UK Airline Cancels 'Flytilla' Tickets on Israel Objections
British airline Jet2.com said Saturday it has cancelled tickets for an unspecified number of passengers planning to attend a pro-Palestinian activist gathering after Israel raised objections.
The Guardian newspaper had reported that Jet2.com contacted three women passengers late Friday to inform them that their seats were cancelled on a flight to Tel Aviv scheduled to take off from Manchester, northern England, at 0900 GMT on Sunday.
However, a company spokeswoman declined to comment on the number of affected passengers, adding that all the airline's tickets are non-refundable.
"Jet2.com is legally required to provide advance passenger information for all passengers departing from and arriving into the UK to the appropriate immigration authorities," the company said in a statement.
"As a result of providing that information, Jet2.com was informed by the Israeli authorities that certain passengers booked to travel on flight LS907 would not be permitted to enter Israel.
"We were further advised that if we were to allow them to travel, we would be responsible for their immediate return to the UK.
"In light of this position by the Israeli authorities, we were unable to accept them to travel on the flight."
The news comes after German airline Lufthansa on Friday cancelled dozens of tickets of pro-Palestinian activists for this weekend, adding that it was complying with Israeli advice.
Israeli security forces last week began bracing for a "fly-in" of hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists expected to arrive at Ben Gurion airport this weekend.
The activists, mainly from European countries, are expected to try to fly into Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, with the goal of travelling to the Palestinian West Bank.
The so-called "Welcome to Palestine" campaign, which has been dubbed a "flytilla," is taking place for a third consecutive year.
Source: Agence France Presse
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