Simon Harris authorised a US military plane to refuel at Shannon Airport on Sunday on its way from a Department of War airbase to the Nevatim Israel Defense Forces base.
It was transporting soldiers or military cargo and its stopover at Shannon followed a report that 200 US troops being deployed near Gaza would arrive in Israel early this week.
Nevatim has been the destination for most of the munitions illegally transported through Irish territory reported by The Ditch.
These stops require permission from Harris’s Department of Foreign Affairs.
In November 2023 then taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil that there were “no flights going from the US through Shannon to Israel” with troops onboard.
‘The US Department of War chartered the plane’
On Sunday morning an Omni Air aircraft with registration number N423AX landed at Shannon Airport.
It came from Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina after stopping at Baltimore/Washington International Airport.
The US Department of War chartered the plane and it needed diplomatic clearance from foreign affairs minister Simon Harris because it was under the command of the US military.
It was being used to transport soldiers or military cargo, according to the ‘Camber’ callsign it used to depart from Shannon Airport.
Hours after arriving at Shannon the plane left Clare for its final destination, Nevatim Israel Defense Forces airbase.
Over the past 14 months The Ditch has reported dozens of flights illegally transporting munitions of war through Irish airspace. Most of the military goods carried onboard are F-35 combat jet parts destined for Nevatim airbase – the same destination as yesterday’s flight.
The illegal weapons flights to Israel have continued since August 2024 despite repeated calls from the opposition for government to enforce Irish air navigation law.
Harris has been contacted for comment.
