As Wing of Zion finally takes off, a less than soaring adventure for press corps

For all the hullabaloo around the first official flight of Wing of Zion, Israel’s so-called “Air Force One,” the first official flight on the aircraft didn’t get off to a very auspicious start.

First, the Prime Minister’s Office discovered that there were unexpected weight restrictions for the transatlantic flight to Washington, and had to send staffers and equipment over a week early. Then, a small crack was discovered on the cockpit windshield while it was on the tarmac in the US, which had to be fixed before it flew back last week.

With those issues behind it — not to mention years of numerous cost overruns, delays and political controversy — the 28-year-old repurposed Boeing 767-300ER was finally ready this week to take Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the US to meet President Joe Biden and address a joint session of Congress.

The plane arrived in Israel in 2016, and the conversion — said to have cost around NIS 750 million ($207 million), far, far beyond initial projections — was largely completed by 2019, when the aircraft conducted its first test flight.

At the end of its extensive renovations, the plane was said to include a private office for the prime minister, a bedroom with a bathroom and shower, a fully stocked kitchen, a meeting room and even a “war room.”

Netanyahu’s opponents have long argued that the plane, intended for the use of Israeli heads of state and government, is a waste of taxpayer money, and have branded it a symbol of Netanyahu’s overindulgence, while his supporters have defended it as a necessary safety measure.

The limitations of the plane affected the journalists accompanying the prime minister. Because of weight limits, only 10 members of Israel’s diplomatic press corps could fly out with the official delegation, this writer for The Times of Israel among them.

Since the plane surprisingly does not have an entertainment system, the group was encouraged to download movies to their devices ahead of time, and to bring books.

The reporters arrived at Ben Gurion Airport at 6 a.m. on Monday to go through the Shin Bet security check. Two hours later, before boarding a bus from the gate to Wing of Zion, the press corps received a security briefing about the plane by a Shin Bet representative.

He said the aircraft was divided into four sections — the press in the back, then security staff and members of the prime minister’s delegation, then senior aides, and finally the premier’s personal section. Under no circumstances were journalists to leave the two aft sections.

In addition, there were to be no pictures taken of the flight crew, which includes Israel Air Force pilots and attendants from Arkia and El Al airlines, though many are actually no longer working regularly in aviation, and have moved on to other careers while Wing of Zion isn’t flying.

Connecting phones to the plane’s USB ports was another no-no — also a security dictate.

The bus ride through the airport took about five minutes. Wing of Zion was parked in the same remote section of the airport where the chartered El Al planes that prime ministers have used until now have parked.

Seeing “State of Israel” emblazoned on the fuselage, just above the country’s seal, was certainly memorable. Government officials who had worked on the project in recent years were on hand, clearly delighted with the result of their work. They spoke with childlike enthusiasm as they pointed out their favorite features of the plane.

The press climbed up the movable staircase leading into the back of the plane, and examined the interior. It was bright and clean, with wood-patterned dividers between the sections. The seats, arrayed in a 2-3-2 layout, were roomy, blue with white headrests.

After the journalists came families of hostages and fallen soldiers who were joining the premier to fill up the second section, along with security guards. Around 9:30 a.m., Netanyahu’s convoy pulled up. He and his wife Sara shook hands with the families before the prime minister gave a statement to the members of the media laying out the purpose of his trip, and his intention to maintain bipartisan support for Israel as threats from Iran grow.

The passengers then seated themselves and the plane was ready to depart. After takeoff, the excellent flight staff was certainly eager to accommodate the needs of the passengers, happy to make coffees and cocktails in between meals — including an iced coffee with soy milk for this lactose-intolerant correspondent. Trays of drinks and food were also ferried regularly from the rear kitchen to the prime minister’s sections up front.

But the staff’s helpful attitude couldn’t hide the plane’s major flaw, as far as journalists are concerned: Though there is Wi-Fi onboard, it shares bandwidth with the prime minister’s own network. The crew controlled how much of that bandwidth was apportioned to the journalists, and it wasn’t much.

During the flight, Netanyahu’s office posted pictures on Instagram of Sara Netanyahu reading documents while in blue pajamas. Meanwhile, journalists who had expected to be able to work during the long flight had to make do with sending messages to their editors by WhatsApp during the short periods the press internet was on. Access to websites or other internet functionality — a basic feature of transatlantic flights in the modern era — were not available.

At times, the attendants would leave the curtains to the prime minister’s section open, allowing a view of Netanyahu sitting in his conference room. But at no point were journalists allowed to tour the front of the plane and let the public see what their tax shekels had purchased.

Though the flight was long, there were some poignant moments.

Yaakov Argamani, who was on the plane with his daughter Noa weeks after her rescue from Hamas captivity, organized a minyan so that he could say the Kaddish prayer for the deceased over his wife Liora, who died of brain cancer earlier this month. Journalists, relatives of hostages and the government point man for the hostages Gal Hirsch joined the service.

Rabbi Yehoshua Shani, whose son Major Uri Shani fell in battle on October 7, said Kaddish with Argamani.

The intimate familiarity that can develop immediately among Israelis was on full display, as mothers and grandmothers of hostages still held by Hamas spent much of the flight trying to come up with a shidduch — a match — for one of the journalists whom they discovered was single.

On landing

Compared to the situation in Washington once Wing of Zion landed, the flight was fairly calm.

The schedule for Netanyahu’s speech to Congress was set, but other highlights of the trip constantly moved around. He had expected to meet Biden on Tuesday, but with the president leaving COVID-19 isolation only on Tuesday afternoon, that meeting was pushed back to Thursday. Vice President Kamala Harris, who said she could not fly to DC to preside over Netanyahu’s speech as Senate President, also agreed to meet the premier on Thursday.

Arrangements around the meeting with former president Donald Trump were more chaotic. After much speculation around where and even if the meeting would take place, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would be hosting Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Wednesday.

As journalists scrambled to understand how that might work on the same day as the speech, Trump took down the post and said he would actually meet Netanyahu on Thursday — the same day as the White House meetings with Biden and Harris.

More speculation and scrambling.

Finally, Trump said that, per Netanyahu’s request, the meeting would take place on Friday.

That meant that Netanyahu would stay in the US over Shabbat, again at taxpayers’ expense. Many hostages’ families were expected to fly back commercially — paid for by the government — instead of waiting for Netanyahu’s flight back on Saturday night.

And so Wing of Zion was slated to touch down back in Israel after its first trip with the prime minister on Sunday, back to a country at war and facing deep political divisions. Netanyahu, after five days in the US, would be expected to move a hostage deal forward and continue pursuing Hamas.

If he manages to do both, he might have a chance of staying in office long enough to fly on Wing of Zion to more destinations — perhaps even Saudi Arabia.