Full flight of Israeli passengers makes surprise landing in Saudi Arabia
Technical malfunction is responsible for unscheduled landing in Jeddah; 128 Israelis spend the night in Saudi Arabia despite no official diplomatic ties with Jewish state
Commercial flight HM22 from Seychelles to Tel Aviv made a surprise landing in Saudi Arabia on Monday due to a technical malfunction. The 128 Israeli passengers who were on-board were forced to spend the night in the Saudi capital, Jeddah after being transferred from the airport to a hotel in the city.
The passengers were scheduled to board a replacement flight to take them to their original destination, Ben Gurion International Airport, on Tuesday morning after spending the night in the Saudi kingdom.
According to Israeli media reports, the pilot recognized an electric problem with the aircraft and had to make the unscheduled landing in accordance with the airline’s protocol.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it in a statement that it had been in touch with both the passengers on the flight and with the airline to find a quick, safe solution to the situation.
Saudi Arabia has no official diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, however the kingdom opened its airspace to Israeli commercial flights a little over a year ago, close to the time U.S. President Joe Biden made a visit to the region.
Following the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel, Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates in 2020, the Saudis have opened their skies to Israeli airlines flying to the two Gulf nations.
The United States is currently trying to promote a peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Such a potential deal entails complicated concessions from all players involved.
For that reason, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan recently indicated that “no announcement on the progress of negotiations is expected soon."
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
