Israeli flag carrier El Al has refuted allegations it is accepting online payments for flights through Russia’s homegrown electronic payments system after Western services from Visa, Mastercard, and American Express were disconnected in the last few days.
Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, blasted the Tel Aviv-based airline on Monday claiming the carrier still allowed Russians to buy flights via Russia’s Mir payments system.
El Al supported Mir payments alongside Visa and Mastercard, but the two U.S. financial institutions pulled the plug on their Russia operations over the weekend.
Visa chief executive Al Kelly said the company was “compelled to act” because of “Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the unacceptable events that we have witnessed.”
In a statement, Mastercard said it had “decided to suspend our network services in Russia”.
“For more than a week, the world has watched the shocking and devastating events resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Our colleagues, our customers and our partners have been affected in ways that most of us could not imagine,” the statement, posted on Saturday, continued.
But Russia has been building its own independent payment systems for years, and Mir allows Russian consumers to continue spending their money through credit and debit card transactions.
“While the world sanctions Russia for its barbaric atrocities in Ukraine, some prefer to make money soaked in Ukrainian blood,” slammed Kuleba in a tweet aimed at El Al on Monday.
Sharing a screenshot of El Al’s online booking tool, Kuleba said: “Here is El Al accepting payments in Russian banking system ‘Mir’ designed to evade sanctions. Immoral and a blow to Ukrainian-Israeli relations.”
El Al continues to serve Moscow with daily flights, and unlike a slew of other countries, including major allies like the United States and the United Kingdom, the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has chosen not to sanction Russia or ban its aircraft from its airspace.
Bennett travelled to Moscow on Saturday and met with President Vladimir Putin in an attempt to act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine. Bennett held a follow-up call with Putin on Sunday in an attempt to break a deadlock with Ukraine.
Analysts believe Israel is said to be afraid of angering Putin because Moscow supports Jeruselum on a number of key issues includng Syria and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Some reports suggest the U.S. administration is supporting Israel as a potential peacemaker.
But despite Israel’s efforts not to anger Putin, El Al has refuted claims it is still accepting Mir enabled payments, saying it stopped using the system on February 28.
“We are sorry that no simple check was made with us before the misleading tweet,” the airline said in a tweet originally posted in Hebrew. “The facts are different,” the translated tweet continued.
“With the closure of airspace, El Al flew hundreds of tons of humanitarian and medical equipment to Ukraine and rescued orphans and refugees.”
On Tuesday, Kuleba deleted his original tweet and was forced to issue an embarrassing apology in which he acknowledged that while the Mir payment button is still on El Al’s website, the actual system has been blocked.
“I am grateful to El Al for its important humanitarian operations and covey my apologies,” the tweet continued.
El Al is one of only a select few carriers still operating flights to Russia. On Tuesday, Russian carriers will suspend all international services over fears that leased aircraft will be seized by lessors at foreign airports.
Ha Ha El Al. Very nice that you profited from flying tons of aid to Ukraine and made money flying out 100 Ukrainian orphans to Isreal. Nowhere does the national airline of Isreal deny accepting payments in the Russian banking system ‘Mir’ designed to evade sanctions. Immoral Isreal.
“. . . Over Unease With Israel’s Role in Ukraine Invasion.” I’m not sure I understand your English, but what “role” did Israel have in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
As far as I know, most every Middle Eastern Airline is still flying to Moscow, including Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar, EgyptAir, Air Arabia, etc. but those countries don’t have over 20% of their population who came from the former USSR, many of whom were stuck there when the war broke out and need to return home – or bring relatives.
At least Kuleba proved that Putin’s claim about Nazi’s in Ukraine’s government has at least a tiny hint of truth.
The only question I have is whether Mir is being used to buy Happy Meals and Pepsi in those 847 McDonalds restaurants still open in Russia.
It is funny that the only country who “had a role in the invasion of Ukraine” is Israel, a country which is likely the largest percentage of Ukrainian refugees in any population in the world in all of history. Quite a scurrilous allegation on very scant evidence or substance. How curious?
“Ukrainian foreign minister apologizes for falsely accusing El Al” – “Indeed, the ‘Mir’ payment button remained on the website, but the use of it was blocked. I am grateful to El Al for its important humanitarian operations and convey my apologies. — Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 8, 2022”
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-700649
Seems like it’s time to retract this entire story and send the bigots like Mak and Charlie back under the rock they crawled out of.
Hi there,
I’ve added the apology from Ukraine’s FM.
I would also consider updating the headline, which wrongly suggests that Israel “had a role in Ukraine invasion,” which has never been true.
@Jason I challenge you to back up your scurrilous accusations with some argument, if not facts. Pointing out the antisemitic slant of the stories and allegations — which are now retracted as false — does not make me bigoted against anybody.