Netanyahu Reportedly Urges Kerry to Get FAA’s Israel Flight Ban Reversed

Earlier today, the Federal Aviation Administration took the precautionary move of halting all U.S. flights to Israel for a minimum of 24 hours after rockets from Gaza reportedly fell near the Tel Aviv airport. Especially after the incident last week in which the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet was shot down over Ukraine, neither the airlines nor the FAA want to take any chances.

But according to Haaretz diplomatic correspondent Barak Ravid, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not happy about the move. He reportedly spoke to Secretary of State John Kerry personally about getting the FAA to reverse its decision:

BREAKING: PM Netanyahu spoke to SecState @JohnKerry and asked for his help in reversing the FAA decision to halt flights from US to Israel

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) July 22, 2014

On Monday, the State Department issued a travel warning to Americans planning to visit Israel. “The Department of State recommends that U.S. citizens consider the deferral of non-essential travel to Israel and the West Bank and reaffirms the longstanding strong warning to U.S. citizens against any travel to the Gaza Strip,” they said.

[Photo via Wikimedia Commons]

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