reported that the “El Al” pilots seem to have joined the list of protesters against the judicial reforms adopted by the prime minister, which are facing widespread criticism.
The national religious government is pushing for judicial changes, including restrictions on the Supreme Court, which the Netanyahu government accuses of “overstepping its powers”.
Critics worry that Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges he denies, wants to override the judiciary.
Israel is gripped by increasingly intense weekly demonstrations, some of whose leaders, including former military commanders, said that “the undemocratic shift in government would justify mass disobedience in the ranks of the forces.”
