German pro-Israeli politicians decry flight suspensions

As the FAA lifts the ban on flights to Israel, several other airlines continue with the temporary suspension of all of their Israel routes.

In Germany, pro-Israel politicians are criticizing Lufthansa and Air Berlin for not operating their flights to Israel.

MP Gitta Connemann, from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right CDU party, says that concerns over safety are understandable in light of the Malaysian flight MH17 that crashed over Eastern Ukraine but that Israel has a functioning missile defense system and that it is safe to fly there. The current ban is a “capitulation of the West in front of terrorism.”

— Raphael Ahren