Israeli airline passengers headed to Slovenia were dumped in Zagreb – after Slovenia withheld permission for the airline to land on Wednesday. The Slovenian government used a security pretext to express hostiltiy towards Israel on its last day in office. The new leaders, who are friendlier towards Israel, say this will be fixed.
Israir flight 755 diverted and passengers continued to Ljubljana, Slovenia by ground. Israir’s CEO said Slovenian authorities denied the landing for political reasons in what appears to be a breach of the EU-Israel Aviation Agreement.
- Slovenian air traffic control claims there was no flight plan filed, and pointed fingers at the Infrastructure Ministry.
- The Infrastructure Ministry pointed to the government’s ban on weapons and military equipment connected to Israel, which precludes Israeli security officers from carrying weapons at Ljubljana Airport. (Ironically, they cite this as an explanation for why the decision to disallow landing of the flight wasn’t political.)
- Local media suggests that Israir’s air permit had lapsed in October and the government slow-walked renewal. The June 3 flight was operated by Croatia’s Trade Air, though, which had permissions. (As an EU carrier, Trade Air doesn’t require the same operating permit.)
Oyoyoy via Wikimedia Commons
This was a last effort of the outgoing Slovenian government to express its objections to Israel. It had previously recognized Palestine in June 2024, pushed for upending the EU–Israel Association Agreement, and called for sanctions against Israel.
Such political disagreements do not usually factor into aviation, but recent years have but been historically normal times. On June 4, 2026, Slovenia’s parliament approved a new government that is more pro-Israel than the outgoing one. The incoming infrastructure minister stated the issue would be handled immediately after the new government took office.
On Friday morning, we’ll take care of it. The Director of Aviation should go ahead and prepare the letter.
V petek dopoldan bomo to odpravili. Direktor za letalstvo naj kar pripravi dopis. https://t.co/DMdIM7qddp
— Jernej Vrtovec (@JernejVrtovec) June 3, 2026
It is not clear when passengers were told the flight would land in Zagreb, Croatia – in other words whether this was a diversion while inflight (as Israir seems to suggest) or whether the alternate destination was known in advance, so that passengers had the choice whether to still take the flight.
It’s all fun and games now for the politicians jumping on the “bash Israel” bandwagon, but will it be worth it for them to corrupt their society like anti-semitism always does? They are just going to run off a cliff and take their countries with them.
They should learn from history, but if they ignore what’s in front of their nose (Hamas propaganda being laundered into the mainstream media/politicians), I don’t expect them to be capable of looking back into history and drawing the right conclusions.
This is so funny. Ljubljana airport has 13 flights on their daily schedule. They never even have to change the board. So for Israel to believe they can just drop in is ludicrous.
As an EU member, this is the kind of push back the world needs.
I’m just confused as to why they didn’t opt for a diversion to Austria, Italy, Hungary, or Romania (all within the EU).