Tel Aviv – At Ben Gurion airport a civilian plane has been tracked on a permanent flight path back and forth between Israel and an airport in a Gulf state.
Taking off and landing at the airport every week, flight data shows that the plane spends a few days in the Gulf state, then returns to Israel, reports Haaretz after reviewing publicly available flight information.
The flights are indirect because Israel does not have official diplomatic relations with the country in question. Israel’s relations with the Gulf states have been delicate since the 2010 assassination of senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. His assassination has been attributed to the Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel.
Though business activity has decreased there since the 2010 assassination, Israeli businesspeople still work quietly in the Gulf according to Haaretz.
The details of who uses that plane and why are hidden. A spokeswoman for the foreign airline that owns the plane said that information is confidential as it concerns a private client.
What is known is that the airline that owns the plane leases its services to companies and businesspeople.