At Ben Gurion International Airport, more than a year of war has taken its toll. Global airlines have canceled flights, gates are empty and pictures of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip guide the relatively few arriving passengers to baggage claim.
But one check-in desk remains flush with travelers: the one serving flights to the United Arab Emirates, which have kept up a reliable bridge for Israelis to the outside world throughout the war.
The Emirati flights, in addition to bolstering the airlines’ bottom line, shine a light on the countries’ burgeoning ties, which have survived the wars raging across the Middle East and could be further strengthened as US President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to office.
“It’s a political and economic statement,” said Joshua Teitelbaum, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Bar-Ilan University. “They are the main foreign airlines that continue to fly.”
Since the multifront war began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in Israel, which saw Palestinian kill some 1,200 people and kidnap 251, many international airlines have halted, restarted and halted again their flights into Israel’s main gateway to the rest of the world.
The concern is real for the carriers, who remember the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine 10 years ago and Iran shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 after takeoff from Tehran in 2020.
