Iberia Airlines denies pilot welcomed passengers to 'Palestine' when landing in Tel Aviv

Passengers on an Iberia Airlines plane claim their pilot announced he was "landing in Palestine" as he touched down in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, but the Spanish airline says it was all a "misunderstanding."

Several angry passengers sent letters to the company and spoke with Israeli media outlets, the Times of Israel reports. They said the pilot announced in Spanish that the plane was getting ready to land "in Tel Aviv, in Palestine," then said in English he was preparing to "land in Tel Aviv." A passenger named Lior told Israel's Channel 2 news he was "a little bit shocked," and couldn't understand "why he said this. We live in the state of Israel and he should have said 'Israel.' There was a reason he didn't say it in English. It was deliberate."

Iberia released a statement Thursday saying it conducted an investigation, and found the captain was following standard procedure by naming the airports of origin and destination only, the BBC reports. The airline found that the captain announced: "We're now descending to land at our destination, Tel Aviv," as he approached Ben Gurion Airport, and believes passengers were likely confused because "destino," the Spanish word for "destination," sounds like "Palestina," the Spanish word for "Palestine." In its statement, Iberia said "both the company and the crew regret the misunderstanding and that some of our customers could have been offended by it."

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