Kanzer Scholz’s plane cleared

Olaf Scholz’s visit to Israel ends dramatically: a rocket alarm sounds over Ben Gurion Airport and the government plane has to be evacuated.

It is a dramatic end to a memorable short visit to Israel: a rocket alarm sounds over Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and Olaf Scholz’s government plane has to be evacuated. The Chancellor is taken to a safe place. Two defense missiles can be heard over the airfield.

A total of almost 50 passengers had just boarded the government Airbus in Tel Aviv for the onward flight to Cairo when they suddenly said: “Leave everything behind, everyone get out.” And quickly. Your fellow passengers will be asked to lie on the ground on the airfield. This is what t-online reporter Sara Sievert reports from on site.

Three missile alerts in just a few hours

Not everyone immediately realizes what happened. A suspicious object on board perhaps? But it quickly becomes clear: missile alarm. Yet again. About two hours earlier, Scholz had to barricade himself twice in a shelter at the German embassy in Tel Aviv. This time we go out into the darkness onto the airfield. Scholz is taken to an airport building in a vehicle. Part of his delegation runs behind.

The thunder of the defense missiles can be heard on the airfield

It thundered quite loudly twice. These are defense missiles from the “Iron Dome”, the legendary missile shield that is intended to protect the Israeli coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv from rockets from the Islamist Hamas coming from the Gaza Strip.

After a few minutes, however, the spook is already over. There is an all-clear. Everyone stays outside for a while. Almost an hour late, we continue to Cairo, Egypt.

Scholz remains calm

Scholz takes the situation calmly. Something like the incident when an intruder who had attached himself to his column in his car hugged him on the tarmac at Frankfurt Airport. There was a big discussion about whether the Chancellor was well protected enough. Something like that doesn’t shock Scholz.

The real drama takes place elsewhere

This solidarity visit comes to a dramatic end, especially because of another, really bad rocket incident in the Gaza Strip. According to the local Ministry of Health, hundreds of people are killed and injured in an impact in a hospital. The Palestinian side blames Israel. Israel’s military, on the other hand, blames a failed rocket launch by Islamic Jihad.

Difficult visit by the Chancellor to Egypt

Either way, the damage, in addition to the many deaths, is also politically immense. Spontaneous protests broke out in several Muslim-dominated countries that evening, and hundreds also took to the streets in German cities. Jordan is canceling a summit planned for Wednesday between King Abdullah II, US President Joe Biden and Egypt’s head of state Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The tragedy is also likely to determine the Chancellor’s visit to Egypt, where he will meet President al-Sisi today. Scholz actually traveled to the region to help prevent a wildfire from breaking out in the region. The chances of this certainly did not improve during his Middle East mission.