Journalists union demands PM’s office scrap 2nd ban in a row on press joining Netanyahu’s US flight

The Union of Journalists in Israel has sent an urgent request to the legal adviser of the Prime Minister’s Office demanding a reversal of the PMO’s decision to bar journalists from joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s flight to Florida this month for his meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Journalists who regularly cover the premier, including at The Times of Israel, were notified by a PMO spokesperson last week that they would not be permitted to join the premier’s flights on the Wing of Zion aircraft, scheduled for December 28 to January 1, and would need to arrange travel independently. The spokesperson did not provide any explanation or reference an established policy on the matter.

The union sent a letter today through its legal counsel, Amir Basha, to the PMO’s legal adviser Shlomit Barnea Farago, demanding a reversal of the decision.

The letter emphasizes that the Wing of Zion contains a designated area for journalists that was allocated on the plane with public resources. “Accordingly, excluding journalists from the flight constitutes an unreasonable and arbitrary decision that seriously undermines press freedom and the public’s ability to receive independent coverage of the prime minister’s activities,” reads a press release from the union with the letter attached.

The letter to the PMO also notes that there is no official or regulated policy governing journalists’ participation in official flights — a situation it says “allows for ad hoc decision-making that harms core democratic principles and freedom of the press.”

This marks the second US visit in a row that Netanyahu is excluding journalists from joining him on the Wing of Zion. During the premier’s trip to the US in September, his office said he would not bring journalists on the flight “due to technical arrangements related to seating and security.”

The PMO does not immediately comment.