British Airways Diverts From Tel Aviv On Final Approach As Hamas Launched Rockets

British Airways flight 165 from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv turned around while on final approach on Wednesday, as Hamas launched a rocket attack at the city. The carrier had been operating a single daytime flight, allowing crew to immediately return to London, however has now decided to suspend operations to Israel.

Passengers on the flight took a 9 hour 47 minute flight to nowhere, and options to fly into the country are increasingly limited.

According to Israel’s airports authority, the rockets weren’t an immediate danger to the flight. However air raid sirens were going off in the city, and BA decided not to land after descending to 9,000 feet. The situation at the airport did get chaotic today.

Things appear likely to get worse before they get better. Hamas leader Khalid Mashal is asking Muslims around the world to fight Jews and to martyr themselves on Friday. Friday could be a worse day.

Meanwhile, Senator Tommy Tuberville – who has been holding up military promotions over Pentagon abortion policy – took something of a karmic tumble. With the U.S. inching closer to war in the Mideast, while supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia, and not wanting to look stretched so as to invite Chinese adventurism in the Taiwan Straits now may not be a great time to undercut morale.

There’s no good outcomes here, only bad ones. Israel needs to deter further aggression, but its actions may help Hamas bring in greater support from Hezbollah and Iran, which could draw the U.S. into the conflict. And if Israel ‘wins’ does it try to govern Gaza? What rises in place of Hamas? They still, of course, hold hostages following their brutal massacre of civilians.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Funny how that this happened not that long after our dear POTUS gave Iran millions of dollars in Exchange for hostages. That money was to be earmarked for humanitarian only purposes by Iran!

  2. Weird, plane had a full tank?
    Usually for weight and safety you only use enough to arrive safely plus a safety, not enough to go back.
    So they already had a plan to go back if needed.

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