Turkey refuses to refuel Israeli plane after emergency landing
Human rights lawyer calls incident “outrageous, gross violation” of international law.
Turkish authorities refused to allow an Israeli plane to refuel in order to reach its final destination after it made an emergency landing in Antalya, likely violating international aviation law and effectively trapping the plane on Turkish soil for hours.
The drama began when a passenger suffered a medical emergency aboard an El Al flight bound for Tel Aviv, which had departed from Warsaw, Poland on Sunday morning.
“After consulting with the doctor who treated the passenger on the plane, it was decided that it should land urgently in order to evacuate the passenger to the hospital as soon as possible,” El Al said in a statement.
Because the passenger needed immediate medical attention, the plane was forced to divert and make a landing at the nearest airport, Antalya Airport in southwest Turkey.
But despite receiving permission for the landing, it was clear that Turkish authorities saw the arrival of the El Al plane as an opportunity to lash out against Israel.
Turkish airport authorities refused to allow the plane to refuel, when it needed to do so in order to continue to Tel Aviv.
Passengers were not given permission to leave the plane, and were forced to sit for hours on the tarmac while the El Al captain and crew attempted to obtain fuel for the flight.
Following a wait of several hours, the plane departed without refueling for nearby Rhodes, Greece. There, the plane refueled, departed, and finally landed safely in Israel.
After media reports emerged about Turkey’s refusal to allow the plane to continue its journey, officials claimed that the El Al captain “decided to leave” shortly before “fuel was to be provided.”
Notably, the statement was a tacit admission that Turkey had delayed refueling for hours. The claim that the authorities had agreed to provide fuel is dubious, and appeared to be an attempt to save face by the Turkish government.
“This is outrageous, and gross violation of international law,” wrote human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky on social media platform X.
Ostrovsky noted that in 2023, “after massive earthquake in Turkey, Israel was one of first to provide aid. And now Erdogan’s regime, a NATO ally by the way, does this? Vile and unconscionable!”
Since the October 7th massacres, the Turkish government has banned all direct flights between Israel and Turkey and repeatedly expressed support for the Hamas terror group.
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