Listen to this article
Estimated 4 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Online flight trackers show that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew hundreds of kilometres through Canadian airspace on his way to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday — despite Prime Minister Mark Carney previously saying he would honour an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Netanyahu is wanted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Carney was asked last October by Bloomberg if “Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to Canada.”
The prime minister twice responded “yes.”
Netanyahu’s flight can be seen entering Canadian airspace and traversing Newfoundland, the first of three provinces it overflew. (FlightRadar24)
But this is the second time that Netanyahu’s official Israeli government aircraft has carried him through Canadian sovereign territory in the last two months.
On Dec. 29, Netanyahu’s Boeing 767, known as the Wing of Zion, overflew Newfoundland and Nova Scotia on its way to land in Florida, where Netanyahu met Trump at his Mar-A-Lago residence.
When CBC News asked for an explanation of that flight, Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Samantha Lafleur responded the department “does not comment on which route a foreign state chooses to take. For security reasons, we are unable to provide further details.”
Flight crosses 3 provinces
On Tuesday, Netanyahu’s flight crossed Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick before entering U.S. airspace in Maine.
Canadian protocol requires foreign government flights to seek permission well before entering Canadian airspace.
“Applications for foreign state, military or scientific aircraft to operate within Canadian territory should be submitted at least three working days (72h) before the proposed date of entry into Canadian airspace,” says the government’s website. “This advance notification is critical.”
CBC News has asked Global Affairs if the government of Israel sought permission for the latest flight, but had not received an answer at time of publication.
Netanyahu has flown to the U.S. seven times since Trump’s second inauguration.
During that time, his flying patterns have shifted in a way that suggests he is increasingly less worried about the risk of arrest.
When the Israeli prime minister travelled to the U.S. on Sept. 25, 2025, Wing of Zion took a number of detours as it crossed the Mediterranean in order to stay mostly over water, and entered the Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar.
When Netanyahu flew to New York in September last year, his jet aircraft made several manoeuvres to stay mostly over water and avoid certain countries’ airspace, including that of Spain. (FlightRadar24)
The itinerary added about 400 kilometres to the normal length of the flight from Tel Aviv to New York.
Since then, though, Netanyahu has begun to fly in a more direct route over the European continent. His flightpaths have continued to avoid Spain, and avoided Slovenia when departing Hungary.
The Spanish government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been one of the most critical of Israel’s war in Gaza, and has said it will enforce ICC warrants. Slovenia has been strongly supportive of the ICC and banned Netanyahu from its territory the day after one of his cross-Europe flights.
But Netanyahu has flown across several European countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute (the treaty that established the ICC), including France, Italy and Greece.
Only France has publicly said that it gave permission for the flights.
Netanyahu on Tuesday flew a Great Circle route that followed the shortest path to Washington with no apparent consideration given to risk of arrest. (Flight Aware)
The flight route followed by Netanyahu’s plane on Tuesday was a classic Great Circle route (the shortest possible distance) from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
A flight path posted by Flight Aware showed the aircraft crossed nine European countries, including Turkey.
