Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres has dispatched an unusual letter to American airline companies, calling for the resumption of flights to Israel.
"I am deeply concerned about the halt in air travel between the United States and Israel," Torres began. "The suspension has been so prolonged and so pervasive that El Al, an Israeli airline, has become the sole carrier offering direct flights from America to Israel. The lack of competition has made air travel to Israel less available and less affordable, putting customers at the mercy of a de facto monopoly that can easily gouge prices with impunity."
Torres then hinted at a possible boycott by some carriers: "Airlines should be prohibited from effectively boycotting or otherwise discriminating against the world's only Jewish State. It is one thing to temporarily suspend air travel to Israel on security grounds as defined by the FAA, but to unilaterally suspend air travel indefinitely until mid-2025, as American Airlines has done, has the practical effect of a boycott," he wrote.
"Given the arbitrary length of the suspension, one could be forgiven for thinking that the BDS movement had taken over the American aviation industry without anyone noticing, much less crying foul. By what logic and in what universe is it safe for El Al to travel to Israel but too dangerous for American Airlines, Delta, and United to do so?"
He further pointed out that "UAE airlines like Etihad, FlyDubai, and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi continue to fly to Israel without incident."
