The United Airlines flight from Newark to Tel Aviv, Israel, which was supposed to take off at 4:25 pm on Saturday afternoon has been delayed by more than 12 hours after it is claimed that the pilots “refused” to fly the aircraft because Tel Aviv was being attacked by rockets fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
A ground service member at Newark Liberty Airport explains to passengers on the delayed flight in a video taken to Twitter that the flight won’t take off as scheduled because “the pilots are refusing to take the airplane at this time.”
According to other sources, United Airlines initially blamed the flight delay on a curfew in the Tel Aviv Yafo area, even though the region’s authorities never enacted one following a brief period on Saturday afternoon when Israel’s most populous city came under rocket fire.
At the earliest, 7 a.m. on Sunday is now the anticipated departure time for United Airlines flight UA84.
Curfew? Not what the crew said. pic.twitter.com/KmoMP9p78E
— Gil Eyal (@gileyal) August 7, 2022
Air raid sirens were heard near Jerusalem on Sunday, and tensions increased as a group of Israeli settlers were given permission to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Israel has received a security notice from the U.S. State Department, which advises Americans to “be vigilant and take reasonable precautions to increase their security awareness.” The State Department does not advise against visiting Israel despite the most recent warning.
