PRESTWICK Airport is cutting off access to the Israeli military after major backlash.
The National has consistently kept up the pressure after it was revealed earlier this year the state-owned Ayrshire airport played host to an Israeli Air Force plane while it travelled to and from America.
Here’s how we covered it
February 1
News broke via the investigative journalism site Declassified UK that a number UK airports had played host to Israeli military flights among them, Prestwick.
We checked with publicly available flight information to stand up the story and took reaction from the Greens who said they were concerned about public assets being used in Israel’s “campaign of genocide” in Gaza.
February 6
Janet Fenton, secretary of CND Scotland, gets in touch to tell The National that after reading our report, she had mentioned the Prestwick Airport case in a report to the Metropolitan Police.
READ MORE: Scottish Government 'asking questions' on Prestwick Israeli flight, says Humza Yousaf
The force’s specialist counter-terrorism unit has been inundated with war crimes reports from concerned members of the public.
Fenton said she was concerned the Scottish Government was “aiding and abetting Israeli actions that constitute genocide in Gaza”.
February 8
Our foreign correspondent David Pratt (below) turns his attention to the issue in his weekly column, after the original piece had him “choking on my cornflakes”.
He expressed particular concern that the flight had landed at Beersheba, home to the Israeli Air Force’s Nevatim Airbase, said to be the “central node the US has used to deliver bombs and other weapons to Israel for its attack on Gaza”.
Pratt called on the Scottish Government to “come clean” and let the public know whether US weapons had travelled through Ayrshire en route to Israel.
March 8
An FOI request to the Scottish Government shows that neither the Transport Secretary or the External Affairs Secretary had flagged concerns with the airport about playing host to an Israeli military flight.
Neither had concerns been raised with the Ministry of Defence – sparking calls from the Greens for the Scottish Government to give answers “about why an Israeli military aircraft was allowed to land at Prestwick”.
READ MORE: Owen Jones slams Humza Yousaf 'smear campaign' over UNRWA funding on BBC
March 16
First Minister Humza Yousaf tells The National he is “asking questions” about how Israeli planes could be blocked from using Prestwick in future.
He tells Owen Jones in an exclusive interview the matter is complicated by the fact it is operated independently from the Scottish Government.
March 18
The Scottish Government say Prestwick has cut off access to Israeli military flights.
A spokesperson tells The National the airport will no longer do business with the Israeli Air Force.
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