The order was passed along from the Prime Minister’s Office through the Transportation Ministry to the Civil Aviation Authority in an email on Thursday afternoon, just 45 minutes before it was slated to come in place.
Netanyahu made the decision unilaterally without consulting the cabinet or aviation officials, who panicked upon receiving the order, recognizing its major international implications, Maariv reported.
Barring Jordan-bound planes from using Israeli airspace would have been a violation of the peace deal Israel struck with Jordan in 1994. The directive would also have violated the aviation deals Israel has reached with countless other countries, including the United States, which use Israeli airspace for flights landing in Jordan or ones that use Israeli and Jordanian airspace to reach other destinations in the region.
Upon receiving the email, Civil Aviation Authority director Joel Feldschuh sought to stall its implementation by flooding the Prime Minister’s Office with queries regarding how to implement the sweeping directive, Maariv reported. Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman responded that he would look into the matter and get back to Feldschuh.
Minutes later, Braverman returned to the CAA director, saying that Netanyahu indeed wanted to move ahead with the directive, which was slated to come into effect at 1:00 p.m.
However, the premier evidently had a change of heart minutes before the deadline and decided to retract the directive, Maariv reported, citing several senior officials involved in the incident. READ MORE
