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Israel: airlines don’t want to take Israelis to Qatar for FIFA World Cup

November 17, 2022 at 11:50 am

A port view of Doha days before the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Doha [Mohammed Dabbous/Anadolu Agency]

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has said that no airline has agreed to be the first to carry Israelis from the occupation state to Qatar for the FIFA World Cup tournament, local media reported on Wednesday.

Israel and FIFA released statements last week confirming that Qatar is allowing direct flights from Israel even though the two countries do not have diplomatic relations.

“The Foreign Ministry built a platform by which private airlines can request to fly directly from Israel to Qatar,” explained the head of Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate, Lior Haiat. No company has availed itself of that option as yet.

FIFA and Qatar also said that Israel would permit Palestinians to fly on direct flights from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. However, the Israeli Foreign Ministry has confirmed that no requests have been received from Palestinians wanting to fly to the tournament from Israel.

Palestinians are not generally granted access to Ben Gurion Airport; they have to go via Jordan for international flights.

An estimated 10-20,000 Israeli citizens have bought tickets for matches at the World Cup, the Jerusalem Post has reported, but only 3,500 are registered as Israelis with the Qatar authorities.

READ: Direct Tel Aviv-Doha flights to operate during World Cup