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Israel's ambassador to the United States, Yehiel Leiter, confirmed Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s flight route to the U.S. last month was altered due to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant against him.
“When the prime minister arrived here last month, he had to fly for 13 and a half hours instead of the usual 12,” Leiter said. “People don’t know this, but the reason was that he couldn’t land anywhere in Europe.”
Speaking in an online meeting with members of the U.S.-based One Israel Fund, Leiter explained that Netanyahu, who had undergone surgery shortly before the trip, was accompanied by two doctors who warned he might need to make an emergency landing. “But if he had landed in Europe, he could have been arrested as a war criminal. So he had to fly over U.S. military bases for 13 and a half hours,” he said.
Leiter also discussed efforts to convince the Biden administration to take action against antisemitism in Europe.
“You cannot fight antisemitism if the world’s number one Jew is branded a war criminal,” he said. “As I told Senate leadership, if you’re fighting antisemitism, the first thing you need to do is remove this mark of Cain from the prime minister’s forehead. Because if he’s a child murderer, then we all are, and we deserve the hatred.”
'You cannot fight antisemitism if the world’s number one Jew is branded a war criminal'
He added that the U.S. administration has shown a “commitment to helping us and ensuring that no international body undermines our right to defend ourselves,” including diplomatic efforts to prevent unilateral moves against Israel by European countries.
Leiter also revealed he met Thursday morning with Leo Terrell, the U.S. special envoy to combat antisemitism, and Danny Naveh, president of Israel Bonds, to address growing pressure on U.S. cities and municipalities to divest from Israel-related investments amid calls from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Several local governments in the U.S. have already announced they will halt investments in Israel since the start of the war, he said. Terrell, who is currently focused on combating antisemitism on college campuses, is expected to take up the issue.
“He’s starting with universities, but I wanted him to understand that this goes beyond campuses — especially when it comes to Israel bonds at the state and municipal level,” Leiter said. “We provided him with extensive documentation on anti-Israel activists, and he’s addressing it.”
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Leiter also criticized the partial arms embargo imposed on Israel by the Biden administration, which included a delay in shipments of heavy bombs and D-9 bulldozers, saying that since the change in U.S. leadership, Israel has been at “the forefront of American foreign policy.”
“Everyone knows about the embargo that froze heavy bombs, but the fact is that billions of dollars in weapons Israel had already purchased were also delayed,” he said. “President Trump immediately signed an executive order to release this ammunition. It took some time to get it through because of bureaucracy, but this was one of my top priorities since arriving here — to get it all back on track.”