The air official who said “free Palestine” while guiding an El Al plane in the French airport Roissy-Charles de Gaulle was “stripped of all ability to practice until further notice,” French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot confirmed on Tuesday.
“The analysis of the recordings proves that the facts are confirmed,” Tabarot posted on his X/Twitter and added that “a disciplinary procedure has been immediately initiated. The sanction must be commensurate with the severity of the facts.”
The event happened on Monday night, when El Al pilots said that an air traffic controller said “free Palestine” over the intercom to them as the plane was taxiing to the runway.
El Al told the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that it is taking the incident “very seriously.”
The airline emphasized that it would “continue to fly around the world with the Israeli flag on the tails of its aircraft with pride.”
A ‘rule violation,’ but not an antisemitic event
Tabarot wrote earlier on Tuesday that he was “investigating the event,” and that he saw it as a serious violation of the radiocommunications rules.
“I immediately requested the opening of an administrative investigation following the incident reported by the Israeli company El Al, which allegedly occurred yesterday morning with the air traffic control at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport,” he said.
However, Tabarot failed to call it an antisemitic event, with the minister stating that these situations “would result from a failure to uphold the civil servant’s duty of discretion and would harm the image of public service.”
“If the facts were confirmed, they would be reprehensible as they would violate the rules of radiocommunications, which must be limited to the safety and regularity of air traffic,” he published.
