Netanyahu takes a long route to Sydney
Israeli PM’s El Al carrier had to take detour as it was not allowed in Indonesia’s airspace
Israel’s prime minister was forced to take a two-anda-half-hour detour en route to Australia, apparently to avoid Indonesian airspace.
Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Sydney at about 6.30am AEDT yesterday for a four-day visit, the first time an Israeli prime minister has visited Australia.
The average direct flight from Singapore to Sydney takes about eight and a half hours; according to the flight tracking site FlightAware, Netanyahu’s total flight time was just over 11 hours as his flight path dodged Indonesia’s airspace.
A member of Netanyahu’s delegation confirmed the route to the Guardian.
The flight was operated by El Al, the flag carrier of Israel, which is not allowed to venture into the airspace of many nations including Pakistan.
Indonesia is home to the largest population of Muslim people in the world — the vast majority of the total population of about 240 million — and it is staunchly supportive of the Palestinian cause.
It has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel, but does sanction some travel and trade. Its visa-free policy was extended to Israel and 83 other countries in December 2015 in a bid to increase tourism.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull offered a staunch defence of the Israeli regime yesterday, criticising the United Nations and vowing never to support “onesided resolutions” calling for an end to Israeli colony building on occupied land.
Turnbull welcomed Netanyahu and reiterated Australia’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
‘One-sided rule’
However, he also made clear Australia would not support any resolutions such as the one approved by the UN Security Council in December calling for an end to Israeli colony building on land occupied by Palestinians.
“My government will not support one-sided resolutions criticising Israel of the kind recently adopted by the UN Security Council and we deplore the boycott campaigns designed to delegitimise the Jewish state,” Turnbull wrote in an editorial in The Australian newspaper.
Most countries view Israeli activity in occupied East Jerusalem as illegal.