The AP is alerting the world that Israel is in violation of the Camp David peace treaty. Why? Because El Al doesn’t want to fly to Cairo under the current anti-Israel government. Nobody in Israel wants to fly there, and it’s expensive and dangerous. Let’s look at the AP coverage.
First, the headline points to Israel breaking the agreement.
Israel’s national airline says it will stop flying to Cairo, despite Israel-Egypt agreement
Next, the lead points out that Israel is violating the agreement.
Israel’s national airline will stop flying to Cairo, even though the Israel-Egypt peace treaty mandates flights to the country, the CEO of EL AL Airlines said in a letter published Sunday.
In a message to Israel’s foreign minister published in the Maariv daily, El Al Airlines CEO Eliezer Shkedi said that flights are nearly empty, and the airline cannot afford the high security and operating costs.
And finally, the fact that there are no flights from Egypt to Israel doesn’t seem to matter to AP. Also that little thing that happened last year, where an Israeli unfortunate enough to be in Cairo cheering on the revolutionaries was arrested as a spy. Also, where reporters were constantly asked if they were Jewish or Israeli. But hey, Israel is violating the treaty, so the AP must report it, right?
So what about how Egypt violated the treaty by sending tanks into the Sinai without getting permission from Israel, as the treaty dictates?
[crickets]
Right. Because this is more important.
Under their historic 1979 peace accord, Israel and Egypt agreed to operate flights between the countries.
But few Israelis felt safe visiting Cairo, and their numbers have dwindled following last year’s Egyptian revolution.
The letter did not say when El Al would halt flights. Any such move would be mostly symbolic as the airline has only provided flights sporadically since the Arab uprising erupted last year across the Middle East.
So I figured I’d go take a look and make sure that Egypt is fulfilling the terms of the agreement. Is there a direct flight from Cairo to Tel Aviv?
No. Does the AP story mention that? Of course not. Because the AP runs on Israeli Standard Time. But don’t worry. It only occurs on days that end with a “y”.
