Reported in partnership with the US’s Drop Site.

At least two illegal flights bringing weapons to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) travelled through Irish territory after the Israeli army pointed a tank at Irish peacekeepers in a show of aggression. 

Though Ireland has 379 troops in Lebanon on peacekeeping duties, government hasn’t indicated it will seek to stop these illegal flights. Tánaiste Micheál Martin suggested last week these airlines travelled over Ireland without diplomatic clearance so they could save fuel.

At least nine such flights have taken place since The Ditch first reported on the matter. 

Previously unreported, one of these nine flights – a FedEx flight from Memphis to Liège Airport in Belgium – took place just five days before an IDF Merkava tank faced 35 Irish UNIFIL peacekeepers on the Israel-Lebanon border. UNIFIL has since said Israeli tanks “forcibly” entered one of its positions on Sunday morning, leaving two soldiers “seriously injured”. 

Transporting munitions of war through Irish sovereign airspace without clearance from the transport minister is an indictable criminal offence. Government says it hasn’t granted any such clearance for Israel-bound munitions since October 2023. 

‘His government has so far failed to take action’

The Ditch first reported on 22 August this year that Challenge Airlines had transported 7.6 tonnes of IDF explosives from the US to Israel through Irish sovereign airspace. The report followed taoiseach Simon Harris’s claim that, “No sovereign airspace is being used to transport weapons to the conflict in the Middle East.”

It was later confirmed that this Challenge Airlines weapons flight was illegal when the Department of Transport told The Ditch it hadn’t granted a weapons exemption to the airline. 

Since that report these arms flights to Israel through Irish airspace have continued.

From 2 September to last Wednesday, 9 October, FedEx Express has illegally transported munitions of war from the US to Israel, over Ireland, on eight flights. Five of these FedEx flights were reported by The Ditch on 4 October. 

The packages on these FedEx flights were flagged as International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) goods – referring to the legislation governing defence goods listed on the United States Munitions List.

On 7 October, the day after the IDF tank engaged Irish peacekeepers, a Silk Way West Airlines flight entered Irish sovereign airspace on its way to Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, bringing the total of these illegal flights since The Ditch started its reporting to a minimum of nine. 

This flight had more than three tonnes of munitions of war onboard for delivery to the IDF. 

On 11 October taoiseach Simon Harris, speaking in Washington DC, said IDF attacks on UN positions were “​​really dangerous, despicable attacks on peacekeepers“. On Sunday evening Harris released a statement, saying he will seek, along with other EU members, to protect UN peacekeepers in the face of Israeli aggression. 

“I will be engaging with other EU member states serving with UNIFIL in Lebanon to ensure that our peacekeepers are fully protected and that the EU sends a strong signal of support for UNIFIL and for the UN more generally,” he said. 

His government however has so far failed to take action against airlines illegally transporting weaponry over the state. 

In late September tánaiste Micheál Martin said the Department of Transport, the body responsible for granting permission for these flights, was investigating reports first published by The Ditch. 

“We expect companies to abide by the basic rules. If you want to transport cargo through our sovereign airspace, you seek permission and then that gets considered by the Department of Transport. That’s the norm and we expect airlines to comply with that and if they don’t, there will be consequences,” he said.

Despite twice alerting the Irish government about these flights illegally trafficking munitions over Ireland, another FedEx flight carrying ITAR-marked goods for delivery to the Nevatim F-35 air base in Israel flew over Ireland last Wednesday.

The leaders of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party have been contacted for comment.