NEW YORK – The pilots’ union for American Airlines has directed its participants to refuse to fly to Israel, citing the continuing war between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza.
Union President Ed Sicher mentioned in an e-mail to participants that the corporate’s pilots will have to now not fly to Israel till they “can be reasonably assured of the region’s safety and security.”
The email cites the most recent advisory from the U.S. State Department, which warns that the current situation in Israel “continues to be unpredictable,” and that mortar and rocket fire can take place any time without warning, putting aircraft in danger.
“It is not prudent or appropriate to knowingly put our flight crews and passengers in harm’s way by maintaining flights into a war zone,” Sicher said.
Israel officially declared war Sunday because it bombarded the Gaza strip with airstrikes in retaliation for a big surprise attack through Hamas.
The declaration got here an afternoon after an unheard of incursion through Hamas combatants, who blew thru a fortified border fence and gunned down civilians and infantrymen in Israeli communities alongside the Gaza frontier all the way through a big Jewish vacation.