BEIRUT, LEBANON (10:20 A.M.) – New media reports surfaced on Wednesday that claimed Tunisia and Algeria did not allow an incoming flight from Tel Aviv to the Moroccan city of Rabat to pass through their airspace, forcing it to take an indirect route through Europe.
Tunisia’s Nessma TV said that the flight took a northern route that passes through the Mediterranean Sea through Greek airspace, then Italian, then Spanish, and finally to the Moroccan capital, due to Tunisia and Algeria closing their airspace to the Israeli aircraft.
In turn, the Algerian An-Nahar Online website said, “Spiteful and misleading parties spread false news about the passage of the Zionist plane through Algerian airspace,” referring to the flight not passing through Algeria’s airspace.
On the other hand, the Moroccan electronic newspaper Al Sahifah said, “The flight between Tel Aviv and Rabat avoided entering the airspace of North African countries.”
There was no official comment from Algeria and Tunisia on this news. However, the Tunisian Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement that all “rumors circulating about Tunisia’s intention to normalize relations with Israel are unfounded,” noting that this position “will not be affected by the international changes.”
This was the first direct commercial flight between Israel and Morocco; it departed from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv to Rabat, with an Israeli-American delegation headed by the US President’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner.
It follows the recent agreement between Israel and Morocco, and with American mediation, to normalize relations, making Morocco the fourth Arab country this year to announce the normalization of its relations with Israel after the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan.
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