Israeli Air Force jets land in Germany for first time
BERLIN – Fighter jets from the Israeli Air Force landed in Germany for the first time ever on Monday (17), ahead of a symbolic memorial event and joint military exercises between the two countries.
“The six F-16 aircraft are taking part in the BlueWings2020 and MAGDAYs exercises over the next two weeks,” the German Luftwaffe said on Twitter.
A German-Israeli formation is set to fly over the Fuerstenfeldbruck airbase on Tuesday (18), where the 1972 Munich Olympic Games massacre culminated when nine Israeli athletes were killed in a botched rescue attempt at that site.
Eleven athletes were killed in total, after being taken hostage by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September.
“The return flight passes the outskirts of Dachau. Afterwards, the German-Israeli delegation will lay a wreath at the concentration camp memorial site there and commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and the tyranny of National Socialism,” the German air force said last week.
Over 200,000 people from across Europe were imprisoned at the Dachau camp outside Munich during World War II. Some 41,500 were murdered, according to the memorial website.
-dpa