Israeli security sought to conceal flight information at Polish airports
Israeli security services asked Polish airports not to display information about flights from Israel on arrival boards, according to reporting by journalist Mariusz Gierszewski of Radio ZET in a podcast co-hosted with Dominika Długosz from Newsweek Poland.
Katowice International Airport in Pyrzowice, southern Poland Photo: PAP/Andrzej Grygiel
The unusual request, made via an airline, followed an incident at Katowice International Airport in southern Poland, where passengers arriving from Tel Aviv were greeted by a young Palestinian woman holding a “Free Palestine” sign.
Israeli officials argued the measure was necessary to ensure safety and prevent provocations after the Katowice episode. Journalists found that Katowice Airport accepted the request and stopped displaying some connections from Israel.
Warsaw Chopin Airport – Poland’s busiest hub for flights to and from Israel – took the opposite approach, rejecting the appeal to conceal Tel Aviv arrivals.
Airport authorities stressed that flight movements can be tracked in open sources such as Flightradar, and removing them from display boards could instead spark more attention and criticism for using unusual and opaque practices.
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Source: Radio ZET/W związku ze śledztwem podcast/X/@MariuszGierszew
