Israel is working on establishing direct flights to the United Arab Emirates that would fly over Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Monday. Netanyahu made the comment during a visit to Ben-Gurion International Airport.”It is a short flight of 3 hours like to Rome,” he said. “This means investments and tourism for both sides. UAE people are very interested in massive investments in Israel.”Netanyahu said that Israir Airlines has already submitted a proposal to be able to open a direct route between Tel Aviv and Dubai.Netanyahu visited Ben-Gurion Airport together with Transportation Minister Miri Regev to oversee the reopening of the skies which began this week with a decision to allow Israelis returning from some 20 different countries to no longer have to enter 14 days of quarantine.”This week we opened the skies and already yesterday 5,000 passengers left the airport for Bulgaria, Croatia and parts of Greece,” Regev said. “We are trying to bring additional good news – every two weeks we will open additional destinations.”Earlier Monday, Health Ministry deputy director-general Itamar Grotto told the Knesset State Audit committee that the government was working on an outline to allow groups of tourists to visit Israel, as well as for businessmen to resume traveling even to “red” countries.The move comes a day after Israel allowed returning citizens, residents and foreigners with permission to fly from green nations and re-enter the country without the need to quarantine for 14 days.Grotto added that the plan will be submitted to the coronavirus cabinet by the end of August.In addition, the Ministry is working on changing the test system so that more samples can be checked at the same time, which will allow rapid testing stations, including at the airport.Also, the Knesset coronavirus committee discussed the issue of allowing foreign citizens, and especially tourists from green countries, to enter Israel.Addressing the committee, deputy head National Security Council Eitan Ben David said that such a decision is also influenced by political considerations, and not only by public health concerns.“Once we open to tourists from certain countries with defined conditions like testing, we will need to check why not to open to other countries as well, like for example to visitors from the US which is defined as a red country but is our friend. We must think about it carefully. There are medical issues, foreign policy and other considerations at stake,” he said.On Sunday, about 5,000 passengers flew from and to Ben-Gurion Airport.At the moment, three countries allow Israelis to visit without the requirement of entering quarantine, Croatia, Bulgaria and to some extent Greece, which agreed to accept 600 tourists in certain areas under a system that entails isolation until the results of a fast test.The airport’s CEO Shmuel Zakay told the committee that not everyone was cleared about the rules to abide by in order to board the plane, which among others require passengers to present the results of a test performed in the previous hours as well as a health declaration. As a result, 21 passengers booked for a flight to Greece were not allowed to board.In the committee meetings, the Health Ministry officials highlighted that the issue of reopening the skies and the possibility of creating bilateral agreements with other countries to allow Israelis in was influenced by the current high infection rate in the country.According to data released by the Ministry, some 1,044 new cases of the coronavirus were reported on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases since the beginning of the outbreak to 93,691.As of Monday afternoon, the death toll had reached 690, after four people passed away due to the virus overnight. Moreover, 398 patients are in serious condition and 113 are on ventilators. Source
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