The pilot of an Israeli airplane was told to "go to hell" by the control tower as he took off from Amman airport earlier this month, the Israeli embassy spokesman said in Amman Thursday.
"The pilot of an Arkia airlines flight was preparing to take off from Queen Alia Airport for Tel Aviv when he received a departing message that said 'go to hell' instead of bon voyage," Amir Weissbrod told AFP.
The message came August 8 over the normal radio band used by the airport control tower, he said.
"We have submitted a request to the Jordanian authorities to clarify the incident because we are not sure that the message was sent by a control tower employee," Weissbrod said, adding that the embassy was still awaiting a reply.
Harsh anti-Israeli sentiment has been growing in Jordan since the start of the Palestinian uprising against the Jewish state in September, and many Jordanians have called for the 1994 peace treaty with Israel to be scrapped.
Two Israeli diplomats have been shot and wounded in Amman by unidentified gunmen since November and in early August an Israeli diamond merchant was killed in the Jordanian capital – AMMAN (AFP)
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