EL AL Israel Airlines' first commercial flight to Rabat on 22 December 2020

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA / Image : Web Screenshot

The first direct commercial flight between Israel and Morocco took off from Tel Aviv on 22 December 2020. Jared Kushner, son-in-law and adviser of US President Trump, also took the flight.

On 22 December, Kushner and Israeli national security adviser Meir Ben Shabbat led an official delegation to take the Israeli state-run EL AL business flight from Tel Aviv to Morocco’s capital Rabat.

Before the flight took off, Kushner said at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, "I hope that this flight to Morocco today will create the same amount of momentum between Morocco and Israel." Israel has created many business opportunities for the two countries.

The plane arrived in Rabat, the capital of Morocco, on the same day. The airframe was painted with the words "Peace" in Hebrew, Arabic and English. The U.S. Embassy in Rabat broadcasted the landing process online.

The scheduled itinerary of Kushner and Bin Shabat includes meeting with King Mohammed VI of Morocco and signing a series of agreements with the Moroccan authorities there. This trip aims to showcase the diplomatic achievements of the Trump administration in the Middle East.

With the mediation of the United States, Morocco became the fourth Arab country to normalize relations with Israel this year. Prior to this, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan had established diplomatic relations with Israel.