Slovenian authorities denied an Israeli passenger plane permission to land in the country’s capital on Wednesday as a protest against Israeli government policy.
The Israir Airlines jet was forced to divert to an airstrip in neighboring Croatia.
The Foreign Ministry denounced the incident as “completely unacceptable.”
The plane arrived at Ljubljana Airport, but air traffic controllers refused to let it touch down, according to Hebrew media reports.
Israir director Uri Sirkis called it a “blatant violation of European Union aviation agreements.”
He said Slovenian authorities are refusing to let any Israeli carriers land, “because they are strongly opposed, politically, to the Israeli government line.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry and Civil Aviation Authority reportedly worked to resolve the issue, without success.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement, “Israel clarified to the Slovenian authorities that it is a completely unacceptable decision.”
Uri Sirkis, CEO of Israir Airlines attends Economic Committee meeting at the Knesset, on May 10, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The ministry noted that Slovenia is in the process of establishing a new government “instead of the outgoing, hostile government, and Israel expects a significant improvement in the relations between the countries.”
Transportation Minister Miri Regev said in a statement that it is “an invalid political decision that directly impacts Israeli citizens.”
“Anyone who tries to boycott us via aviation needs to understand that there will be consequences,” she said.
Regev said Israel will use “all tools available to it” to deal with the issue.
Israir has three weekly scheduled flights to Ljubljana, and there are no other carriers offering a similar direct flight. It was not clear from reports when Slovenia began refusing to accept Israeli planes or why the airline scheduled the flight if it was aware of the hostile Slovenian policy.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev speaks at a press conference in Lod, March 12, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Last month, Slovenia’s parliament voted to bring back former nationalist premier Janez Jansa, electing him as prime minister once more.
Jansa is an admirer of US President Donald Trump and a supporter of Israel. He struck a coalition agreement to form a new government after outgoing liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob failed to clinch a deal following parliamentary elections in March.
Golob’s government recognized a Palestinian state in May 2024, and is one of the few EU countries to claim Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza was a “genocide,” a claim that Israel has strongly rejected.
Slovenian public broadcaster RTV was the first in Europe to demand Israel’s exclusion from the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest and boycotted it in 2026, citing the ongoing war in Gaza.
Slovenia also became the first EU country to impose a travel ban on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last September.
Jansa, meanwhile, previously said that if he returns to power, he will relocate Slovenia’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and rescind Ljubljana’s recognition of Palestine.
