According to the Israeli Times, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu flew to New York City to attend the general debate of the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, but may have avoided airspace of all countries except Italy and Greece due to concerns about the impact of the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants, although this means a longer flight.
Flight tracks visible on the flight tracking platform suggest that the route choice may be related to circumventing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu.
Last November, the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Netherlands, issued an international arrest warrant against Netanyahu and then Israeli Defense Minister Garant, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israeli military operations against the Gaza Strip.
The report said that Netanyahu travelled with the Israeli government aircraft "The Wings of Zion." France often appeared on the flight route, but France last year said it would not arrest Netanyahu, the move was condemned by the EU. In addition, the flight also appeared to evade Spanish airspace, and Spain had previously pledged to assist the International Criminal Court in the investigation.
The documents released by the International Criminal Court on May 12 showed that the Israeli government had filed an application with the court to revoke the international arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Garant. A few days later, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court published a legal document urging judges to reject Israel's request to revoke the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Garant, stressing the Israeli request "there is no legal basis" and urging the court to continue to advance the investigation of alleged war crimes in Gaza.