Perhaps sensing a leadership vacuum with Mayor de Blasio enjoying la dolce vita overseas, former Mayor Bloomberg is back in the news. With an international message: He's traveling to Israel to blast the FAA's decision to ban flights to Israel.
Earlier today, the FAA announced that flights to and from Tel Aviv would be prohibited for up to 24 hours after reports of a rocket strike landing about a mile from Ben Gurion this morning. Which prompted Bloomberg to plan a trip. He wrote on his website:
This evening I will be flying on El Al to Tel Aviv to show solidarity with the Israeli people and to demonstrate that it is safe to fly in and out of Israel. Ben Gurion is the best protected airport in the world and El Al flights have been regularly flying in and out of it safely. The flight restrictions are a mistake that hands Hamas an undeserved victory and should be lifted immediately. I strongly urge the FAA to reverse course and permit US airlines to fly to Israel.
El Al is an Israeli carrier, so it's not subject to the FAA's ban.
Back in 2009, Bloomberg said of the situation in the Middle East (which was then a conflict and not yet a terrible crisis), "All Hamas has to do is stop sending rockets over to kill people and agree on the accords that were negotiated earlier and come to an agreement that is verifiable, durable and effective to stop people from being killed." He had his critics.
