Tight security, and an Arabic greeting, on first Israel-UAE flight

On board a packed airliner taking US and Israeli delegates to the United Arab Emirates on Monday, passengers were welcomed in Arabic as well as English and Hebrew, a gesture marking the historic first Israeli direct flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi. The El Al Boeing 737 made aviation history by cutting straight over Saudi territory en route to the UAE capital, where Israeli and Emirati officials will hold US-brokered normalisation talks on Monday. “Wishing us all salaam, peace and shalom, have a safe flight,” the pilot, Captain Tal Becker, said on the intercom, in Arabic, English and Hebrew, using all three languages to also announce the flight number and destination. Passengers received swag bags filled with coronavirus protection gear — disinfectant gel and wipes — and some donned face masks emblazoned with the Israeli and Emirati flags. A spokesman for El Al said the plane was equipped with a C-Music anti-missile system on its rear carriage — standard for the 737s in the carrier’s fleet.<br/>