First flight as Israel clears the air with Sudan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says an Israeli aircraft has made a historic first flight over Sudan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Picture: AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says an Israeli aircraft has made a historic flight over Sudan just two weeks after he met the Arab state’s leader in Uganda.

Mr Netanyahu met the head of Sudan’s transitional government, Lieutenant General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, in a major step towards improving ties with an Arab state that has long been hostile to Israel.

The Israeli leader touted the meeting as another foreign relations accomplishment ahead of March 2 parliamentary elections, Israel’s third in a year.

Israel and Sudan are “discussing rapid normalisation”, Mr Netanyahu said, adding that “the first Israeli airplane passed yesterday over the skies of Sudan”.

He was speaking at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations in Jerusalem.

An Israeli government official said the plane was “a private Israeli executive jet”, not a flight with ­Israel’s national carrier El Al. Flight data from the Flight Aware website showed a private business jet crossing Sudanese airspace on a flight from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, to Tel Aviv on Thursday night, landing in Israel at 4.25am local time on Friday.

Sudan, a longtime member of the Arab League, has joined other member states in rejecting the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan that Palestinians have said is heavily biased towards Israel. But to rebuild Sudan’s economy, the new administration in Khartoum also seeks an end to American sanctions as a US-listed state sponsor of terror. Longtime Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir was ousted in a 2019 military coup amid pro-democracy protests. General Burhan heads the transitional council ruling the country now.

Mr Netanyahu’s meeting with General Burhan was kept secret until after the fact due to sensitivities of the Sudanese leader meeting the Prime Minister of Israel. Mr Netanyahu has played up the development of covert ties with Arab states as a foreign policy coup during his administration, even as his bid for a fourth consecutive term in office is overshadowed by his indictment. He was formally charged last month on several counts of corruption.

AP