The Spanish pilot made the controversial announcement as he was preparing to land an Iberia flight in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, outraging the Israeli passengers.
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The carrier initially apologized.
In his subsequent announcement in English, the captain changed the word “Palestine” to “Tel Aviv”, but he did not use the word “Israel” in either announcement.
The announcement aboard the Iberia plane was made in Spanish, then the captain said in English that the plane was about to land.
However, after concluding an internal investigation, the airline said that the controversy was a result of a misunderstood Spanish word.
Israel’s embassy in Madrid earlier complained to Iberia, the Foreign Ministry told AFP, adding that it condemned the incident.
“The captain adhered to the standard format, in which only the airports of origin and destination are named, and not countries, regions or territories”.
According to the Spanish news site 20 Minutos, the Israeli ambassador in Madrid has written a “tough letter” to the president of the national carrier asking him to take disciplinary measures against the pilot.
However, passengers may have been confused, according to Iberia.
“Everyone started whispering, we were just in shock, I don’t understand why he said that”, he added.
Another passenger said “everyone noticed” that the pilot didn’t mention Israel by name.
“My family and I were incredibly offended, it was completely inappropriate and it does not do service to your company”, Channel 2 quoted the letter as saying.
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An Iberia spokeswoman said the crew were being questioned but apologised for “any misunderstanding”.
