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UAE's Etihad Airways shows Israel’s claimed temple in tourism advert

November 17, 2020 at 9:40 am

A Boeing 777-FFX Cargo plane operated by the UAE’s Etihad Airways seen in Frankfurt, Germany on 8 September 2017 [Oliver Holzbauer/Flickr]

The UAE’s state-owned Etihad Airways yesterday showed a graphic of Israel’s claimed Second Temple in a video promoting tourism in Israel.

The video was posted on the official English Twitter account of the company, but it was removed hours later after widespread criticism.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which posted the video, said that the footage shows a member of cabin crew presenting a quick guide to the city of Tel Aviv. With a small graphic appearing which reads “Second Temple”, in reference to the temple Israel claims was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.

The video also showed an old alleyway apparently from Jerusalem’s Old City which the speaker referred to as part of Israel’s tourist attractions.

The video comes as Etihad announced that it would begin offering direct flights to Israel from March next year.

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