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El Al Israel Airlines announced that it would suspend its operations to Johannesburg in South Africa by the end of March due to a significant decrease in demand. The decline, cited by the Israeli airlines, is due to South Africa’s accusation of genocide against Israel at the World Court. The announcement by Israeli airlines came before the verdict by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday.

The Israeli flag carrier currently operates up to two weekly, non-stop flights to Johannesburg.

A El Al spokesperson said, “Israelis don’t want to fly to South Africa.”

This resistance from the people of Israel led to numerous flight cancellations and low passenger numbers, added the aircraft spokesperson.

The decision to suspend the route was influenced by the prevailing circumstances and the preference of Israeli travellers for other destinations.

El Al also cited the current security situation as a factor in its decision.

ICJ’S VERDICT

The ICJ on Friday asked Israel to contain death and damage in its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and prevent causing any “serious bodily or mental harm”. The United Nations’ top court, however, stopped short of ordering a ceasefire in Gaza, which has been the epicentre of a war between Israel and Hamas.

Israel insisted at the ICJ that its war in Gaza was a legitimate defence of its people and said instead that Hamas was guilty of genocide.

Israel described the allegations levelled by South Africa as hypocritical and said that one of the biggest cases ever to come before an international court reflected a world turned upside down. Israeli leaders defended their air and ground offensive in Gaza as a legitimate response to Hamas’s October 7 attack, when the Palestinian group stormed through Israeli communities, killed 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages.

Two weeks ago, South Africa argued that Israel’s military offensive aimed to destroy the population of Gaza.

El Al stated that after discontinuing flights to Johannesburg, it would allocate the widebody aircraft used on that route to expand services to existing destinations in North America, Bangkok, and Tokyo. Additionally, the airline plans to explore new routes.

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