First commercial flight from Tel Aviv lands in Abu Dhabi

El Al Flight 971 makes history, as first commercial flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi.
US Presidential Adviser Jared Kushner (C-R) and US National Security Adviser Robert OBrien (C-L) pose with members of the Israeli-American delegation in front of the El Al's flight LY971, which will carry the delegation from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi, at the Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on August 31, 2020. - The El Al flight, scheduled to leave at 0730 GMT from Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, will carry a delegation led on the American side by President Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House advisor Ja
US presidential adviser Jared Kushner (C-R) and US national security adviser Robert OBrien (C-L) pose with members of the Israeli-American delegation in front of El Al Flight 971, which will carry the delegation from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi, at the Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Aug. 31, 2020. - HEIDI LEVINE/AFP via Getty Images
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Rina Bassist
@RinaBassist

El Al Flight 971 departed this morning from Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport and landed three hours later in Abu Dhabi. This first commercial flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was permitted to cross Saudi airspace, which had previsously been blocked to Israeli air traffic.

The historic flight carried an Israeli and an American delegation, set to discuss with their UAE counterparts details of the normalization agreement announced Aug. 13. The two delegations were welcomed by UAE officials. The Israeli delegation is headed by chief of the National Security Council Meir Ben-Shabbat; the American delegation is headed by US national security adviser Robert O’Brien and senior US presidential adviser Jared Kushner.

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