When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boarded his official jet in Tel Aviv on the evening of September 24, 2025, he set out for what should have been a routine transatlantic journey to New York. Yet, as the world watched his progress on flight tracking apps, it became clear this was no ordinary flight. Netanyahu’s plane, the "Wings of Zion," traced a circuitous path that skirted most of Europe, a detour that would add more than two hours and roughly 373 miles (600 kilometers) to his journey. The reason? To avoid the airspace of European countries that could enforce an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Gaza—an extraordinary moment in international diplomacy and aviation.
According to ABC News and multiple flight tracking services, Netanyahu’s jet briefly passed over Greece and Italy before veering across the Mediterranean, slipping through the Strait of Gibraltar, and then embarking on the long haul over the Atlantic. The jet meticulously avoided French and Spanish airspace, a notable departure from previous trips that typically saw Netanyahu’s plane fly directly over Greece, Italy, and the full length of France en route to the United States. The new route stretched the flight time to 13 hours, compared to the usual just under 11 hours for a direct commercial flight from Tel Aviv to JFK.
This was not a mere quirk of navigation or a technical glitch. As reported by CNN and corroborated by The Jerusalem Post, the detour was a calculated move, likely driven by concerns that European ICC member states could act on the arrest warrant issued for Netanyahu in November 2024. The ICC, headquartered in The Hague, charged Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant with war crimes and crimes against humanity for actions in Gaza since October 2023. The charges, which both Israel and Netanyahu have fiercely rejected as "absurd and false," have sent ripples through international relations and forced a reevaluation of diplomatic protocols.
FlightRadar24 and ADS-B Exchange, two prominent flight tracking services, offered real-time evidence of the unusual flight path. This was the first time since the ICC warrant that Netanyahu’s aircraft had avoided European airspace so completely, despite previous assurances from countries like France, Italy, and Greece that they would not enforce the warrant due to Netanyahu’s immunity as a sitting head of government. In fact, as recently as April 2025, Netanyahu’s plane had overflown France, Italy, and Croatia without incident, with those nations citing international law and diplomatic immunity.
But something had changed. According to Middle East Eye, this shift came amid mounting international condemnation of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and a wave of Western recognition of Palestinian statehood, including from France and the UK. The Jerusalem Post cited anonymous sources suggesting that the Israeli government was increasingly concerned that countries might deny overflight permission or even act on the ICC warrant, especially as public and political pressures intensified in Europe.
Legal experts have weighed in, pointing to the complex intersection of international treaties and domestic obligations. The Rome Statute, which underpins the ICC, obliges member states—including all European Union countries except Hungary, which is in the process of withdrawing—to cooperate with the court’s orders. While the Tokyo Convention of 1963 generally discourages states from interfering with aircraft in flight, exceptions exist for enforcing international obligations. As UN special rapporteur Ben Saul explained to Middle East Eye, "the Rome Statute would be one such agreement, allowing a state to require an aircraft overflying its territory to land, in order to arrest a person on board."
The stakes were not hypothetical. Several European countries, including Ireland and Spain, have publicly declared they would detain Netanyahu if he entered their territory, citing their legal obligations under the ICC warrant. France, on the other hand, said it would not detain him, and Italy expressed doubts about the feasibility of such an arrest. Notably, France took a much firmer approach with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also faces an ICC warrant, but has so far extended Netanyahu a degree of diplomatic leniency.
Despite these assurances, the Israeli delegation took no chances. A French diplomatic source confirmed to Times of Israel and CNN that Israel had requested—and received—permission to use French airspace for the September 25 flight. Yet, as the French official noted, "They decided to take another route, and we don't know the reason." The Prime Minister’s Office in Israel has yet to offer a public explanation for the change, declining requests for comment from multiple news outlets.
Observers say the episode underscores how technology has transformed diplomacy. "For some governments, giving Netanyahu permission to fly over their country would be a political liability. In the past no one would have known but now with real time flight tracking on every smart phone everyone will be able to track his plane. Technology has changed diplomacy in this small way," Steve Ganyard, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and ABC News contributor, told ABC News.
The implications extend beyond the world of aviation. As Netanyahu prepared to address the UN General Assembly and meet with US President Donald Trump, the altered flight path became a symbol of Israel’s increasingly fraught relationship with Europe. The detour also highlighted the growing willingness of some European governments to act on international legal obligations, even when it comes to high-profile leaders. Legal experts have criticized EU states for previously allowing Netanyahu’s overflight, arguing that doing so violates the spirit—if not the letter—of the Rome Statute.
Meanwhile, Israel and the United States remain outside the ICC’s jurisdiction, a fact that provides Netanyahu a measure of security once he lands in New York. But the episode has raised questions about the future of international law and the practical limits of diplomatic immunity. As political tensions over the Gaza conflict continue to simmer, and as more Western countries recognize Palestinian statehood, the pressure on European governments to enforce ICC warrants may only grow.
For now, Netanyahu’s detour stands as a testament to the unpredictable consequences of global justice mechanisms and the lengths to which world leaders might go to avoid legal jeopardy. It’s a new chapter in the evolving interplay between law, politics, and the skies above.