Published: 22 November 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
The first direct commercial flight from Israel to Qatar took off this week with Israeli and Palestinian soccer fans on board, but problems remain.
More than 10,000 Israeli and Palestinian fans have secured tickets for the 29-day FIFA World Cup tournament in Qatar.
About 1000 will take unprecedented direct flights, negotiated over several months between Qatar and Israel, which do not have formal diplomatic ties.
Passengers boarding the first flight on Sunday, provided by Cypriot airline TUS Airways, received tickets printed with the words “making history” in Hebrew, Arabic and English, alongside the Israeli, Qatari and Cypriot flags.
Other Israelis seeking to reach Qatar for the World Cup are taking flights with stopovers in Bahrain, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates or Turkey, which are expected to be more expensive.
Last week, Israel’s Foreign Ministry warned Israelis traveling to Qatar to hide Israeli flags and items that include the Star of David, as well as LGBTQ-associated items, during their visit. The ministry launched a website meant to educate fans and raise awareness to sensitive issues they may encounter.
The tournament — held in a Muslim country that criminalises homosexuality, bans drugs and restricts alcohol consumption — will also be attended by fans from Iran, Israel’s regional arch-foe.
Jewish organisations have said that even though they were promised otherwise, Qatar won’t allow any cooked kosher food to be sold or offered to visitors..
Sources in Jewish organisations told The Jerusalem Post that Qatar broke another promise to allow Jewish prayer services in Doha during the World Cup, claiming it couldn’t secure this type of activity and then banned it completely.
“We were promised to be allowed to create prayer spaces in order for religious Jews who came to see the games to have a place of worship,” a representative of a Jewish organisation said. “We were recently told that they banned places of worship for Jews because they cannot secure them.”
