An Irish airline illegally transported munitions to Israel – despite just months before taking part in a Microsoft Teams call with Department of Transport officials after reports of its munitions flights to Israel.
After The Ditch reported that ASL had transported munitions to Israel – on a flight requiring authorisation from the transport minister – the Department of Transport contacted the airline.
The department and the airline had a Microsoft Teams call.
The airline soon after carried out another illegal weapons flight to Israel.
The department first contacted ASL in October 2024 after a report on The Ditch that the airline had transported F-35 fighter jet components from Cologne to Tel Aviv using Irish-registered aircraft. This flight would’ve required authorisation from the transport minister.
ASL replied the same day offering to meet the department.
"Yes that suits us, we'll send a Teams invite shortly,” wrote a Department of Transport official after ASL suggested a virtual meeting, according to records released to The Ditch under freedom of information.
Records show exchanges between the department and ASL through late October 2024 – but the department refused to release formal letters and attachments.
As these exchanges occurred protesters took regular action against ASL’s Swords headquarters.
ASL issued statements claiming it had ceased the munitions shipments. It told employees in November 2024 it had stopped transporting munitions to the Middle East and promised in December that packages on the US munitions list wouldn’t be carried on any ASL airline to Israel.
But this wasn’t true.
Within days of CEO John Rawl's commitment to staff that ASL Airlines Ireland would stop carrying munitions, the company used subsidiary ASL Airlines France to transport 37 weapons packages from Paris to Tel Aviv. Some packages weighed more than 50 kilogrammes and were being delivered to Israel's Nevatim air base.
ASL eventually acknowledged it was still transporting munitions. The company said when it previously denied carrying munitions, it could only "speak about our own airline, ASL Airlines (Ireland)."
Since The Ditch began reporting on illegal munitions flights to Israel, government has intermittently said it’s engaging with the airlines concerned.
Its engagement with ASL – a Microsoft Teams call and correspondence it refuses to publish – didn’t stop the airline continuing these flights.
Under Irish air navigation law the carriage of munitions of war is prohibited on any civil aircraft in Irish sovereign airspace and on Irish-registered civil aircraft, wherever they may be, unless the transport minister grants an exemption. Failure to comply is an indictable criminal offence punishable by up to three years imprisonment.
The Department of Transport has been contacted for comment.
