Flight emergency brings Israelis to a country that doesn’t recognize their state

The emergency landing of an Israel-bound flight in Saudi Arabia marked a rare mass arrival of Israelis in the kingdom, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel.

Just a few years ago, Israeli airlines and Israel-bound flights were forbidden from even entering Saudi airspace, forcing Israeli holidaymakers to take an hours long detour while traveling east to avoid the vast kingdom.

That changed in 2022, when Riyadh unilaterally allowed Israeli flights to use its airspace as part of a push by the Biden administration to normalize ties between the two countries. It was a milestone for Israeli aviation, significantly shortening routes to Asia, and what allowed Wednesday’s Dubai-Tel Aviv flight to fly over Saudi Arabia.

This wasn’t the first time scores of Israelis unexpectedly landed in the kingdom. In 2023, a Tel Aviv-bound Air Seychelles flight made an emergency landing in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah because of an electrical problem, forcing passengers to stay at an airport hotel. And last year, another Flydubai plane landed in the Saudi capital Riyadh after a passenger suffered a stroke.

Such incidents have been seen as rare signs of Saudi-Israeli cooperation, even as formal normalization remains out of reach.

The Gaza war and its devastating humanitarian toll have hardened Saudi Arabia’s position on recognizing Israel. Riyadh says it will not establish diplomatic relations without the creation of an independent Palestinian state.