Over the bank holiday weekend and ongoing Israeli atrocities in Gaza, Irish state authorities assisted two flights through illegally carrying F-35 combat jet parts to an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) airbase through Irish territory.
Challenge Airlines, currently at the centre of a Department of Transport probe into arms flights over Ireland that began last year after after Ditch reports, operated one of the flights.
State air navigation service AirNav Ireland helped both flights on their journeys through Irish sovereign airspace despite tánaiste Simon Harris describing the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “intolerable”.
On Sunday 1 June a Challenge Airlines flight from New York to Tel Aviv, with a stopover in Liège airport in Belgium, was allowed to enter Irish airspace.
It was carrying multiple F-35 components to Nevatim IDF base in Israel.
The next day a FedEx flight from Memphis to Cologne was permitted to enter Irish airspace while carrying at least three shipments of F-35 parts – weighing more than 50 kilogrammes.
It was also on its way to Nevatim IDF base.
The carriage of munitions of war through Irish airspace without permission from transport minister Darragh O’Brien is a criminal offence punishable by up to three years' imprisonment.
The Department of Transport, which refuses to respond to any requests for comment from The Ditch, has been contacted for comment.
