The mystery surrounding aplane that arrived in South Africa carrying more than 150 Palestiniansdeepened Wednesday after the company at the center of the saga responded to media coverage.
Inconsistencies involving the public profile of Al-Majd Europe, a company that some on the flight said organized their travel, have only added to the uncertainty over how the passengers were able to leave the Middle East and who was ultimately behind their voyage.
In a lengthy statement late Tuesday, Al-Majd did not directly acknowledge organizing the flight, which South Africa labeled "a clearly orchestrated operation," after it landed in Johannesburg last week to the surprise of authorities.
Al-Majd said that its "only interaction with the Israeli authorities is for the purpose of coordinating exits from Gaza."
South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told reporters Monday that the flight was part of "a clear agenda to cleanse the Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank."
He did not say who was behind this alleged effort, but his comments were widely seen as being directed at Israel as thefragile ceasefire in Gaza intensifies questionsabout the fate of the2 million Palestinians living in the devastated enclave.
South Africa,a staunch Israel critic and supporter of the Palestinian cause, filed a case at the United Nations' International Court of Justice in late 2023 accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, which Israel has vehemently rejected. The case remains ongoing.
"We are suspicious as the South African government about the circumstances surrounding the arrival of the plane and the passengers that were in the plane," Lamola said, adding that his country was investigating further and did not want more such flights heading its way.
COGAT, the Israeli military's liaison with the Palestinians, said the Palestinians left Gaza after it had received approval from a third country to receive them. COGAT did not name the third country.
An Israeli government spokesperson said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "has made it clear" that Gazans should be allowed to leave Gaza and come back as they please.
President Donald Trump's peace planstipulates that no one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return.
But fears of ethnic cleansing have persisted among Palestinians and their supporters. Israel's government instructed its military in February to prepare a plan for Palestiniansto voluntarily leavethe enclave, after it embraced aTrump proposal for Gaza to be emptied of its residents and taken over by the United States.
'Flushed out' of Gaza
The chartered plane arrived at Johannesburg's O. R. Tambo International Airport on Thursday, appearing to blindside the South African government.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters Friday the Palestinians were from Gaza and were "mysteriously" put on a plane. They did not have the necessary documents to enter, he said, but wouldn't be turned back because they come "from a strife-torn, a war-torn country."
He said South Africa would take them in "out of compassion" but added "it does seem like they were being, you know, flushed out."
South Africa's Border Management Authority said that the passengers on board the plane did not indicate duration of stay or accommodation in South Africa, and did not have exit stamps in their passports.
They were initially denied entry, but 130 passengers had since been processed into the care of a South African nongovernmental organization called Gift of the Givers, which helps with relief efforts in war zones and disaster areas.
The other 23 continued to other destinations, the Border Management Authority said. Palestinians are eligible for 90-day visa-exempt travel to South Africa, it added.
NBC News has reached out to the South African government for further comment.
It was not immediately clear how the Palestinians on board would have been able to leave Israel without proper documents.
Questions over who's behind the flight
Reuters spoke with two Palestinians who said they paid $2,000 per seat to fly their families to South Africa on the plane, as part of a trip arranged by an organization called Al-Majd Europe. They said they were bused from Gaza, and taken through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing before being flown out of an Israeli airport last week.
NBC News initially reached out to Al-Majd Europe on Tuesday via an email listed on its website but did not hear back. Its location is only listed as Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, with an embedded map with a pin pointing to a building behind a hospital and the British Consulate.
NBC News' analysis of its online presence revealed a number of inconsistencies.
Al-Majd says it's a "humanitarian organization, founded in 2010 in Germany" but NBC News found no evidence that its website existed before February this year. Its Facebook and X accounts were also created this year. NBC News also could not find the organization in the register of the German tax administration.
NBC News determined that a photo accompanying the "about" page shows a building with the Al-Majd sign and Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock in the background was AI-generated. The website has multiple blog posts with case study-style summaries of its claimed work as a charity during the war in Syria and the earthquake in Turkey. While the website was created this year, the blog posts are dated from 2023.
One of the case studies listedshows a photo of a woman it calls Mona Farouk, who it says left Syria for neighboring Lebanon in 2013, and then needed Al-Majd's help in 2014 to flee the fighting again. A reverse image search led NBC News to aMiddle East Eye article last yearwith the same photo, which the news organization credits to its own journalist. The article names the woman in the photo as Abeer Khayat, and says she left Syria in 2012.
The websitehas a terms and conditions pagethat states that "the organizing entity" for the "Voluntary Migration Program" to leave the Gaza strip is Talent Globus.
NBC News found that it is a company registered in Estonia in 2024 by a person named Tomer Janar Lind. NBC News has reached out to an account with the same name on LinkedIn. The United Kingdom's business registry shows Lind as a director in two dissolved companies and one active company with overdue accounts. None of them appear to be linked to Talent Globus.
The Talent Globus website lists four employees, three of whom are shown with stock images that are available online. The company's "about" section says it's been around for a decade, yet the company records say it was founded in 2024. The phone number listed doesn't work when called.
The company released a statement on X late Tuesday in order to "directly address the false accusations and disinformation circulated by parties with clear political interests" that it said were meant "to strip the people of Gaza of their freedom of choice."
It said it had no connection to Israel's Mossad or any other intelligence services, and claimed that it "was founded by refugees who escaped dictatorial regimes, including refugees from Hamas rule in Gaza."
The statement did not directly mention the Palestinians who arrived in South Africa last week or the inconsistencies on its website.
NBC News has reached out to Al-Majd for further clarification.
The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa told NBC News that it was closely monitoring the situation and liaising with South African authorities to ensure the protection and well-being of all Palestinian nationals involved, but that "due to the sensitivity of the matter," the embassy was not able to provide further details at this time.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry expressed "deep thanks for the principled positions of the leadership, government and people of South Africa that support the Palestinian people and their cause" in a statement sent to NBC News on Friday. It warned that any companies that "lure" Palestinians and "incite them to deportation" will bear legal consequences while cautioning Palestinians not to fall prey to "human trafficking."
