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El Al Not Returning Flights to Ireland, Morocco Due to War
Illustrative: The Israeli flag carrier El Al’s airliner lands at Abu Dhabi International Airport, United Arab Emirates August 31, 2020. WAM/Handout via REUTERS
Israel’s national airline El Al has decided not to restart nonstop routes from Tel Aviv to Dublin and Marrakesh. The move comes as relations between Israel and Ireland and Morocco have soured since the war.
“Since the outbreak of the war, El Al has made sure to strengthen the network of routes to the desired destinations in order to continue to preserve air bridge,” said VP of commercial and aviation relations Shlomi Zafarani. “In view of the situation, we frequently monitor the changes in customer preferences and the intensity of demand, and as part of adjusting our mix of destinations, we have decided not to renew the routes to Ireland and Morocco for the upcoming summer season. The improvement of the flight schedule allows us to add during the summer season about 500 flights on popular routes others in Europe, and to connect Israel to a wide variety of destinations around the world, while exploring new possibilities,” he continued.
The Dublin route was relatively new, having only launched in March 2023 and slated for summer flights only. Among many flight routes operating at the onset of the war, the Dublin flight was postponed until the situation became more clear. Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has been vocal about calling for a ceasefire to the current war, saying “I think the European Union has lost credibility because of our inability to take a stronger and more united position on Israel and Palestine… to a new peace process and Palestinian statehood, which is the only way to secure justice and security for everyone living in the region.” Their President Michael D. Higgins has called the European Union’s approach to the war “thoughtless and reckless.”
There is widespread popular support within Ireland for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS), that calls for boycott goods and services originating from Israel. The movement is widely seen as a delegitimizing tactic against the Jewish state and according to the ADL, it “believes that many of the founding goals of the BDS movement, which effectively reject or ignore the Jewish people’s right of self-determination, or that, if implemented, would result in the eradication of the world’s only Jewish state, are antisemitic
The Morocco route was more historic, as it was opening between the Jewish state and an Arab country. The first flights, launched in July of 2021, caused much fanfare as a tangible result of the 2020 Abraham Accords, a landmark peace deal brokered by the United States between Israel, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. It also allowed the estimated 900,000 Israeli Jews with Moroccan descent to visit a country that was otherwise a relic of the past to those who immigrated to Israel after the state’s establishment in 1948.
Since the war began, hundreds of thousands Moroccans have protested in support of the Palestinians, and have called on their government to cut ties with Israel. The government has taken an anti-Israel stance, though not as forceful as other Arab states. The government has called Israel’s war: “Israel’s persistence in its blatant aggression against unarmed civilians.” It further has not condemned Hamas’s attack, with claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Israelis and resulted in over 240 taken hostage.
The post El Al Not Returning Flights to Ireland, Morocco Due to War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.