Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is accusing the State Department of potentially becoming “inappropriately entangled in deliberations over safety” that influenced U.S. airlines’ continued refusal to fly to Israel. 

Cruz, the incoming chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, told Jewish Insider that he “welcomes a full investigation of these issues” after more than a year of airlines refusing to resume regular service to the Jewish state. 

“The Biden-Harris administration was lax in pursuing why some airlines will not fly to Israel. Indeed, they may have been worse than lax, and the State Department may have become inappropriately entangled in deliberations over safety and subverted the FAA,” Cruz’s statement reads. 

“Meanwhile there have been allegations about antisemitic discrimination by airlines and that calls by unions not to fly to Israel were motivated solely by pro-Hamas activists. These allegations are troubling and, of course, American law prohibits American companies from participating in politically motivated boycotts of Israel,” the statement adds.

The State Department declined to comment when reached by JI on Cruz’s claims of improper involvement in the matter. The FAA did not respond.

American Airlines announced in August that it would extend its suspension of flights to Israel through April of 2025, without providing an explanation for its decision. 

An airline spokesperson told JI in a statement at the time, “To provide additional flexibility, we will extend our travel alert allowing customers whose travel plans are impacted by this adjustment to rebook without a fee or cancel and receive a refund. We will continue to work closely with our partner airlines to assist customers traveling between Israel and European cities with service to the U.S.”

Delta Airlines announced days later that it would not fly to Israel until Sept. 30 of this year, months after revealing since-scuttled plans to resume flights from New York’s JFK Airport to Tel Aviv in June. Delta announced just before the Sept. 30 deadline that it was extending its suspension through next April. 

With United Airlines having suspended flights to Israel indefinitely after briefly resuming limited service in March, American fliers have been left with El Al as their only option to travel directly from the U.S. to the Jewish state.

Efforts by U.S. airlines to resume flights earlier this year unraveled after Iran launched a major attack on Israel in April, firing a barrage of hundreds of missiles that led to scores of additional canceled flights. After Iran began threatening retaliation against Israel for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader, in July, airlines again delayed their planned resumption of flights. 

Airlines are heavily regulated in the United States, but any attempt by the executive or legislative branches to force them to fly places they don’t want to would likely face legal challenges. 

In the days after Oct. 7, American Airlines pilots’ union ordered its members not fly to Israel until they could “be reasonably assured of the region’s safety and security.”

Since then, however, only one union associated with the industry has called for airlines to distance themselves from Israel in any way. The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), the flight attendants’ union, joined a coalition of unions to call for an end to “the death and devastation” in Gaza and a cessation of all military aid to Israel.

“One of the things that Iran is trying to accomplish is to isolate Israel economically. This is just another sign of that,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told JI at the time of the canceled flights. 

The airlines that have suspended travel to Israel haven’t been clear why they’ve done so indefinitely. Carriers cited safety concerns and limits of their insurance policies as reasons for keeping service to Israel suspended in the months after the attack. 

Since the April attack, Israeli aviation officials have maintained that it is safe for international carriers to fly to Israel, encouraging them to do so. 

“The cancellations are significant,” Shmuel Zakai, who leads the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority, said in August, something he attributed to “flight crews [being] deterred from coming to Israel.”

“Flights to Israel are safe,” Zakai added, calling Israel’s airspace “absolutely safe.” 

Zakai said that Israel proved during the April attack “that when we think that the airspace is not safe for flights, we close it. That earned us a lot of credit internationally.”