Advancing the visit by a full week testified to the urgency of the trip
PHOTO: NOAMGALAI / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Israel’s answer to Air Force One, the “Wing of Zion,” is effectively registered in Binyamin Netanyahu’s name, much like the Israeli premiership itself. But the aircraft was intended to serve both the prime minister and Israel’s president.
That’s why President Isaac Herzog was planning to fly on the Wing of Zion to Australia, as a guest of the local Jewish community following the Chanukah terror attack in Sydney. But Herzog’s plans hit a snag.
Too many countries along the route refused to allow the aircraft flown by Israel’s prime minister — over whose head hangs an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court in The Hague — to enter their airspace, making the planned flight impossible. Herzog was forced to take a circuitous itinerary that mostly served public-relations purposes.
Netanyahu, who urgently sought to fly to Washington, saw a sudden window of opportunity. He effectively commandeered the Wing of Zion, at Herzog’s expense.
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