As I flew to New Delhi on the first-ever flight from Tel Aviv through Saudi airspace, one of the senior flight attendants assured me that "Israelis have nothing to fear."
When I asked what would happen to the Israelis on board should the plane be forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, she replied, "As soon as they [passengers] board the plane, they are protected by international law. No harm will befall them."
When I pressed her on the matter and asked whether Israelis could be certain they would not be taken away in handcuffs as the citizens of an enemy state, she explained that "the one responsible for the plane and its passengers is the captain."
She was right, of course. According to international aviation law, authorities do not have official jurisdiction over a plane's passengers unless there is cause for external intervention, as in a hijacking or a criminal incident during a flight. According to international aviation law, the rules applicable to civilian passengers on a plane are those of the country to which the airline belongs, in this case, India. As long as there is no indication that the presence of one of those passengers on the plane constitutes a risk to Saudi Arabia, that country has no grounds to act against them.
The plane's captain has full authority over all the passengers and is legally responsible for their welfare. I spoke with him as well. It seemed that he and the co-pilot were almost as excited as we were about the airline inaugurating this unprecedented flight route, even though for them, communicating with the Saudi control tower is nothing out of the ordinary.
A few hours before the flight took off from Tel Aviv to New Delhi, the Counterterrorism Bureau at the Prime Minister's Office issued a comprehensive list of travel warnings ahead of the Passover holiday that included a list of countries dangerous for Israelis to visit, among them Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Saudi Arabia.
But the Middle East has its own rules. And the historic flight route inaugurated this week has so far been a great success.
The Israelis I met on the plane were happy to be given the opportunity to travel to India's capital without having to take the long detour over the Red Sea. They indicated that they were not afraid of passing over Saudi airspace.
Although Israeli law defines Saudi Arabia as an enemy state, and Israelis are prohibited from traveling there by law, there is a strategic partnership of interests and unverified reports in the international media about the rapprochement and cooperation between the two countries, the likes of which have never been seen before.
It is also worth mentioning that beyond passing over Saudi Arabia, this flight route also passes over Oman, a Persian Gulf state that, for years, has maintained unofficial ties with Israel.
It is also worth noting that both the service and the food on the Air India flight were excellent.
At Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, several Indian journalists boarded the flight. One of them was Tarun Vijay, an esteemed journalist from India who arrived in Israel on the inaugural flight and was now heading back to New Delhi. Vijay is a former senior member of India's ruling BJP party.
While Vijay would not comment on the extent of the involvement of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with whom Vijay is well-connected, in the dealings with Saudi Arabia that allowed for the opening of the flight route, he did make it clear this was the result of a four-year effort by the airline.
According to Vijay, "This is one of the most profitable routes for Air India, not just commercially. One of the best moves for people-to-people contact in the last 70 years. [I am] very happy that this happened. I would like more youngsters to come explore India, not just two or three destinations [there]. We have been in contact for the last 2,000 years but we know very little about each other."
The inaugural six-hour flight took off from Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion International Airport on March 26, the same day Israel signed a historic peace accord with Egypt decades ago. It could be that March 2018 will be remembered as a turning point in Israel's relations with Saudi Arabia and the moderate Sunni axis, if both countries are wise enough to allow their nations and businesspeople to calmly lead the way.
For now, namaste.
Erez Linn was a guest of Air India.
